𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙫𝙖𝙨 • 𝙚𝙣𝙝𝙮𝙥𝙚𝙣 + 𝙨𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣

𝗳𝗶𝘃𝗲

𝙬𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙖𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙢𝙚𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙘𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙚 𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙚𝙙, 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙢𝙖.

𝙄𝙆𝙊𝙉 - 𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙎𝙘𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙤

Clara. The man whose arms were still wrapped around her shoulders said her name was Clara. Was that her name? Something is wrong, very wrong. Every shred of her instincts kept shouting and begging for her to realize, but she couldn't. And she turned around to meet the dark brown eyes of his, entrapped and still amazed at how they seemed to crinkle when he smiled at her. "My name is Clara?" She asked as the man stiffened, releasing her from his embrace.

"Yes, darling." When the man said that, she felt that something was wrong with this situation. Everything was never this way. No. Something was wrong with everything. "Clara?" Her panicked eyes soon met worried-looking ones from the same man in front of her.

"I'm fine," she gasped out as she sat down on the soft mattress to which she felt that another weight pulled down that sat beside her. "I just felt like there was something wrong with me. Like I am me, but at the same time, I have to be someone else too. Have you ever felt that?" She asked as she fiddled with hands that were once intertwined with hers.

"I guess," he mumbled with his eyes fixated on the ceiling. "There were times when I thought that something wasn't right and detached from every piece. But I knew that our memories are real. Please just trust me, and our children. All I want is for us to live a quiet and peaceful life, and for us to live," he stopped braiding her hair midway as he took a deep breath, "and I knew that, now, the pain I was experiencing every day is now ending."

The petite young mother looked up from the bed to see the flowing tears of the man, staining his clothes as he continued to sob silently. "Will you be mad at me if I don't remember anything?" She asked as she leaned her head to his shoulders, intertwining their hands as she only felt that the man was now calming down. "Don't get me wrong, but I feel like I can't remember anything else."

This induced panic from the man as he placed his palms in her cheeks, causing Clara to redden with hues spreading across her face. "No, you're not having a fever or something. So you'll be fine, Clara," he said as he leaned his forehead against hers, and that seemed to be the last straw as Clara pushed him away from her with her hands clutched towards her chest.

"I- I'm fine! I'm totally fine! No need to worry!" Clara shouted as she scattered out to the bed with her reddening face and with her hands clutching her hair to hide her face. The man in front of her just nodded though unsure if he actually believed her words. "As I was saying! Maybe I'm just mistaken, and my memories will come back," she said as she sat again on the soft mattress and intertwined her dainty fingers with his, mesmerized at the difference in their sizes of hands.

"Can you tell me everything about me?" She asked as he handed her a soft body pillow that she hugged as the man got up from the bed and headed over to a large white wooden cabinet. It creaked when it was opened and revealed a variety of dresses that ranged from different hues of the rainbow that was hung in a white rack, and underneath those dresses was the pile of polo shirts, t-shirts, jackets, and pants neatly folded.

The man shuffled around the pile of clothes to reveal a chest with an elaborate design to which he grabbed and closed the wooden doors of the cabinets. He coughed as he blew away those dusts that were decorating on top of the chest. "Here," he added, "You kept this as a memory. Of all the little things your memories laid are here."

"It's beautiful. Are you sure that this is all mine?" She breathed out when the chest opened to reveal photos after photos of a family of nine with a smile adorning their faces. Clara picked up a picture of a child with bright doe eyes - his face is somehow familiar - dressed in a white polo with a jumper from his shorts. "That's Ethan. Our eldest child, he's now busy studying at the Capital for medicine. We were so proud when we waved goodbye at the train station although he kept saying that he wouldn't cry as he was a big boy already. But who would have guessed that he would burst into tears as soon as he sat down at the red chairs of the train."

And another picture landed on her dainty fingers to reveal a child with a small smile on his face and his hair parted in the middle, dressed with a gray suit along with a cap of gray color and patterns that matched his suit. "That's Jay. He's the same with our eldest, studying at the Royal Palace to be the advisor for the Third Prince of the Kingdom. And to think that he was scouted from the academy by the Duke of the West, he was over the moon when the carriage of the Duke arrived at our cabin."

Clara only sported a smile every time the man would be telling her of their children that he was so sure that this would somehow trigger a memory in her head. But she doesn't have the heart to tell him that nothing came across her mind when he told him them. It was just that there was a faint ripple of every name that was mentioned. "Jake was our third eldest. He's a bright child that was so smart that he was admitted to the academy as a scholar. News of his name was told in our village to be the only noble to be admitted as a scholar. We just had a minor issue when we arrived at the train station; he wouldn't remove his tight grip on our clothing, and he does this every time school starts."

"And who's this?" She asked the small child with a soft smile in his face that was holding her hand in the picture. "Benjamin. He's our timid child who excelled at wielding the sword when the Imperial Army personally scouted our boy. It's just that," he paused for a bit as she spoke.

"Let me guess, he cried too."

"Bingo."

"They really take after you. How else would they end up as a crybaby after their mother is strong-willed?" She joked as she patted his back as a consolation and heard the laughing outburst of the other. "Are you laughing at me?" This only caused him to bellow into laughter more and the playful punch in his back to increase - and to his surprise, every hit was stronger than before.

"Ouch!" He screamed as Clara only rolled his eyes to him and stopped the launch of attacks to him. "You're just pissed that I'm stronger than you," she teased as the door opened to a figure dashing to their side and jumping to the man's arms, and to her surprise, the man didn't even flinch and even scooped him to the skies and into his arms.

The child gasped as he pointed his small finger to the forgotten photobook laying down the bed. He scurried to the bed by jumping from the body of his father, landing to the bed as it bounced up from the sudden weight, he clutched the bottom part of her dress as a hint of wanting to sit beside him. Clara only laughed a bit as she nestled her way beside the child as the father sat to the other side of the child. "Papa! You're showing her the album?"

"Yes, darling." The man continued as he flipped the other page to reveal a child whose eyes crinkled into a crescent shape and his cheeks bulged from the wide smile he was emitting. "William. He was the brightest child we have that didn't cry when we arrived at the train station. He's actually the closest companion of the Crown Prince. We knew that he was special, but not to the point of being friendly to the royal family. But nonetheless, I am still proud of whatever path he wants."

Clara noticed the scribbled name in the other photo as if written by a child from the different colored quills. "Johnny," she said to the man who only nodded in agreement to her. "He's our second youngest. He was recruited from the Imperial Magicians who never accepted nobilities before, but when Johnny cried before and accidentally floated this whole cabin. We were hesitant at first so we sent him a tutor from the East that practiced a 'martial art', and he excelled at it. Months later, we sent him to the tower and received a letter from him that said that he was allowed to study magic in the Kingdom instead of the lonely tower."

She flipped the page to the picture of the same child beside her with a gummy smile. He grabbed the album from her hands and jumped up from the bed, staggering a bit from the unexpected step to the wooden floor. "Be careful. You should never jump out of bed, you'll get hurt! Do you understand, child?"

"Yes, mama. But look! That's me! I'm Ni-ki!"