The veil of hearts

•The veiled revelation•

41
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The 24-hour study room was tucked away in the library's basement level, reserved for graduate students and faculty. She made her way down the stairs, constantly looking over her shoulder, unable to shake the feeling she was being watched.

What she didn't notice was the figure that had been trailing her since she left her apartment—Lim Sooho, watching from a distance, his movements careful and practiced. He stayed in the shadows, keeping Aina in sight without revealing his presence. Felix had called him the moment he'd learned Aina was in danger, asking him to protect her until he could get to Helsinki himself. Now Sooho found himself in Elmira instead, tracking a woman who didn't remember her own past.

As Aina disappeared into the library, Sooho circled the building, finding a service entrance that yielded to his expert touch. He slipped inside, moving silently through the darkened stacks.

In the study room, Aina inserted the thumb drive into one of the computers, her hands trembling slightly. A password prompt appeared on the screen. She stared at it, momentarily defeated, then on instinct typed: "Elias." The drive unlocked immediately.

"How did I know that?" she whispered to herself, her voice barely audible in the quiet room.

The drive contained dozens of encrypted files with clinical names: "Neural Pathway Reconstruction," "Memory Sequencing Protocol," "Subject 27 Progress Notes." One folder caught her attention: "Virtanen, A. - Personal Files." She clicked on it.

When Aina opens the "Virtanen, A. - Personal Files" folder, she finds a video file simply labeled "WATCH FIRST." With a deep breath, she clicks on it.

The screen flickers to life, showing a young man in his mid-twenties with alert eyes and a serious expression. Despite his youth, there's a hardened quality to his features. He appears to be recording hastily, glancing occasionally off-camera.

"Aina," he begins, his voice causing an inexplicable flutter of recognition in her chest. "If you're watching this, it means the memory suppression is wearing off. My name is Felix Caldwell. I was your bodyguard in Finland, assigned to protect you by your father."

Felix runs a hand through his dark hair, appearing both professional and personally invested. "Your real name is Aina Liu Virtanen. You're not Turkish - you're Finnish. Your father, Dr. Mikko Virtanen, was a brilliant neuroscientist of Finnish and Indian descent. Your mother, Esra Virtanen, was half Turkish, half Indian. You inherited your father's brilliant mind and your mother's determination."

Images flash alongside Felix's narrative - photos of Aina with her parents, in university laboratories, at academic conferences.

"Your father and Professor Nordstrom were research partners, developing memory manipulation technology to help trauma victims. But you discovered Nordstrom was secretly weaponizing the research - selling it to military contractors, using it for interrogation techniques. When you confronted him and threatened to expose his work, he wanted to eliminate you."

Felix's expression darkens, his youthful features hardening with anger. "Your father begged for your life. He proposed erasing your memories instead - giving you a new identity where you couldn't remember what you'd discovered. Nordstrom agreed, but your father was already planning ahead. He secretly copied all the research files as evidence."

Aina watches, frozen in shock as Felix continues.

"After your memory was erased, your father planned to expose Nordstrom with the evidence. But Nordstrom found out." Felix's voice breaks slightly. "He murdered your father, Aina. But he never found the files. Your father had hidden them where only you might eventually find them."