Just A Job (Lauren/You)

Chapter 41

A/N: Double updates tomorrow :)

Lauren's POV

"Retrograde amnesia."

His words stabbed my heart like daggers in the dark. Y/N's face as he stared at me played over and over again in my mind. He looked at me with no familiarity, with no emotion—nothing. Pure shock crossed my features as he tilted his head and studied me. I vaguely heard him ask if I was okay but I was already backing away from him and towards the door. My breath felt short and my heart raced in my chest. My mind stalled and I couldn't find any words to say. And before I realized it, I was already outside, crying on Liz' shoulder.

"Amnesia? No, that can't be true." I could see the disbelief in Hugh's face as he tried to make sense of the doctor's words. I've been talking to him for the past months and he told me how he reconciled with his son. It was hard for him to accept the fact that all the words they exchanged the last few months were for nothing now that Y/N forgot it all.

Dr. Conrad leaned forward and rested his arms on the table. When Liz finally calmed me down, I told her everything and she took me to him. I saw his eyes widen in surprise but instead of talking to us in the hall, he motioned for us to follow him in his office.

"No, it actually makes sense. I'm sure you all know how amnesia works," he said looking at the three of us seated on the couch. "Generalized amnesia affects the whole brain. That's mostly what's depicted on TV where someone loses all their memories. But with Y/N, it's a little bit different." He pointed to Liz and Hugh. "He remembers his parents," he said, then pointed at me, "but not his girlfriend."

I felt everyone's gaze land on me but I couldn't meet them with my own. I was too conflicted, too hurt, as the knowledge that everything we've been through was erased from his mind sunk in. Suddenly, I felt a hand grab mine on the couch, squeezing tighter in a way that reminded me of Y/N. I looked up and saw the smiling face of Liz giving me reassurance and letting me know she was here for me. I gave her a small smile, the only one I could muster, and listened to the doctor's words.

"I still need to interview him, ask him how much he remembers. I think we can safely say his memory loss surprised all of us. The brain is the most powerful and yet the most fragile organ of the body. It's also very unpredictable. But nonetheless, I want to tell you what to expect with his retrograde amnesia. You see, the hippocampus region affects memories, both short and long-term. It seems that Y/N's long-term memories—his parents, his childhood—are intact. It's his short-term memory that's the problem. Most likely, he forgot all recent events that happened to him."

"How recent are we talking about here?" asked Liz.

"That's the tricky thing with retrograde amnesia. He could forget as little as a few hours to as long as ten years. I still need to ask him about it. Lauren," he said turning to me, however, he continued talking before I could answer, "how long have you known Y/N?"

"More or less ten months," I said, the crack in my voice betraying the calmness on my face. But Dr. Conrad just nodded and leaned back on his chair.

"Then I'd say it's at least one year. And everyone he met in that year, he most probably forgot about them."

Camila, Ally, Normani, and Dinah. These names were foreign to him now just as much as mine was. I dreaded telling them about the news because I knew they were waiting for my call. Camila would cry along with Normani. Dinah would bite her lip and try to keep it together but she'll break down with the other two. Ally would be the only one trying to hold us together when she was breaking inside herself.

"So what do we do now? Do we help him remember the past year?" asked his mom.

"Well, that's the ideal thing to do. As soon as he goes back to his normal life, the memories would come back in due time. However, I advise you to let him stay in the hospital for a while longer. I'm not an expert on this sort of thing so I called a friend of mine. She's a neurologist and she'll be able to tell you more about Y/N's condition. She'll be here tomorrow morning."