Once a Wife [English Version]

Chapter 4

Chapter IV

"I need to see my wife!"

It was Dominic's voice. Maricar knew she couldn't be wrong. She slowly walked toward the ICU where he was admitted.

He was going berserk around the nurses.

"Hon, I'm your wife..." Cynthia said gently. "Don't you remember me?"

"I don't know you!" Dominic yelled, pushing her away. "Where's Maricar? Where's my wife?"

Maricar felt like a bucket of ice had been poured over her. She couldn't believe she was seeing him like this.

"Icang?" she heard, snapping her back to her senses. She realized she was already standing by the door.

"Sweetheart..." he called to her tenderly, just like before.

She couldn't move. Why was he looking at her like that again? His eyes were full of adoration, like when they first met.

"Hey, sweetheart, I missed you," he said lovingly. "What's wrong?"

She looked at Cynthia's devastated face. She must've known — that same expression she had when Dominic left her.

That pain in her eyes when Dominic told her he got another woman pregnant. When he filed for an annulment. When he didn't have to say the love was gone — because his eyes already did. When he broke their children's hearts.

Maricar remembered all of that.

"Sweetheart, I swear I don't know her," Dominic said, glancing at Cynthia. "Please leave, Miss."

"N-no... no!" Cynthia begged. "Maricar, tell him the truth!" she demanded, grabbing Maricar's wrist. "Tell him!"

"Get your hands off my wife!" Dominic shouted. "Doc, can you remove that woman? She's got nothing to do with me."

"No! Dominic, I'm your wife!" Cynthia yelled as the nurses escorted her out. She wanted to protest, but the words got stuck in her throat.

Maricar was left in the room — alone with the man she could barely recognize.

He had changed so much. Or maybe the feelings were just so familiar that nostalgia was pulling at her heart again.

"Sweetheart..." His face showed worry. "I swear, I don't know her..." he repeated.

She clenched her fists.

"Maricar, can we talk?" Thankfully, the doctor interrupted — she didn't know what to do next.

They stepped outside the room and stood in front of the door.

"Doc, what's happening to him? Don't tell me he has amnesia."

"He's suffering from retrograde amnesia," the doctor explained. "When I asked him earlier what day it was, he said it was 1998."

That was the year she gave birth to Slyther.

It was already 2013.

He hadn't even met Cynthia yet. Cynthia only started her internship at Javerde in 2000. That's probably why he didn't remember her.

"Doc, did you tell him the truth?"

"We still need to conduct further tests before I can refer him to a specialist," the doctor said. "For now, we can't overwhelm him. He shouldn't be forced to recall everything — and aside from the memory loss, he has several injuries that need healing."

Maricar looked through the small round window on the door. Dominic lay on the bed, eyes fixed on her, his brow furrowed in confusion.

"He should know the truth—"