I Love You As Much As I Hate You

11. Fragment of Memory

The next morning, Rain woke up before Cloud. Opening her eyes slowly, the first thing she saw was Cloud's sleeping face which made her giggle a little with happiness. "I can get used to it," she whispered while caressing his cheek.

"Get used to what?" Cloud opened his eyes.

"To your ugly morning face," she said teasingly.

"I'm not sure if I can do it too."

"You bastard!" she started to hit him non-stop with a pillow, "I am always beautiful, okay?"

"Yes.. yes... I surrender, stop hitting," he raised his hands. Maybe it was really a good idea to let go of the past, he felt lighter and happier to joke around with Rain without trying to make her remember.

"Good boy," Rain gave him a kiss, "today is Saturday, shall we go out for breakfast? I want to treat you breakfast with my remaining thirty bucks."

Cloud chuckled, "wow, you are very generous." He got off the bed while also pulling her up, "let's get ready then."

It was a sunny day so the duo decided to sit out in a lovely cafe, near the road. As Rain wanted to mark the day as a new page in their relationship, she ordered toasts and orange juices rather than usual croissant and coffee.

"I think your accountant steals from you," Rain took a sip of orange juice, "every month, there is a certain amount missing."

"I should have noticed it earlier," Cloud tapped on the table angrily, then his tone got softer, "so you still remember things about your profession."

Rain thought it for a second, "I just had a feeling about what to check and calculate, so maybe yes."

Cloud was about to say something when a voice of crashing filled the air. Everybody looked towards the source which was small truck hit a car from the side. It was a minor accident with no dead, but unfortunately Rain was facing the road so she saw the exact moment of the crashing. Even before she could understand, the uninvited images filled her mind, making her vision blurry. She grabbed the table, dragging it to the ground alongside her.

Only then Cloud noticed her, in a second, he got her upper body into his embrace, pressing on her nose to stop the nosebleed, "Rain, look at me...can you hear me? Rain?... focus on me...." he kept talking to her with apparent fear in his voice.

A snowy road... a breakup song on the radio... empty road... 1:25 am... a sudden voice.... a sudden impact... pain... a lot of pain... upside down... cold... smell of blood... steps... closer... we found her, Mrs. Wright... darkness...

"We found her, Mrs. Wright..." Rain lost her consciousness in Cloud's arms.

***

"Cloud, what happened?" Mir sat in front of him after checking on Rain, "you didn't...right?" he asked hesitantly.

"Of course not!" Cloud rubbed his face with irritation.

"Then what happened?"

"I don't know... we were having breakfast, then... there was a car accident, the next moment she was on the floor with a bleeding nose..."

Mir leaned forward, "it can be related with her accident, maybe it reminded her that, but it was too much for her to handle so her brain shut down itself to protect her from further damage."

Cloud rubbed his temples while thinking about Mir's theory. Then suddenly, he remembered her last words before fainting. "You are right Mir! She said 'we found her, Mrs. Wright!'"

"So, her family was responsible for her accident?" Mir asked while shaking his head, it could not be true... right?

"No, I think only the brother wanted to kill her," finally the picture was getting clearer, "his wife saved her life as there is only one Mrs. Wright in the family."

"Damn! No wonder her brain wanted to erase all of her memories," Mir looked at the figure lying on the hospital bed with pity, "tell me everything you guys did during the week, it can help us to see something new."

Cloud looked at Rain's direction to check that she was still unconscious, then he said "we tried to reenact the past for five days but it failed every single time."

"How so?"

"She hate kiwi but she ate because she is nice; almost collapsed while running; almost scared to death during the horror movie; suffered entire night because she didn't want to waste my spicy dinner, and finally corrected my accounts for the entire night."

"Damn! She is completely different from Sun then," Mir was genuinely impressed by this new Sun.

Cloud nodded.

"So, she didn't remember anything?"

"Nope, only some financial knowledge... but now she remembers the accident," he sighed.

"You look disappointed that she started to remember. Wasn't it what you wanted?"

"At first yes, but now I don't know... She is so different... and looks like she also suffered enough... She shouldn't remember for her own good."

Mir shouted, "oh my, you fell in love! Again with the same girl!... Well, she is kinda same g-"

Cloud closed Mir's mouth, "shut up! You gonna wake her up!"

Mir nodded, so Cloud removed his hand. "So we can say you are really consistent with your partner," Mir gave Cloud a thumbs up.

Cloud rolled his eyes, "so what?"

"Nothing," Mir replied, "I believe rain and cloud are a better match than sun and cloud, don't you agree?"

"Who knows..."