Chapter Four
1075 Words
Five months had passed since the accident. Five months of blank spaces, polite smiles, and carefully constructed lies.
Andrew Howard stood before the tall glass window of his penthouse, watching the city stir beneath the morning light. From this height, the world looked distant, and small the way his life now felt. Behind him, a suit jacket hung on the back of a dressing mirror, the blue tie draped neatly across it. He didn’t know why, but he reached for that one every time.
Today was important. His first official board meeting since the accident.
The meeting had been postponed for months, the board waiting in silent hope that his memories would return before he resumed full control. They hadn’t. But business couldn’t wait for lost pieces of his mind.
At exactly ten o’clock, Andrew walked into the conference room of Howard & Co., the empire he built but barely remembered. The board members rose to their feet, their greetings polite and tinged with relief. And at the head of the long mahogany table, Andrew took his seat, the seat that had always belonged to him.
His assistant, Jerry, stood at his side, flipping through a stack of documents. “These are the reports from Singapore and the projections for the quarter. The new clients from Tokyo are on board, but they’re waiting on your signature to finalize the deal.”
Andrew nodded slowly, eyes scanning numbers that meant everything and nothing at once. “Right. Singapore…”
He frowned faintly. The name felt heavy on his tongue, like a ghost of a thought refusing to fade.
Jerry continued, unaware of his distraction. “You’ll also need to approve the staff restructuring proposal and…”
The door opened quietly.
“Sir,” his secretary, Lillian, said as she stepped in. “You have an important call on line one.”
Andrew’s gaze lifted. “Who is it?”
“He didn’t say, sir. Just that it’s urgent.”
Jerry reached for the phone, placing it gently in Andrew’s hand. “Here, I’ll stay on standby.”
Andrew pressed the receiver to his ear. “Hello, this is…”
The word Andrew caught halfway in his throat.
A sharp, blinding pa!n moved through his skull. He winced, pressing a hand against his temple as the world blurred. Voices around him became muffled, distant. Jerry’s concerned tone faded into the background.
And then, a flash.
A boardroom. The smell of polished wood and perfume. His phone buzzing against the table. Jerry’s voice saying something urgent on the other end. His heartbeat pounding as he rose from his seat in Singapore, grabbing his jacket, muttering something about Grace.
Grace.
He could hear her name echo in his head, see the faintest image of her smile, the warmth, the laughter, the way her eyes softened when she said his name. The last kiss they shared and himself saying “it will only be three weeks my love, I promise”.
Andrew gasped, jerking forward, nearly knocking over the chair.
“Sir!” Jerry was beside him in an instant. “Are you okay?”
Andrew’s breathing was uneven. “I… I saw something.”
The room had fallen silent. The board members exchanged nervous glances.
“We’ll adjourn for today,” Jerry announced quickly, ushering everyone out. Within minutes, the room was empty except for the two of them.
Andrew sat back down, rubbing his temples as fragments of memory flickered like lightning in a storm.
“I remember the call,” he murmured. “You called to tell me my wife had filed for divorce.”
Jerry froze mid-step. Slowly, he turned to face him, his expression softening with relief and hesitation. “It’s good to have you back,” he said quietly.
Andrew’s eyes narrowed, confusion knitting his brows. “How did you know? How did you find out Grace was divorcing me?”
Jerry hesitated for a long moment before answering. “It was strange, sir. All of it.” He exhaled. “A day before everything happened, Mrs. Howard came here. She looked… radiant, honestly. Happy. She told me she wanted to plan a congratulatory party for your big contract in Singapore. Said she wanted to surprise you when you returned.”
Andrew blinked,“She came here?”
“Yes,” Jerry said, nodding. “But the very next day, she came back again. She looked… different. Cold. Distant. I told her you were still abroad, and asked if we should start the preparations early. She told me there would be no party.”
He paused, his gaze heavy with meaning. “She was holding some papers and when she came out of your office, she didn’t have them anymore.”
Andrew’s jaw tightened. “The divorce papers,” he said under his breath.
“After she left, I noticed your bottom drawer was slightly open. I saw the divorce papers there. I called you immediately.”
Andrew leaned back, his pulse racing. The memories were still hazy, but each word from Jerry brought them into sharper focus. The shock of the call, the rush to the airport, the rain that night. Then, nothing.
“What could have happened?” he whispered to himself. “Why would she do that? We were fine… weren’t we?”
Jerry shifted uneasily. “I wish I could tell you, sir. But whatever it was, it all changed overnight.”
Andrew rose abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor. “Get the car ready.”
“Sir?”
“I need to see for myself,” he said, his tone firm, almost desperate. “The house. Everything. Maybe it’ll help me find out what happened.”
Jerry hesitated. “Of course, Mr. Howard. I’ll call the driver.”
As Jerry stepped out, Andrew stood alone in the vast office, the skyline stretching endlessly beyond the window. His reflection stared back at him, the picture of composure and power, but his eyes told another story.
Inside, chaos.
Grace.
The name lingered like a prayer and a wound all at once.
He didn’t know what happened between them, but the thought of not having her in his life anymore felt like losing air. And as he straightened his tie, that same blue one she once loved, one truth became undeniable.
Somewhere between the flashes and the fog, Andrew Howard had begun to remember the woman he could never forget.
- Writer
