Chapter One
649 Words
Five Years Later
"Hold it right there."
Lia lowered her camera slightly.
"Perfect."
She stood behind her professional camera, adjusting the focus as a young couple posed beneath a canopy of white flowers.
"Look at each other," Lia instructed.
The couple turned toward one another.
"Not the camera. Forget I'm here."
They laughed.
Lia smiled.
She pressed the shutter.
Another photograph.
Another moment captured.
She lowered her camera and studied the screen.
Perfect.
That was what she loved about photography.
She could freeze a moment before it disappeared.
A smile.
A glance.
A touch.
A memory.
Memories.
Her smile slowly faded.
That word always made her uncomfortable.
"Lia?"
She looked up.
Her assistant, Mia, was standing beside her.
"Are you okay?"
Lia blinked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"You've been staring at the same picture for almost a minute."
Lia glanced at the camera screen.
"Oh."
She smiled.
"Just making sure I got the shot."
Mia raised an eyebrow.
"You got it on the first try."
"I like making sure."
"You're a perfectionist."
"That's why you hired me."
Mia laughed.
"I thought I was your assistant."
"You are."
"Then why does it feel like I work for you?"
"Because you do."
They both laughed.
Lia packed her camera equipment as the photoshoot came to an end.
Five years ago, she couldn't remember some of her memories after the accident.
Now, photography had become her way of understanding life.
She photographed weddings.
Engagements.
Families.
Strangers in love.
People beginning their lives together.
She captured the moments people were afraid they would forget.
Maybe that's why she loved it.
Because somewhere deep inside, she knew what it felt like to lose something without even knowing what it was.
"Lia."
She turned.
The couple she had photographed approached her.
"Thank you so much," the bride said. "You made everything look beautiful."
Lia smiled.
"Thank you for trusting me with your memories."
The bride hugged her.
"I'm sure we'll treasure these forever."
Forever.
The word lingered in Lia's mind.
She watched the couple walk away hand in hand.
For a moment, an unfamiliar image flashed through her mind.
Rain.
A man's hand.
Her fingers intertwined with his.
She blinked.
The image disappeared.
Again.
It had been happening more often lately.
Fragments.
Never enough to make sense.
Sometimes it was a voice.
Sometimes a place.
Sometimes the feeling of being loved.
But never the face.
Never the name.
She had stopped trying to force herself to remember years ago.
The doctors had told her that some memories might never return.
She had accepted that.
Or at least, she thought she had.
"Lia?"
Mia's voice brought her back.
"Hmm?"
"Coffee?"
Lia smiled.
"Definitely."
They walked toward the small café across the street.
Lia glanced at the camera hanging from her shoulder.
She had spent five years capturing everyone else's memories.
Perhaps that was enough.
Perhaps she didn't need to know what she had forgotten.
She had a life now.
A successful photography career.
A comfortable apartment.
Good friends.
A peaceful routine.
She is happy.
At least, she thought she is.
That evening, Lia returned home.
She placed her camera carefully on the table before walking toward the window.
The city was glowing beneath the night sky.
She watched the headlights moving along the streets.
Then she heard it.
A voice.
So faint she almost thought she imagined it.
I'll make you fall in love with me again.
Lia froze.
Her breath caught.
She turned around.
There was no one.
The apartment was empty.
She slowly touched her chest.
Her heart was beating strangely fast.
"Who are you?"
She didn't know why she asked.
She didn't even know who she was talking to.
But somewhere in the deepest corner of her memory—
there was a man.
A man she had once loved.
And even though her mind had forgotten him...
something inside her was still waiting to remember.
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