Loving My Future Murderer

Why Don't I Remember You?

Aira kept staring right at the laptop screen without blinking even once. Her eyes were locked straight onto the random guy in that old photo. Her heart slammed against her chest real hard, making it kinda tough to breathe. Her hands gripping the monitor edge turned colder by the second.

"Who is he?" Aira whispered quiet, her voice breaking right in the middle of the dead silent room. "Why does the way he's holding me look so intimate???"

Before Aira could hunt for answers in the small text right under the picture, a car engine roared out in the driveway. The noise hit super clear, followed by a heavy thud of a car door slamming shut.

Aira gasped, completely startled. That guy literally said he wouldn't be back until late afternoon, but it was barely approaching noon right now. Pure terror hit her whole body. With her hands shaking like crazy, she rushed to close the browser tab, leaving the screen clean on the desktop page. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart down before standing up from the mahogany chair.

Heavy, steady footsteps tapped right down the front hallway. The main front door squeaked soft as it got pushed wide open.

Elian stepped straight into the office area. He was wearing a plain white button-down shirt with the upper sleeves rolled up a bit, holding a black document folder in his left hand. His footsteps stopped dead in their tracks the second he caught Aira standing totally frozen behind his desk.

"Aira?" Elian called out. His voice sounded calm as usual, but his eyes locked sharp right onto the black laptop still running on the desk. "What are you doing in here?"

Aira tried so hard to fix her face so she wouldn't look totally panicked. She hid her shaking fingers deep inside the folds of her gray knit sweater.

"I... I was just walking around downstairs," Aira answered, trying her best to keep her voice straight. "The house was dead quiet, so I came looking for you in this room."

Elian walked closer without taking his eyes off her face for a single second. He set the black folder down on the edge of the desk, then spun the laptop around so it faced right toward him. His eyes scanned the monitor screen for a moment before turning back to stare at her.

"My meeting wrapped up way faster than expected," Elian said quiet. He let out a subtle smile, but his eyes didn't show a single drop of actual warmth. "I noticed this computer screen was left wide open earlier. Were you using my laptop?"

Aira swallowed the dry spit stuck in her throat. There was literally zero point in lying right now. Elian was standing right in front of her, and it was pretty obvious someone had just been using the computer.

"Yeah," Aira owned up to it, totally honest. She forced herself to stare right back into his eyes. "I just wanted to look up stuff about myself. You keep telling me I need rest and can't use a phone, so I borrowed this laptop for a bit."

Elian let out a short sigh. He took one step forward, closing the space right between them.

"Aira, the doctor literally said," Elian said with a soothing, super protective tone. "Your brain hasn't recovered from that hard hit during the car crash. Reading too much info is just going to give you a massive headache and trigger your amnesia to get way worse."

"I don't feel dizzy, Elian!" Aira cut him off real fast. She wasn't about to let him corner her with the exact same health excuses all over again. "I just need to know who I actually was before that crash!"

Elian scanned her face carefully. His expression suddenly turned pretty hard when he noticed the unusual tension practically radiating off his wife.

"So what did you even find on the internet?" Elian asked cold.

Aira didn't answer with words at all. Instead, she reached her hand out toward the mouse, spun the laptop back around to face Elian, and reopened the ancient local newspaper archive link she had hidden moments ago. That gala photo from five years ago popped right back up on the screen.

"I found this," Aira said firm, pointing right at the photo on the monitor.

Elian tilted his head slightly, staring at the image on the screen for a few solid seconds. Not a single trace of surprise showed up on his face. He just observed the picture with a completely blank expression, as if the image meant absolutely nothing to him.

"That's just an old photo," Elian replied super casual.

"It's a photo of me from five years ago!" Aira pushed, her voice trembling as she held back the intense emotion building up in her chest. "And this guy standing right next to me... he's holding onto me so tight! Who is he, Elian?!"

Elian let out a quiet chuckle, a short laugh that sounded completely dismissive of her fear. He leaned his hips against the edge of the mahogany desk, crossing both arms over his chest.

"He's just a business partner of your family, Aira," Elian answered calm. "The event in that photo was a charity gala for local business owners. You attended to represent your dad because he couldn't make it back then. The guy next to you was just an investor working with the Natasya company."

Aira shook her head violently. She wasn't buying the story coming out of his mouth for a second.

"A business partner?!" Aira repeated, her voice dripping with pure disbelief. "If he was just a regular business partner, why is the way he's wrapping his hand around my waist so intimate??? Why do I look so insanely happy in this picture standing next to him?!"

"You're just guessing stuff that isn't even real," Elian fired back fast, narrowing his eyes sharp. "That picture was taken five years ago, Aira. You were super young back then and used to be friendly to literally every single business partner your family had."

"But this photo feels totally unfamiliar yet so real to me at the same time!" Aira yelled out, her voice echoing to fill up the massive room. "When I look at this guy's face, my chest hurts so bad! There's this crazy weird feeling I never feel when I look at you!"

The vibe inside the office instantly turned freezing cold and stiff. The gentle smile that usually sat on Elian's lips vanished completely. His jaw clenched tight, forming a harsh, rigid line that looked terrifying.

"Aira," Elian called out in a low, sharp voice. "WATCH YOUR MOUTH."

"WHY?!" Aira challenged him, stepping closer even though her body was shaking like crazy. "Why am I not allowed to question this photo?! Why is every single news article about my family completely erased from the internet?! I searched the Natasya name on Google, but almost every single story is gone! Every page is taken down! You ordered people to scrub all those news stories, didn't you?!"

Elian stood straight up from the edge of the desk. His tall frame cast a dark shadow that completely boxed Aira in. He stared down at her without blinking even once, his eyes that were once super calm now flashing with pure rage.

"Scrubbing that info was done to protect your family's reputation!" Elian said, his voice dropping into a super deep and dangerous register. "A year ago, there was a huge business scandal trying to ruin the Natasya company's name. Your family lawyers handled wiping all those fake news stories off the internet. Everything was done for your own good!"

"LIAR!" Aira cut in, totally panicking. "You always say everything is for my own good! You lock that door on the second floor, you forbid me from touching a phone, you hide photos from my past! What are you actually hiding from me, Elian?!"

"I AM NOT HIDING ANYTHING!" Elian screamed out loud.

His hand slammed onto the wooden desk surface real hard. This was the absolute first time Elian ever dropped his sweet tone and let out explosive anger right in front of Aira. The entire time, he had been super soft, quiet, and overly caring. This sudden shift made her flinch back a full step.

Elian took a long, heavy breath, trying so hard to regain control of his blown temper. He rubbed his face roughly with his palm, then scanned Aira with a super dark glare. The usual calm persona he put on was completely shattered now.

"I am your husband, Aira," Elian said through tightly clenched teeth. His voice sounded insanely creepy because of how heavily restrained it was. "I'm the one who took care of you while you were lying in a coma at the hospital! I was right beside you every single time you cried out in terror because you couldn't remember anything!"

"If you're really my husband, why don't I have a single memory of us?!" Aira pushed hard. Tears started pooling in the corners of her eyes, not out of sadness, but from pure, overwhelming frustration. "Why isn't there a single wedding photo of us in this huge house?! Why is the only photo I find a picture of me with another guy?!"

"BECAUSE YOU HAVE AMNESIA!" Elian's voice spiked high again, his feet stepping forward as his hands grabbed both of Aira's arms real hard. "Your brain got wrecked from that crash! You forgot everything! And that guy in the picture has absolutely ZERO connection to your life right now!"

Aira tried to twist out of Elian's grip on her arms, but his hands held on way too tight, locking her movements completely. The look in his eyes was so wild and filled with a weird desperation, like the massive lie he built up for so long was finally crumbling down right in front of his face.

"GET OFF ME, ELIAN!" Aira winced, feeling the sharp pain on her upper arms. "YOU'RE GOING CRAZY!"

"I AM NOT GOING CRAZY!" Elian snapped back, his face now standing just inches away from hers. He stared straight into her eyes with a completely unhinged expression. "I just need you to understand that I am your husband! I am the person who loves you more than anyone else in this entire world!"

Aira held her breath tight. A massive surge of fear burned through her chest, but her deep hunger for the truth burned even hotter inside her heart. She stared at Elian's face, which no longer looked calm or perfect at all. The mask of a loving husband had slipped off completely.

She locked her eyes right onto Elian's rage-filled gaze, then threw out one single question that stabbed straight into the core of every lie he had ever told her.

"If I loved you so much, why can't I remember loving you at all?"