waking up married

Chapter 1 A Strange Man

"Hey, sweetheart, how are you doing today?" Caroline was greeted softly by the man next to her.

"Not bad." Her response was rather indifferent, showing no desire to engage in further conversation.

A little more than a week prior, Caroline was in a car accident.

The accident left her head injured. Upon awakening, she found herself engulfed in darkness, her mind clouded and disoriented.

The voice that roused her belonged to a man claiming to be her husband. He warned her of the dangers outside, compelling Caroline to vow to never leave this place.

Despite her blindness, Caroline could sense the man's tender and thoughtful care, as he attended to her needs meticulously.

Her body bore the scrapes from the accident, and he meticulously tended to her wounds daily. Yet, the finer his care, the greater her resistance grew.

The reason was that she didn't recognize this man at all! Moreover, having just turned eighteen, how could she be married? Nevertheless, no matter how much Caroline resisted, the man remained inseparably by her side day after day.

Feeling helpless, Caroline resolved to wait until she was feeling better before making her escape.

A week later, Caroline could see clearly again. Unnoticed by the man, she seized the opportunity of his absence to stealthily find a way out.

The lengthy corridor was shadowy, adorned with quaint lamps hung on the walls that cast a chilling light. It was an arduous descent from the sixth floor. Caroline was tantalizingly close to freedom, one long hallway away from the outside world when the man emerged once again.

"Darling, where are you?" His voice, deep and fraught with anxiety, reverberated along the vacant hallway.

She thought to herself, "Damn, how on earth did he realize I was missing so quickly?"

Crouched in a corner, Caroline grabed a vase. Her grip tightened.

"God, please forgive me. Considering how long this man has cared for me, I promise I'll be easy on him! It will suffice if he just loses consciousness." She made up her mind.

With each footstep drawing nearer, her anxiety amplified.

Caroline held her breath tightly.

He didn't spot her tucked away in the corner and continued toward the hallway's end.

Glancing at his wide back, Caroline felt a moment of hesitation but then resolutely lifted the vase and brought it crashing down on the back of his head.

The man let out a muffled groan and turned his head, prompting Caroline to instinctively step back. "Oh no, I've gone easy on him without using enough force, and now he's surely going to be furious!"

However, the man merely rubbed the back of his head. When he caught sight of her, rather than showing annoyance, his face broke into a smile of relief.

"Thank goodness, you're okay. You can't imagine how worried I've been about you." His slender fingers bore faint traces of blood.

Caroline didn't buy his words at all; the sight of his smirking lips sent a shiver down her spine.

"He got struck and yet he chuckles? Is he out of his mind?!"

In the next moment, his arms enveloped her, pulling her into an uneasy embrace that allowed her a clear view of his face for the first time.

His features were striking—the sharp jawline, the defined nose, topped with a smile that had graced her lips too often recently.

The handsome face did look familiar, yet Caroline couldn't dredge up any memories connected to this man.

"Please, let me go!" she implored the man desperately, "I don't know you, nor am I your wife..."

"Caroline, you can see again?" The man's gaze settled on her green eyes and lit up with astonishment, as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. "Thank God. I was so worried you might never see again."

Stunned, she froze.

Wait! How did he know her name? Was he truly an acquaintance?

Throughout the past week, he had been calling her "honey" or "babe", despite the fact that they were complete strangers. His closeness made her uneasy. After all, she wasn't fond of men who resorted to such sweet talk before they got to know each other.

Now, things seemed to become complicated.

The man led Caroline down to the second floor. They entered a room where he swiftly locked the door behind them and gently set her down.

The water from the vase had soaked his shirt, prompting him to peel it off unhurriedly, revealing a well-defined torso.

Caroline blushed and averted her eyes abruptly.

Absentmindedly cleaning the blood from his head and hand with the discarded garment, the man then tossed it aside. He approached a safe in the room and crouched to open it.

"I know you don't trust me. I could have demonstrated the truth to you, but after the car accident, when your eyesight failed to return, I didn’t know what to do." the man said with a gentle smile, "Thankfully, you can see now."

Proof? What could possibly prove that he was her husband?

Caroline felt tense, yet she found herself intrigued by his words. As she was pondering whether to seize another opportunity to flee when he was distracted, the man extended a document and a photograph towards her, catching her completely off guard.

"These are our marriage certificate and wedding picture," he declared.

Caroline's mind nearly came to a halt.

Her hands trembled as she gingerly accepted the certificate, her eyes scanning over the familiar scrawl of her name and vow etched beside the name Eric Connor—the man right beside her in the photograph. There they were, leaning into each other with beaming smiles.

A single name echoed in her memory—Connor, but he was her mother's boyfriend!

Caroline's eyes hurriedly scanned the document, searching for any discrepancies, until her gaze landed on the date at the bottom. Her eyes widened in surprise because it stated "December 25, 2022".

"It should be the summer of 2018 now, right after I have just turned 18! Could I..." She was confused.

A look of sheer terror swept across her face as she gazed at that Eric.

Eric, as if reading her mind, nodded and confirmed her worst fear, "Yes, Caroline, you've lost your memories."

Caroline's world began to spin.

Words spilled from Eric's lips, but she could scarcely comprehend them.

"It's now 2024," he murmured. "We've been married for nearly two years."

There was a gap in her memories—all she could recall were the days before her eighteenth birthday.

She realized then Eric simply a devoted husband caring for his amnesiac wife post-accident.

But what had she done in return?

She had hurled a vase at his head, suspecting him of the worst, contemplating nothing but escape.

She was overwhelmed by a surge of guilt. "I'm sorry... I didn't realize I’d lost my memory. Forgive me..."

Having felt nervous and scared all the time, now she finally couldn't take it and burst into tears.

"Honey, that's okay," Eric's voice caressed her ears, tender as ever.

He cradled her face with a softness that spoke of love and care. "Your eyes are still healing. Tears might harm them. It's my fault for failing to obtain your trust."

The warmth of Eric's bare, robust form against hers kindled a fiery sensation under her skin, sending tremors through her body.

His hand slipped beneath her shirt, the callused fingertips caressing the smooth skin at her waist.

Caroline's mind reeled, a reflexive resistance surging within her. Yet, Eric's voice weaved seductive assurances in her ear. "Honey, I'm your husband. With your eyes healed, we really ought to 'celebrate'."

Her cheeks flushed, understanding dawning upon her.

Intimacy was a natural facet of marriage, wasn't it?

" Eric, I don't know how..." Caroline's mind fiercely clung to the identity of an 18-year-old, naive and inexperienced in the ways of love.

Eric chuckled softly. In the next instant, his lips found hers in a tender kiss.