The Wind Surrounding Us

First Meeting After Waking Up

France, Paris

Résidence Palais Platine

October arrived. There was no cloud cover. A brilliant sunbeam illuminated the sky. A little chilly breeze was blowing. Things were looking good outside.

It was clear that Arion Langston, who was in his study room, wasn't in an excellent mood. Instead, he seemed quite gloomy, the opposite of the outside weather. He was checking her information. It had been nine months since she was in a coma. Now that she had recovered fully, it was a matter of time before she woke up.

Heavy sighing escaped Arion. He only desired to be with her. No one could have predicted her sister's antagonizing behavior or that those dimwits would start firing. It was entirely his fault that she was in this state now.

Two years and seven months ago, he first encountered her at the conference. March had come and gone. Everything was crystal vivid in his memory. Tokyo University sent a group of students to compete with their game idea pitches. They played admirably for the first year. The panel of judges was astounded. Arion Langston was, in fact, among them.

Even more so, the brunette piqued his interest. He was captivated by her talent as much as by her attractiveness. His favorite part was the way her dark eyes shone through. They radiated innocence. He found himself unable to tear his gaze away from her eyes the second they met. Like the sunbeams, he beheld her radiant smile. He witnessed her engaging in a diverse array of activities, including conversation, competition, enjoyment, dining, dancing, singing, and gossiping. She was enchanting in every way.

He managed to gather a few details about her. In terms of style, she was a master. It was her idea from start to finish. The people portrayed were perfect. She did an excellent job bringing the characters to life, and her motivations for creating the game were crystal clear. Her timing and preparation were spot on as well. It was a fantastic match. He had a feeling the game would skyrocket in popularity once it was released.

Last but not least, he made a generous offer to purchase this game. Once Hua Lan and her staff had sorted out their ideas, they reached an agreement. They were well aware that they lacked the necessary funds and assets to release the game. As a result, they caucused. Half of the funds had already gone to their school, he found out later. She used her portion to purchase an apartment for herself, while the other half was shared among them.

He oversaw the shipment of four laptops from Langston Corp to the members of her team after the tournament. Accompanying the PC were state-of-the-art mobile phones, tablets, and other electronic devices.

In his memory, he could still see the "verge of dying" expression on his assistant's face as he witnessed his boss distributing the company's latest equipment to a few students. She became concerned when the assistant brought the devices to his team. His doubts were dispelled, though, when his employer instructed him to observe her every action closely.

Bam!

The sound of the door opening interrupted Arion's memories, which caused him to feel shocked and subsequently furious. Josh Ernest stormed into the room before he could utter a word.

Seeing his medical friend gasping for air, he stood up. He wondered whether something had happened to her.

Seeing his doctor friend out of breath, he got up. 'Maybe something happened to her,' he thought.

"Sh... she is awak—"

The breathless man couldn't finish the sentence before the impatient man stormed out of the room.

-----

Knock! Knock!

The two ladies turned to see a handsome man standing at the door. The nurse hurriedly stood up and greeted the man with a bow. "Master Langston!"

The girl beside her also stood up. Her smile was gone when she spotted him at the doorway and gave him a curious glance, not knowing who he was. When she heard the nurse's greetings, she realized who he was. "So, you must be Arion Langston the Great," she said with a smile.

Arion raised an eyebrow. "The Great?" He was confused by the new addition to his name.

"Yeah, Caroline mentioned that you are a great man. So generous and kind that even Mother Teresa would adopt you as her son. So rich that you could buy a whole country. Most of all, you have my gratitude for saving my life," she said. Perhaps it was because she had talked too much after a long time, her throat dried up quickly. She coughed. Her left hand grabbed the glass of water and gulped it down.

Arion's expression hinted at concern, waiting for her to drink water. He showed no hint that the compliment had touched his heart. When she was done, she wiped her lips with the back of her hand, only to realize Arion offered her a white handkerchief. She froze. So did he.

After an awkward moment, Arion withdrew his hand and put the handkerchief back in his pocket. "You can take it slow," he gently said.

Feeling embarrassed, she tugged a strand of her hair behind her ear. She wanted to have a conversation with him, but didn't know what to say.

Arion noticed her discomfort. He cleared his throat and asked her, "Are you feeling better?"

Finally, having a line for a conversation, she sighed in relief. "Thank you for your care. If it weren't for you saving my life, I wouldn't be alive. I heard it's been nine months since I was in a coma. It was you who hired a medical team to save my life. You could have given up on my life in nine months, but you didn't. Mr. Langston, I don't think I will be able to pay you this lifetime."

Arion stated, "You, being alive, puts me at ease."

She couldn't understand his attitude. She couldn't believe someone would be so generous to her. It only piqued her curiosity. She smiled and said, "You jest… I know you lack nothing, but you helped me. I owe my life to you."

"That's not necessarily true," Arion firmly denied her claim.

She waited for him to say more. As she waited, he said, "Your life belongs to you. If possible, please live well. That will serve the purpose."

"Isn't that given?"

"That being said, do you remember how you got hurt?"

------------------------

9 months ago...

After all the tests, Josh Ernest said, "Her head is heavily injured. If she had only been shot, it wouldn't have been this severe. It would be only severe blood loss that we could have handled properly. However, the gangs hit her head pretty badly. Her medial temporal lobe has been mutilated, harming her hippocampus and surrounding cortex. As you know, the hippocampus plays a crucial role in consolidating memories; however, over time, many memories become independent of it. Damage here typically causes graded retrograde amnesia."

Arion let out a deep breath. "I don't understand medical language, Josh. Speak English or French. Either would do."

Josh carefully answered, "If you are confused by what graded retrograde amnesia is, it means she might lose her memories. She might forget her memories."

Arion would be a liar if he didn't accept that he was slightly pleased with the answer. He had already started thinking about how to give her a new life while she had forgotten her past.

Josh noticed his expression and sneered. "Don't be happy just hearing that, as I said before, her brain took a heavy hit. The head structure reached the thalamus and mammillary bodies. She may experience false memories upon waking up. I mean, IF she ever wakes up. Sigh… It's quite surprising that she's still alive." As he put pressure on 'if', Arion shot daggers at him.

Josh quickly raised his hand to surrender. "Hey, hey, don't give me that murderous look! We, doctors, worked very hard to make the impossible possible. If you want to kill someone, kill those gangs who hurt her to the extent that she is in a coma now."

"They were burnt alive." Arion's eyes turned cold.

Josh gulped. He nervously thought, 'Well, they deserved it. Hurting- 'the wife of the Demon Lord', what were they thinking?'

"What else?" As Arion asked Josh, he snapped back to reality. He thoughtfully stated, "Except for her brain damage, her breathing is normal. As for her head injury," he paused, "Her brain damage… she is barely hanging onto her life. Head injury survivors may experience a range of neuropsychological problems following a traumatic brain injury. Depending on the severity of the injury, the result on any one individual can vary greatly. Personality changes, judgmental deficits, a lack of impulse control, and poor concentration are all common. When she wakes up, she worries about those things more than her memory loss."

Afterward, he patted Arion's shoulder, "You have to be strong, my friend." Hearing his best friend's caring voice, he placed his hand on top of Josh's hand. "Take good care of her."

Josh nodded. "I will. Please take your hand off mine. I like girls." Saying his lines, he practically fled from the room. As for Arion, all he could do was glare at the door.

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9 months later...

Arion hid what conversation he had with her doctor, Josh. He silently stared at her, waiting for her to reply.

"Honestly, I don't remember anything. Is it because I hurt my head?" She pointed at her bandaged head.

"Do you really not remember anything? Not even a fragment of it?" Arion carefully asked.

She shrugged. "If I could, I'd already ask you to give me a phone so that I could call my family…" She suddenly became silent after saying that. She had already heard from the nurse that she had been unconscious for 9 months. She wondered if she had a family, or why they wouldn't look for her.