The Scandal Code

Sanni woke up disoriented, her eyes heavy and tired. Her eyes fluttered open slowly as her vision adjusted to the light. It was blurry as first until she could see clearly, her head felt heavy and throbbing. All she could see was a white ceiling. “Am I dead? Am I in heaven?”, she thought. A banner stretched across the wall in front of her relieved her tension. Whoever put it there must have known her deeply. Or perhaps it was angels playing a trick on her, she frowned. It read, “Congratulations! You're still on earth!”. She felt someone holding her hands on the hospital bed. “Is that God?” Using all her strength, she lifted a finger, alerting the person. The first face she was her boyfriend. Asher 's head snapped up immediately, he stood up and hovered Sanni's face. “Sanni? Sanni? Can you see me?”, he waved his hand repeatedly in front of her face, voice tinged with excitement and worry. Sanni's sight adjusted clearly to her environment now. She recognized her longtime boyfriend. He looked exhausted and stressed. His face was etched with worry, she smiled inwardly, feeling proud at his devotion. He must have stayed by her side all through, she fell in love with him all over again. A mischievous impulse suddenly occurred to her. She remembered a scene from a movie they had laughed at, a cliché where the heroine wakes up and forgets her prince. It would be a perfect joke to cut the terrifying tension. She let her eyes blink in slow confusion, her voice a fragile and weak. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, her hand fluttering weakly. “Who… who are you?” She expects him to laugh or launch a dramatic declaration of love. The worry on his face didn’t melt into relieved laughter. It froze. Asher opened his mouth slightly in shock. His hand went down slowly as he took a step backwards standing up straight. Sanni, proud of herself maintained a clueless face, her eyes followed his actions and tilted her head towards him. The shock on his face stood for a while, he swallowed and clenched his teeth, his jawline, it shattered and re-formed into a mask of pity. Then the devastating fake news hit her. “Sanni, we broke up years ago. I found you by the road and brought you to the hospital”. Asher said without batting an eye. Asher remembered what the doctor said, she took a serious injury to her head. The doctor was not sure of her waking up any sooner, even if she woke up sooner she might struggle with daily activities or even worse, memory loss. Sanni was too shocked to react, she was too weak, her throbbing head started to ache. “W–What?”, she said her lips trembling. “I'm just doing you a favor Sanni, just because we broke up on your own accord doesn't mean I should ignore you when I saw you on the road that day”, Asher replied smoothly with almost like practiced script. “My own accord?”, she cut in, voice barely above a whisper. “Yeah, I didn't imagine you would go that far. You broke up with me in public and humiliated me. But we are good anyways”, Asher said and shrugged his shoulder like all what he just said meant nothing. Sanni at first doubted her own memory, but then she shun it off. Her memory is crystal clear. Asher and her go a long way back. They were supposed to pick their engagement ring before she got into an accident, Asher was too busy at work to accompany her. She went alone and didn't make it home. “Tf?”, she said and narrowed her eyes. Asher chuckled, “Oh you're definitely fine, look at you cursing.” Sanni went through a myriad of emotions, her headache now intensifying. Asher's lies were too smooth to be sudden. It was too much for her to take. She turned back to the ceiling, her breathing began to get faster. “Am I seeing stars?”, she thought. Her vision began to blur, a splitting wave of pain hit her head instantly. “Ahhhhh”, she began to cry shaking her aching head slowly. The monitor beside her bed began to beep rapidly. Asher panicked, “Sanni! Hey! Hey!”, he quickly took the nurses beep and tapped on it frantically. He ran out of the ward to get the doctor. Asher paced up and down Sanni's ward, he was sure the doctor said she might have amnesia when she wakes up. He saw it as a golden opportunity. The door opened and interrupted his thoughts. The nurses went on their way while the doctor beckoned to him. “Please let's go to my office, Mr Morel”, the doctor said. Asher was impatient on the chair as he watched the doctor settle down. He wanted to know what happened to her. Did she slip into coma again? She just woke up after three weeks. “Is she fine? Is she in coma again?', he rushed the doctor. The doctor sighed. Asher misinterpreted the reaction, he frowned thinking she must have slipped into coma again. Well that's good for him. But he can't show his true colors in front of the doctor. “But doctor, she just woke up after three weeks....” “And you helped her back to sleep?”, the doctor cut in. Asher was taken aback, he opened his mouth to speak but no word came out. “She's just stressed, she's fine.”, the doctor finally said. Asher 's shoulder slumped, disappointment written all over his face. Sanni is fine. If she wakes up and fully recovers, he had no idea what she might do to him. Even though he comes from a wealthy background, he is the second son of the prestigious Morel Empire. Sanni still has guts. “So Mr Morel, you have to take care of .......”, “Thank you doctor”, he stood up and took long strides out of the room. The doctor was left stunned at his behavior. “I have good news for you. She woke up!”, Asher whispered urgently into the phone. “Who?”, the receiver replied. “Sanni!” “What! How's that good news? I thought they said she might never wake up again!”, “I have no idea. Now the best part, she has lost her memory!”, “I'm on my way!”, the call ended. Asher smiled, satisfied.