My Boyfriend’s Cheating Was Said to Cure My Amnesia

Chapter 2 Falling Apart

The woman stayed the night at the villa. She was the first in the past twenty days.

When I saw her in the garden, she was sitting on the vine swing. Adrian had built it himself once, just to make me happy.

Now he stood beside her, giving the swing a gentle push now and then, watching her with a soft, smiling gaze.

I felt like an intruder in forbidden territory.

Three days ago, I had been here reading a book and forgot to take it back with me. That was why I came.

With that in mind, I walked over calmly, picked up the forgotten book, and turned away.

They didn't notice the book. They didn't notice me either.

At lunch, Marry, the housekeeper, looked at me with pity. She handed me a thick envelope. "After spending so much time with you, it's hard not to grow attached. Take this. It'll help you later."

By then, Adrian and the girl were already gone. It seemed she knew something.

"Thank you... Is Adrian... asking me to leave?"

She said nothing and walked away. The steak in front of me suddenly tasted like nothing.

It seemed the fastest way to recover my memory was to hit rock bottom all over again.

I remembered the awkwardness of my seventh confession to Adrian.

He had been leaning back on the sofa in a black suit, while I stood in front of him, clutching a gift box that felt embarrassingly childish.

"I don't like girls that young, Lillian. Don't get any ideas." He lifted his gaze slightly and looked toward the man beside him. "Keep your sister in line."

The man shrugged. "Lillian's always been stubborn. She likes you. That's not something I can control."

Inside the box was a ring. I had just started learning handcrafts back then and excitedly made a pair of matching rings.

Even though every confession ended in rejection, I could feel the heat in Adrian's gaze. He wasn't completely indifferent to me.

But that man still advised me to let go. "Adrian's not one of your classmates. He's wild. You won't be able to tie him down."

My own voice echoed faintly in my mind. "Ethan... I still want to try."

'Ethan... so I have a brother named Ethan, but where is he now?'

I tried desperately to recall his face, but my memory stopped at a cramped car interior.

'So much blood...'

I pushed myself up from the table, and just before the pain in my head swallowed me whole, I saw Adrian running toward me.

Then came a long dream. In the dream, I had no parents. My brother and I had only each other.

After getting his year-end bonus, he said he would take me on a road trip. The car had been borrowed from Adrian. They were close.

But the car had been tampered with by Adrian's business rival. It slammed into a cliff at terrifying speed, the impact nearly tearing us apart.

Even as my brother was losing consciousness, he was still calling Adrian. "Please... take care of Lillian."

A promise worth more than gold, and in the end, Adrian had saved me because of my brother's last request.

The fragmented memories slowly pieced themselves together in that dream.

I remembered Adrian's careless, teasing gaze, and how I had always refused to give up, no matter how many times he played me.

Love like a moth to a flame could only end in destruction, and there was no other outcome, so I could not understand why he had lied to me when he had never truly been my boyfriend.

He didn't have to pretend, didn't have to act affectionate.

I struggled out of the dream in tears, only to wake to Adrian's exhausted eyes.

"The doctor says there's nothing wrong with your nerves. Your condition is much better than before." His brows slowly drew together. "If this is just to make me send her away, there's no need to pretend to faint. You could've just said so."

The helplessness from the dream began to overlap with reality.

Adrian placed his hand on my forehead, wiping away the fine beads of cold sweat. "She's gone. Can you stop making a scene now?"

I shook my head instinctively.

So in Adrian's eyes, I was already healthy, and all my pain was nothing more than an act, which was what it felt like to have my heart sliced apart.

"Alright," I said quietly. "I won't make a scene anymore. Not now. Not ever again."