"Good morning," Xander said in his sleepy voice. I opened my eyes to the light coming from the
windows. " Good morning, Xander. Are you feeling better?" I said, still with my hand on his chest and
my legs tangled with his legs.
" Much better. How about you?"
" Good. I guess we have to leave now. We left the hospital for the whole night without getting you
discharged." I said, moving away from him.
" It was worth it. I get to see my house. Maybe we should come here every day,"
" Hell, no. We are not. You still got some days to go. Be patient." I strictly said and all he did was
smiled.
" Hey, I was thinking of something to do. I never told you that. Do you have a marker?" I asked, already
on my way to search for it somewhere.
" A marker? I don't think it's necessary? Plus, I don't know if I have it."
" It's necessary. The nurse said tomorrow she will remove the head bandage. But you still got time for
your bandage in your arms. I'm going to write some good words in it." I walked around his room, trying
to find a marker.
" You want to make me look funny? I like this plain bandage."
" But I would like to fill it. I got it. I'm will use this and you are not going to deny it. Take it as a payback
for sneaking us out from the hospital." I got hold of his hand without hurting him and opened the
marker.
" It doesn't have to be a payback. You got the permission to do it." He replied, willingly showing his
hand. I wrote Get well soon, his name and some design to make it look good.
" Do you like it? It's looking nice, right?"
" Nope. I don't agree. I think everyone in the road is going to laugh by seeing my bandage."
" You are disrespecting my art. I will make it ugly if you talk like this,"
" It's already ugly. You don't need to make it worse," Xander laughed as I playfully hit with a pillow. After
an hour, we got back to the hospital and finally, the time has arrived. They removed the bandage from
his head. I'm glad the accident wasn't worse. He got some luck. Except for the memory loss part.
" Does it hurt?" I hesitated to touch his head.
" No. Not that much. But I'm not going to take rest." He said, taking something from his bag. He carried
some of his things from his home.
" Are you going to use your laptop?"
" Not at all. I'm hoping to read a book with you." He said, taking a hardcover book in his hand.
" 'The invisible like of Addie LaRue'? I never read it but I know this book will leave us feeling emotional.
Are you sure you want this?"
" There's nothing wrong in getting emotional. Come here," I nodded and joined him in the bed to start
reading from the first page. Now I know the rest of the days in the hospital is not going to be boring.
.....
A day passed. And another. And another. Every day has gone by in a flash. But when it's with Xander, I
embraced each and every moment. But I know I won't be having a good day constantly. Today's the
day when Xander's parents and Henry are coming to visit him. But Veronica's not coming, that's a relief
for now.
I woke up in the same hospital room in bed next to Xander. I don't know how the nurse will react if she
knows that I'm sleeping in the patient's bed. But Xander is not letting me sleep uncomfortably in a chair.
" Are you ready to meet your parents?" the first word I spoke in the morning.
" Are they here, now?" Xander asked with a tension clearly visible to me.
" Not yet. But they will be. You have to talk with them."
" I know. I know. I never wanted this day to come. I will literally have nothing to talk about when they
have a lot to talk about and have a lot of memories. It hurts when I can't return the same love they have
for me. It's better to have many broken bones and a severe injury than losing the memories." He
grieved.
" No. Do you think it's easy to get severely injured. It may take you close to death or take a lot of time to
heal. You will suffer every single second. This memory loss. It can be solved with a solution."
" We never got a solution till now."
" We will. This is not permanent."
Hours passed by and finally, I heard someone's footsteps, they are turning the knob to open the door. I
quickly got down from the bed and settled in the chair. If it's Xander, this is not the way to see me next
to this son when he was already engaged.
But it was the nurse. She came in to inform that Xander's parents have arrived. And Henry too.
Three of them came inside slowly while Xander is getting nervous over their arrivals.
" Hi, Madison, It's been a very long time. I always hoped that I would see you again." Henry talked to
me when the moment he stepped inside.
" Me too. It's been more than five years and you changed a lot, Henry." I said, smiling.
" I don't think so. The only change is my height and you..you are looking the same to me..." He grinned
while my eyes shifted towards Xander's mom and dad. They took a seat next to him and trying to
engage him in a conversation.
" Hello, Xander. I hope you remember my voice," Henry started with a handshake. Everyone is trying to
act like they are introducing themselves to him for the first time.
Every single conversation seems to pass for a long time with a lot of silence. Xander can only act like a
stranger to them all. He politely talks. Nothing more. Nothing less. That hurts him too.
" We have to do something for our son. This hospital isn't good enough for him. They are clearly not
taking any action to fix this problem." Mrs Stevens said to her husband while he agreed.
" I'm ready to spend as much money as I can to take him somewhere else to help to bring his
memories back. I can no longer see him like this. I feel like we lost our son."
While they talked continuously all I can think is, do they have to discuss it here? Right in front of him?
" I'm not going anywhere," Xander interrupted without lifting his head up to see them.
His parents looked at each other in confusion. " You are planning to discharge me from here and take
me to some other country to find a solution for this. I'm not ready to come with you when this is the first
day I'm meeting you after the accident."
" But...you can't postpone it. I can understand. I know that you don't remember anything. That's why we
are planning something to help you," His father said as his mom joined the conversation in the middle.
"And we don't have much time for your wedding too." Anger flashed in Xander's eyes when his mom
mentioned the wedding.
" So, this is why you both have been trying to help me. You should directly say it instead of all this
indirect speech. I haven't told you this but I will say this now. I'm calling off the wedding."
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