News reached Liam's family early in the morning. Through a phone call from Leiyah, his parents finally learned what happened to Freya. His mother's eyes immediately filled with tears as she listened to Leiyah's trembling voice.
"Amnesia, Ma…" Liam whispered, staring blankly at the floor of their living room in Japan. "She didn't remember me. She even sent me a message asking… who I was."
"Son…" his mother's voice quivered. But before she could continue, his father entered the room, his face grim.
"We can't keep hiding this anymore," his father said coldly. "It's time they knew everything."
Liam froze. "What do you mean, Pa?"
His parents exchanged a heavy glance, as if carrying the weight of a long-buried secret. And then, with a deep sigh, they themselves called Freya's family in the Philippines.
---
In Freya's home, everyone gathered in the living room. Her mother, father, and Leiyah sat together, all filled with tension. Freya, hugging a pillow to her chest, listened silently—still lost in confusion.
From the phone speaker came the voice of Liam's father.
"You deserve to know the truth… from the very beginning, our family had an agreement with Miya's family."
The room fell into silence. Freya's mother turned to her husband in shock, while Leiyah's jaw dropped, eyes wide in disbelief.
"An agreement? What do you mean by that?" Freya's father asked firmly.
Taking a deep breath, Liam's father explained, "Back when we had nothing, Miya's family helped us. They gave us a house, support, everything we needed. But in exchange, there was a promise—that when they came of age, Liam would marry Miya."
It was as though Freya's family's world crumbled in an instant.
"What?!" Freya's mother shouted, her voice breaking with rage. "You knew about this, yet you still allowed Liam to come into my daughter's life?!"
Leiyah clenched her fists, her whole body trembling. "Wait—does that mean Liam knew about this all along?!"
There was a pause. Then Liam's mother answered softly, almost in shame. "Yes. We told him before we left. That's why he rushed his departure."
Leiyah's eyes widened, her voice laced with hurt and fury. "So you made Freya believe in him? You let her fall… while all along, she was just being fooled?!"
Freya's mother dropped to her knees beside her daughter, who was still clutching the pillow tightly. "Freya, sweetheart… are you hearing this? Do you understand what they've done?"
But Freya only shook her head faintly, her eyes dazed. "I… don't understand. Who really is Liam to me? Why… why is everyone angry?"
That was when her mother's anger finally burst. "From now on, forget Liam. He's gone. He doesn't deserve to be part of your life anymore!"
---
The next day, Liam's family cut off every possible contact with Freya. Social media accounts were deleted, phone numbers were changed, and even Leiyah could no longer reach Liam.
"You must stop contacting her, Liam," his father said sternly. "The support Miya's family gave us came with conditions. If you defy them, we risk losing everything. Do you want that to happen?"
Liam was speechless. He wanted to scream, to run back to the Philippines, to hold Freya and tell her everything. But one look at his parents' faces—haunted by fear of losing the life they'd rebuilt—was enough to cage him in silence.
Inside his room, Liam finally broke down. In his hand was the hibiscus crocheted flower Freya had given him before he left.
"I love you, Freya. Please wait for me."
Now, those words felt almost impossible to say.
---
Meanwhile, in Freya's home, her family and Leiyah worked tirelessly to comfort her, to bury every trace of Liam.
"Calm down, anak," her mother whispered as she brushed her daughter's hair. "You'll forget him. You don't need him anymore."
"It's nothing, Freya," Leiyah added, though her own voice cracked with hidden pain. "He doesn't deserve you. He never did."
And yet, every night before she fell asleep, Freya would feel a hollow ache in her chest. A sadness she couldn't explain. As though a piece of her heart was missing—someone important she couldn't remember.
What she didn't know was that piece was Liam, and the love everyone else was desperately trying to erase.
---
POV: Liam
I sat at my desk, pen in hand, but I couldn't write a single word. Freya's face haunted my thoughts—her laughter, her smile, the way her eyes lit up when we were together.
But now… all of it had been stripped away. Even she herself was being forced to forget me.
"Forgive me, Freya…" I whispered, clutching the keychain that held our picture together. "I want to fight for us. But I can't go against my own family."
And in the darkness of the night, I knew—our worlds were slowly drifting apart.