Jay's legs shook as she stepped inside the house, her heart hammering so loudly she feared it might give her away before she even spoke.
She approached the elders quietly, clutching herself like she was trying to hold her own heart together.
"Excuse me… may I… may I ask about Keifer?" she stammered, voice trembling.
The elders exchanged glances. Their eyes were kind but heavy with years of knowledge and secrets.
"Keifer…" one of them began slowly, carefully, "he… met with an accident many years ago. It was serious… he was lying unconscious for a long time."
Jay felt as if the floor had dropped beneath her. Her fingers dug into the fabric of her sleeves.
"His wife… our daughter, she helped him recover. He… he lost his memory."
Her stomach twisted.
"Memory?" she whispered, fear creeping into her voice.
"Yes," the elder nodded. "When he woke… the only thing he remembered… was the name of his ex-wife. The only thing that stayed in his mind was… Jay."
Jay's eyes widened. Her throat burned.
"Then…" she whispered. "Then why… why is she calling him… something else?"
The elder sighed, gently. "Our daughter… she changed her name to Jay. You see… she had lost her husband. And her child… the child wanted a father. So she gave him a father… she gave him Keifer."
Jay felt her knees buckle. She sank to the floor, tears spilling freely, her chest heaving.
"After many years…" the elder continued softly, "the child became comfortable… laughed, played, and one day… she told her father that her mother's name was Jay. She told him it was his wife's name… and he remembered."
Jay pressed her hands to her mouth. Her tears fell in a torrent, but this was different — this was a grief sharpened with incomprehensible regret and a bitter taste of fate.
He had lived. He had survived. But her battles, her fights… had pulled the thread of their lives apart, leaving him in someone else's arms, someone else's joy.
And now… even though he remembered her, life had moved on. His child laughed freely, the woman he called wife had cared for him… and Jay… Jay was just standing there, silent, invisible in a story that had been rewritten without her.
Her body shook. Her mind reeled.
She had finally found him.
But it wasn't hers to take back.
And the world… cruel and relentless, reminded her with each heartbeat: some love, no matter how infinite, can never reclaim what fate has rewritten.