Chapter 5
VICTOR'S POV
It was finally time for me to get discharged after spending weeks at the hospital. Adriana had already explained to me who I am since I could barely remember details about my life.
"Adriana," I said slowly to the woman sitting beside my bed.
"Yes?" she replied gently.
I studied her face, trying to place the familiarity I felt.
"You said you're my wife."
Adriana smiled softly and took my hand.
"Yes," she said.
"How long have we been married?" I had been wanting to ask her this since the first day she introduced herself to me as my wife.
"Not very long," she said finally after a few seconds of silence. "About a year."
A year.
The number felt strange but I had no reason to question it.
"Why can't I remember you? It's been weeks and I ought to have felt some familiarity." I asked quietly.
The question seemed to hurt her and her eyes lowered briefly before she answered.
"Because your life before me was… complicated."
I frowned slightly.
"What does that mean?"
She hesitated again, as if choosing her words carefully.
"You were married before," she said.
The information didn't surprise me as much as it probably should have.
"Divorced?"
"Yes," her voice softened.
"It wasn't a happy ending."
A faint pressure appeared at the back of my head, like my mind was trying to push through a locked door.
"Her name?" I asked.
"Clara," she said.
The name meant nothing to me. It didn't ring a bell at all. I didn't recognize anything connected to the name. Not a face and not a voice either. It was just a word hanging in the air.
"What happened between us?" I asked.
"You mean between you and her?"
I nodded.
Adriana's expression changed slightly.
"She left," she said simply.
Something about the answer felt unfinished. But the effort of thinking was already exhausting me.
The nurse came in a moment later with the doctor, interrupting the conversation before I could ask anything else. While they examined me and discussed test results, Adriana stood quietly near the window.
*****
The doctor finished writing something on the clipboard before looking at me again.
"You've recovered well enough to be discharged today," he said. "But you need to take things slowly for the next few weeks. Head injuries can be unpredictable."
"I understand."
"You may experience headaches, fatigue, or memory gaps. Don't force yourself to remember things. Sometimes the brain needs time."
I nodded even though his words didn't make the situation any less frustrating. My entire life existed somewhere just beyond my reach, like a book I had read once but could no longer recall.
"Someone should stay with you," the doctor added, glancing briefly toward Adriana. "At least for a while."
Adriana immediately stepped forward.
"I will."
Her answer came quickly and almost automatically. The doctor gave a small approving nod before leaving the room with the nurse. For a moment the room became quiet again. Adriana turned back toward me and smiled, though I noticed the faint tension in her shoulders.
"You're finally coming home," she said.
The word home felt strange to me. I tried to imagine the place. A house, maybe. A familiar space filled with memories that refused to appear. Instead, there was only a blank wall inside my head.
Adriana began gathering the few things that had been placed around the hospital room during my stay. Flowers someone had sent, a small bag with clothes folded neatly inside.
"Your brother Felix will meet us at the house later," she said casually while adjusting the strap of her purse.
"Felix," I repeated.
Another name of a person I couldn't picture.
"Yes," she said with a soft smile. "He was very worried about you."
I nodded slowly. Every conversation felt like someone was reading pieces of my life out of a file I had never seen before.
Adriana helped me sit up carefully on the edge of the bed. My body still felt heavier than it should, but at least the dizziness had mostly disappeared.
"Ready?" she asked.
I stood slowly. Adriana's hand immediately moved to my arm, steady and supportive.
"We can take it slow," she said.
I studied her face again. She was beautiful, confident, and completely comfortable standing beside me. Anyone looking at us would believe exactly what she had said earlier. That she was my wife. But the strange feeling in my chest hadn't gone away. It wasn't exactly distrust. It was more like… absence. As if something important was missing and I simply hadn't figured out what it was yet.
We walked slowly through the hospital hallway toward the elevator. Nurses greeted Adriana politely as we passed, some of them smiling at me in that careful way people use around patients who have just survived something serious.
******
Adriana's car was waiting near the entrance when we got there. She helped me into the passenger seat before walking around to the driver's side.
Neither of us spoke while the engine started. The car moved through the morning traffic smoothly.
"Victor," Adriana said softly while behind the wheel.
"Yes?"
"Try not to think too much about the past right now."
"Why?"
She hesitated before answering.
"Because some things are better left behind."
Her words felt somehow to me. I leaned back against the seat, closing my eyes briefly as another dull pressure built behind my temples.
Better left behind. Maybe she was right. Maybe whatever had happened before the accident wasn't worth remembering.
*****
CLARA'S POV
After a series of delays, I finally made it back home. I got delayed for weeks which was odd but at least, I'm now back. The staff welcomed me like always and nothing seemed out of place. But the moment I pushed open the door to my bedroom, my entire world fell apart.
Another woman was inside with my husband standing beside him, as she belonged there.
In about two months of being away, Victor had already replaced me. Worse, he looked at me like I was nothing and ordered me to leave.
Just like that, he threw me out of the room, out of the house, and out of his life.
Standing outside the door, humiliation burning through me, I finally made a decision.
If he could discard me so easily, then I would give him exactly what he wanted.
I would file for divorce.
But not just would I file for divorce, I would make him pay for the five years of my life he ruined.