“Maybe I don’t want to. Maybe something inside of me decided I didn’t want those memories anymore, which is why they haven’t returned. Maybe I’m happy to be here and not go looking for my past because my gut says I shouldn’t.” I bite harshly, so badly wanting to call him out on his bullshit with all this. Like he conveniently forgets everything, and what about his mistress? I’m sure he didn’t just toss her aside, and she’s probably lurking in the background of his life. The woman he threw me away for.
“You don’t belong here, Sohla!” Bryant cuts in because Jyeon’s at a loss for words, and I know it’s probably because my words triggered the truth. He knows what he did, how it was between us the night I disappeared. I can’t believe he has the audacity to come and act like his beloved wife needs to be returned to him. He can’t be this arrogant.
“Yes, I do.” My stubbornness shows face. “Call me Anna…that’s my name.”
“No, it’s not! It’s Sohla fucking Park…and you belong with me, back home, with our family. You have every reason to come back and take back what belongs to you. Money, shares, the company…. How can you forget OLO when it was your father’s legacy? Did you forget your parents too? And what about our baby? Do you even know we had a kid? Huh? …. Their graves sit waiting for you to come back and see them again. Do you not want to know about your life, your past? Who the people you loved were? If you have siblings? Yoonah, my brother, who loves you like his own sister. Are you not even curious? What about me? Our marriage?” He throws it all in, and it takes every part of me not to explode. How low he can go by using them as bait as though it’ll push me to do what he wants. He has no idea how much I agonized over all of that these past two years.
“You don’t feel like a man I want to be with. Everything you’re saying is nothing but empty words that belong to someone else. Are you sure we were married? I don’t get that from you at all. I don’t get the vibes that you love me, that we had something special….. it feels like I should be getting far away from you and running. My head may not remember, but my body thinks you’re a threat.” I can’t keep it in, gritting my teeth, and even Greta is trying to curb her temper while I’m blurting out too much, so staying quiet.
My words seem to knock Jyeon’s arrogance for a second, and he looks away, clenching his jaw, and seems to take a second to compose himself. Overcome with emotion as my words hit him like a slap in the face. He turns back to me; his eyes glazed slightly, and his expression set firm. We both know that our marriage was empty and cold.
“Okay, I’ll admit, our marriage sucked. We didn’t marry for love but for duty, responsibility, and our parent’s wishes. We had a pretty rollercoaster relationship, but that doesn’t change the fact that I want to take you home. That I care about you, what happened that night, and now. You have to come home with me. This isn’t just about feelings, but your inheritance, your shares…. You left behind so much. You had an entire life.”
“Shares and money….is that why you’re here? You worried now she’s alive that she’ll divorce you because she forgot you and threaten all that?” Greta is trying hard to stay in character and not spill the beans. Bubbling up with the need to call him out directly for what she does know to be the truth. This is hard for us both.
“Is that what you think? After finding my wife alive after two years, I immediately think about what she can take from me?” Jyeon’s temper spikes.
“I’ll divorce you then, give it all up, sign whatever over and resign, what?... Shares? You can have them. If that’s what you came for or are worried about. Give me the papers, and we can call it quits. I haven’t needed anything these past two years. I’ll set you free, Mr. Park.”
He has no reason to still want me dead if I do that. Right? If that’s his goal, I can make it simple and give in right now. Jyeon snorts, unimpressed with my statement, and even Bryant looks shocked about me saying I’ll throw it all away.
“How can you give up everything when you don’t even know what you’re giving up? Are you in the right frame of mind? No, you’re not. Amnesia is grounds for me to take over your care until you recover. You’re doing nothing until then.”
“We petitioned the court for a DNA test to confirm you are Sohla Park positively and a legal guardianship based on your memory loss. To protect you and your finances from those who would use your condition to hold you someplace you do not belong.” Bryant rattles it off, sounding exactly like a cold-hearted lawyer would and not his usual happy-go-lucky self. I balk at what he said, hitting a severe brain freeze, and Greta blurts out in angry impulse.
“What? A fucking what?!?!”
“I told you, I wasn’t leaving my wife here without me. A legal guardianship to take control of her care until she recovers if she ever does. She’s an heiress and worth billions. I have to protect her now I know she’s my Sohla. The courts happen to agree with me.”
We fell into our lie, and now he’s using it as a weapon. Using his lawyer and his calculating mind to fuck me over completely. My mouth dries up, and I have difficulty swallowing, trying to get my brain to connect the dots of what he just said and realizing I can’t exactly backtrack out of it with a sudden memory regain.
“What the hell are you?” My words are feeble from a shocked state that he would be this person. He’s me from two years ago, using anything within his means to get the outcome he wants. Isn’t that what I tried to do to Claire White? This is how we were in that game… always stepping up to outdo an opponent. I would be impressed with his plan if it wasn’t about me.
“You want a divorce? You have to remember why first. You want to give up everything? Then you have to know and remember all the facts before I let you do something so drastic. You want your freedom? You come home, and you take whatever treatment to regain your memory. Right now, you’re a blank slate that I’ll protect until you’re capable of taking control of your own life.” He’s deadly serious.
“You can’t do this… this can’t be legal.” Greta’s fire has dulled to worry. Her voice strained, and she slides back against me and takes my hand in hers, knowing this is real and not what we had planned. Clasping me tight.
“If you try and hide her, we will find her. If you run, you won’t get far. We can forcibly take her if the guardianship is passed, which it will be. I can roll up, pick her up, and make sure you never see her again if that’s what I want.” Jyeon’s words and manner terrify me, and for the first time in my life, I start to wonder if he is capable of trying to kill me. This doesn’t feel like Jyeon, who cares about me. This feels like his father taking down a deal in a ruthless manner that made him famous. In two years, without me taking the hits and acting buffer for him, Jyeon’s grown colder and more able to do the things I used to have to do. He’s grown more brutal and icier than I ever was because he has the added intimidation of a ton more testosterone.
“You’re giving me every reason not to let you touch one hair on my head.” My voice trembles. My fight is wavering because even I know the legal angle is on his side.
“Look, everyone, calm down…. He’s not saying that's the intention. He’s wound up, and at times, he’s a bit highly strung. He genuinely cares about her…. we all do. She has been a big part of our lives since we were kids. Sohla was the baby sister to many of us, and she was there through everything. We all depended on her. No one wants to hurt her or restrict her freedom. We want to take her back to where she belongs and let her find out who she is so she can decide where her future lies with all the facts. Then she can figure out what she wants to do with her wealth. We owe it to her to protect what’s hers and let her sensibly choose.” Bryant is the voice of reason again, and I can’t get used to him being the soft one. Mr stable and calm, while Jyeon seems the devil incarnate.
“You can come with her. I’ll cover whatever earnings this place loses in the meantime. She stays in the family home …..” Jyeon begins.
“No!!” Greta’s venomous interruption is a snap, and I flinch at her sudden yell. Not expecting it at all. “She isn’t staying with those people. She doesn’t know them. Stop trying to force her into things and forgetting that she knows none of you.”
There’s a tense pause, and the two men look at one another before Jyeon nods. Seemingly reading a message on his friend’s face. I’m watching this back and forth like I’m experiencing something outer body and not a part of it.
“We can work it out. We have already contacted specialists who want to see her to evaluate her old head injuries and how much of her memory is absent. My priority is her health and her safety. I didn’t come here to upset her or ruin her life. I want to give her back the one left behind her.”
“Why am I not getting a say in this? Why is it that you can swoop in and take over everything? I’m an adult who’s been living just fine. Why am I now an invalid and mentally incapable?” I’m despairing, hating his hypocrisy, and frustrated at pretending to be oblivious.
“You can’t make decisions with only a tiny number of facts. You’re missing a huge chunk of your life. A judge will agree and rule me your guardian, whether you want it or not, because I’ve had control of your assets all this time. Your status and wealth will make sure it’s fast-tracked, Sohla. Our family is famous, which will only make it more urgent that I do this. This is in your best interest, and it’s my responsibility as your family. As the one who watched you grow and work hard, sacrifice so much, to achieve what you did.”
“You just sweep in with all your money and power and destroy everything she’s built here instead. You call it caring, but if she was so happy in her old life, why did she drive off a cliff?” Greta turns nasty again and scowls at both men, throwing one fact they can’t dispute and playing along with the idea it was suicide. It’s a slip on her part, given she’s not meant to know that it was more than an accident because I told the doctor I only remembered falling into the sea. Not the how or why.
Jyeon does seem to falter, opening his mouth to speak and closing it again. I hold my breath in case he picked up on her faux pas. He’s suddenly stricken with a change in expression, and his brow and jaw tense. Battling something internally inside.
“Because I pushed her to it…… I hurt her. I threw her away. And I’ve lived with that for two years. I have to undo the wrongs and give her back her life, her name. I have to restore it all because I know I’m responsible for it.” His words stab me in the chest, hurting me and kicking up anger.
“So, it’s about guilt?” I ask. Bitterness seeping through and hating him for acting like he doesn’t know I would never try and kill myself, and he’s somehow repenting. He knew me better; he knew that I was stronger than that. This is about control and taking things from me while working on damage control. It’s all an act, and this is bullshit. They can’t have people find out about me, now or in the future, without him having to intervene and cover up the fake body news they put out.
“It’s about guilt, yeah….and regret…..and wake-up calls…..and missing you to the point of insanity. I never ever dreamed I would find you alive. I just always hoped. Let me take care of you and all of this until you get your memories back.”
I stare at him like he has two heads, and I almost break the façade with a sudden hitch in my temper and a building tantrum inside me.
“So, if we refuse to negotiate? … If she stays here and we kick you out? What then?” Greta eyeballs the lawyer, and I can see her mentally calculating whether she could take these men on and force them out. I know she’s thinking about whether or not the village could protect me with force. Physical removal and refusal to entertain them or their demands.
“The courts will approve my request, and I will come back here with the manpower to take her willfully. I won’t hold back. There’s no way around this. I’m her husband, I will be her legal guardian, and I will take her home. You can save yourself the hassle by packing bags, coming like good girls, and making it easy on everyone. I told you I won’t let this place suffer financially, and I’ll meet any requests to make it a comfortable transition. My only focus is Sohla.”
“Why don’t I feel like we can trust you at all? In two years, you not once put that wealth and power into finding her, or else you would have. She was right here this whole time. Now you’re forcing her away from the only home she knows.” Greta is fighting a pointless battle, and I sink behind her and stare at my feet, thinking it all through and seeing no good outcome. He wins, no matter what. The courts will side with him; even I know that. It'll only make me suffer if we drag out and fight it. And Greta too.
“How would you know what efforts I put into finding her? How much money I sunk on searches? No body, no answers, no Sohla. You have no idea how I spent months scouring the crash site for a clue of where she might be. How many boats raked the river and searched the surrounding coasts for the tiniest scraps of evidence? Don’t tell me I didn’t try and find her….. I never once gave up on her. I could never let my heart believe she was gone.” His voice wavers, but a deathly dangerous pitch contradicts what he’s saying.
It was always my job to bullshit people into believing the fantasy we wanted them to see. I would never have believed if I hadn’t seen it myself with my own eyes that Jyeon Park has mastered bare-faced lying and does it well. He was useless at it, with an obvious tell anytime he was dishonest. He’s so believable now it makes me sick.
Searched for me? Yet found a body three weeks after I disappeared to be able to call off the search. He used his wealth and power, alright! And the things he says are still mine; I’m pretty sure are already signed to him, seeing as I was deceased. He’s only here in case I rock up one day and screw him over for doing it that way.
My temper finally snaps, and without thought, fuelled by anger, I storm forward the few steps to close the gap between him and me. I grab his wrist and tug his left hand between us, so it’s right there for all to see. Ignoring the sizzle between us as his touch ignites chaotic energy inside me. His naked tanned hand held aloft and dangling. He stares at me, unsure why I’m holding it up. Handsome and still, oozing with masculine energy that makes me feel small and stupid.
“Yet the wedding ring, I’m assuming, matches this….” I grapple around my neck to locate my chain and tug out my necklace, yanking it harshly, so it breaks free and dangling it in front of his face, held up high. “Doesn’t appear to live on your finger. I wonder why? If you kept searching and holding onto hope, how come you took it off? If you never gave up on your precious wife, why didn’t you hold onto such a precious symbol of her existence.” I ask with a raised brow. Sarcasm oozing. Hating him for making me feel this desperate. “You’re proclaiming I’m your wife and making it the focus of all the reasons you get to take me away. Yet … something so important that even a girl with no memory held onto it, and you don’t have one.” My accusation is ended with me letting his arm go with a toss, watching it fall heavily between us while laboring with my shallow breaths of temper. Inwardly seething and broken-hearted at the lack of it.
Jyeon lets out a soft snort of air, like a half laugh, somewhat cocky at seeing what I still have despite my denial of a husband, and reaches up to his neck. He smoothly feels under his shirt collar, not with my same harsh movements, and carefully slides out a long silver chain. Slowly, deliberately while locking his gaze on mine. His expression returned to calm and blank.
As the last of it is pulled free from his clothes, a matching silver band with the same ring of encrusted diamonds swings free right at my eye level. The ring he wore for those entire four years of our married life, even when he hated me the most. A symbol of our fake love for one another in the public eye. He leans down, so his nose is a mere inch from mine, his breath mingling with my air, and he stares at me as though reaching deep into my soul and grabbing hold cruelly. Rendering me mute, in shock.
“Seems we both kept them somewhere safe, close to our hearts, where they would never get lost or forgotten.”