Brody Lewis, my fiance, said that I had a rare form of transient global amnesia, which was a sudden, temporary memory loss.

Every seven days, I would open my eyes and become the twenty-five-year-old Riley Taylor again. My memories were forever stuck in the past.

In my pen drive were videos of Brody taking me on trips, bringing me for treatment, and proposing to me. Everything seemed great between us, but I remembered none of it.

“Riley’s still around. Can’t you keep your hands to yourself?”

“Don’t worry. It’s Monday tomorrow. After she wakes up, she’ll remember none of it,” Brody said, and my heart sank. “Isn’t this more exciting?”

Brody embraced my best friend, and they made out brazenly in front of me. They were not shy about it at all.

I wondered just how many times this had happened over the past two years.

I ran as tears blurred my vision. When I arrived at a tattoo shop, I grabbed the tattoo artist like a drowning man holding on to a log. Then, I asked the tattoo artist to tattoo these words on my arm in my handwriting.

[Leave him.]

“You’re awake?”

The pungent smell of disinfectant invaded my nose, and a sharp pain similar to being hit by a sledgehammer struck my head. It hurt so much that I nearly fainted.

Feeling helpless, I looked at Brody Lewis, my fiance.

“I know that you’re really confused right now. Calm down first, then check out this pen drive.”

My memories were stuck on the day of the accident.

We were on a highway. The car ahead of us had suddenly hit the brakes, and Brody had instinctively swerved to the side. But he had done it to save me, not himself.

He crashed into the railing and survived despite his serious injuries. In contrast, I was not injured anywhere else except my head.

The first thing Brody did after he woke up was to propose to me while still in his hospital scrubs.

I could not bear to continue watching and just threw myself into his arms. When I looked up, I saw a hint of pain in his eyes.

In an instant, a great unease seized my heart like a snake.

I had transient global amnesia? Why did I have such a strange illness?!

Did he really want a lover who would never change?

Would he become fed up with me?

“Why are you in another ward?” Just then, a nurse brought in a familiar face. It was Rose Stone, my best friend. She had also been the one to hold the camera when Brody proposed to me.

I thought that Rose had rushed over to see me. But the moment she came in, she moved past me and put a hand on Brody’s shoulder instead. Her red nails stood stark on his dark suit jacket.

“Brody, an emergency popped up in the company. They need you to handle it. I’ll take care of Riley.”

Brody calmly removed her hand from his shoulder and gave me an apologetic look.

“Riley, get Rose to send you back later.”

When did they become such close friends?

She had always been antagonistic toward Brody.

Whenever I argued with him, she would tell me to break up with him and say that he was not worthy of me. Why was she working at his company?

I frowned. Brody planted a brief kiss on my forehead while he told Rose to make sure that I finished watching the videos.

“Got it. Go on,” Rose promised with a smile.

One of them was my future husband, and the other was my best friend of many years. Yet, I felt like I was the outsider in this situation.

The only sound left in the ward was from the videos.

I did not want to miss any details and did my best to carve all of the happy memories into my mind. That way, I could reclaim the link between me and Brody.

For a moment, I forgot that I was still receiving an IV transfusion. My blood flowed backward, and the tube turned red.

“Rose, please get a nurse to change my drip.”

She only looked up after I called out to her a few times, and she clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“How bothersome!”

I could not understand why her attitude toward me had changed so drastically. I kept wondering even after Rose checked her phone and left on the excuse that she had something to do.

I took a cab back alone and arrived at the “home” Brody had mentioned.

It looked like a model house, and I did not recognize it. I could not imagine having stayed here for two years.

I took a deep breath and drew the curtains.

However, the moment I raised my arm, I saw a scabbing tattoo on my forearm.

These words stood stark on my skin.

[Leave him.]

The skin around the words was red. Clearly, I had just gotten the tattoo.

When did I have such a hobby?

Puzzled, I called Brody, but no one answered. When I called his office, someone quickly answered. But the person on the other side only yelled in annoyance before they hung up.

“Could you stop?! You call to ask all kinds of questions every Monday! I have my job too! Stop this already!”

“I…”

I got yelled at for no reason, and Brody still would not answer his phone. It made me feel a little dejected. My skin appeared dull, and my eyes looked puffy in the mirror. I was completely different from the person in my memories.

This was not how things should be…

I found a makeup box that had been put away for a long time under the bed, and I cleaned myself up.

However, Brody did not come back even after the sun had set.

Tears flowed down my foundation-covered cheeks, and I stared at my crestfallen reflection before I swept all my makeup products down to the floor. Suddenly, I felt like quite the joke.

What was I doing?

Could I not survive without Brody?

The bottles scattered all over the floor and revealed the words at the bottom of the makeup box.

[Leave him.]

My mind went blank.

It was my second time seeing these words.

I rolled up my sleeves and compared the handwriting. I wrote the words, alright.

What did they mean?

Who was “him”?

I heard noise from the living room and instinctively rushed out of the room. Just as I expected, Brody had returned. But I saw someone else I was not expecting as well—Rose.

She was dressed differently compared to the day. Clad in a fitting gown, she appeared vibrant and full of life.

“Oh? Were you crying?” She cast me a glance and threw her expensive handbag on the couch before she went to the master bedroom. “I’m tired. I’m going to take a shower.”

This was too much to take in, and I did not know how to react. I instinctively looked at Brody for help.

He had not changed much over the past two years, but he had become more mature. But when I saw his indifferent expression, I found him to be a stranger. I could not feel any sort of closeness to him.

He sighed and reached out to me.

Yet, when he touched my arm, I instinctively shook it off for some reason. His hand remained frozen in the air as a result.

“Rose moved in to take care of you. Don’t read too much into it, okay?”

I merely lost my memories; I did not have dementia. Did I really need her to move in to take care of me?

As I lay in bed, I found myself unable to understand it.

Just then, Rose knocked on my door and placed a glass of water beside me. Her attitude was completely different from before.

“It’s time for your medicine, Riley.”

She looked at me eagerly, as though she would not leave if I did not take my medicine.

Brody sat on the couch and looked at her before turning his gaze to me. In the end, he nodded.

“The doctor prescribed it for you. Take it.”

That night, I slept deeply.

When I woke up, the spot beside my bed was cold. Brody had left a long time ago.

Rose was checking her makeup at the door. Her lips were eye-catching, but even more eye-catching were the marks that her low collar could not hide.

If I remembered correctly, her neck was free of marks last night.

It was just one night. How…?

I narrowed my eyes and motioned at the marks with my hand.

“Your neck…”

“Oh, I nearly forgot.” She grabbed a scarf and wrapped it around her neck. “Brody’s telling me to hurry up, so I have to go. Don’t misunderstand. We’re just meeting up with a client.”

Rose flashed a smile at me.

The morning sun shone on her, but I felt chills down my spine.

In the afternoon, Rose sent me a message saying that she and Brody would come back for food. But they only returned as midnight rolled over, and they stank of alcohol.

Brody stared at the food on the table and frowned. “Didn’t you eat?”

“Oh, I’m so forgetful!”

Rose batted her eyelashes and feigned frustration as she looked at Brody. “I forgot to tell Riley that we weren’t coming back to eat.”

“It’s fine. She’s the stupid one here.”

Soon, Rose gave me another glass of water and asked me to take my medicine. Brody continued to allow this to happen.

“Do I have to?” I asked him.

He sat in a dark corner, and I could not read his expression. After a moment, he nodded.

I was indeed stupid, but I was not going to be stupid twice.

I already found it strange that I fell into such a deep slumber last night. So, right before them, I put the medicine in my mouth. Feeling satisfied, Rose left, but I immediately spat out the medicine that I had hidden under my tongue.

This time, I clearly noticed how she brushed the marks on her neck as she gave Brody a flirtatious glance.

I shut my eyes, and my heart raced.

Soon, I heard Brody get up. The sound of his footsteps drew closer to me before leaving my side. Then, he left the study.

I dragged my feet behind him and felt like my entire world was a huge lie.

Yesterday, I had a loyal lover, just like the ones written about in fairy tales. But at this moment, it felt as if someone had pricked the bubble that was my dream, and everything turned to nothing.

Brody had Rose pinned against the couch as he embraced her like an unrestrained horse. They looked like a pair of lovers who could not control themselves around each other, just like in the movies.

I finally knew how Rose got those marks.

The second Brody saw me, the passion in his eyes disappeared, and he reached out to tug Rose’s collar.

Anger made me snap. I rushed in and slapped him across the face. I was so mad that I was trembling.

“Why?! What did I do wrong that you’d humiliate me like this?!”

The tattoo on my arm, the hint at the bottom of the makeup box, and the marks on Rose’s neck… I finally understood everything.

No one would take care of others without expecting anything in return.

“I told you to go to the room, but you insisted on doing it in the living room.” Rose caressed Brody’s cheek with pity on her face. “Look. We messed up when it’s only Tuesday.”

I could not believe my ears and found the entire situation ridiculous. I could not imagine just how many times I had seen this over the past two years.

Brody walked over to me with a dull, unreadable look in his eyes.

“Please just let me leave…”

My body moved ahead of my thoughts. Seemingly in shock, I avoided Brody. But before I could reach the door, he dragged me back and held me tightly.

“Don’t go.”

I trembled like a leaf while he caressed my back with a gentle look on his face.

I absentmindedly thought that the Brody of the past had returned.

“Things have been hell for me over the past two years…” He tightened his hold as if he was worried that he would lose me at the next second.

“Over the past two years, I brought you to Disney World twenty times, and we went to see the aurora five times.” He wore a self-deprecating smile. “But you remember none of it.

“What you saw earlier isn’t what you think. Could you give me another chance?”

Brody choked up, and I felt my heart clench in pain.

The more loving his words were, the more he disgusted me.

Right then, Rose interrupted him.

“Let me talk to Riley,” she said before giving him a look.

After he returned to his room, he did not interrupt us again.

Rose sighed and sat beside me. A long period of silence passed before she hesitantly took out a medical report. Her name was written on it.

How could Rose have stomach cancer?

Rose told me that she had always liked Brody and had loved him for far longer than I had.

However, due to her low self-esteem, she never dared talk about her love. To her, Brody was the unreachable moon in the sky. Meanwhile, I was her best friend and the one who was most worthy of him. Ever since I started pursuing Brody, she decided to hide her love.

This lasted until she learned that she had terminal-stage stomach cancer.

“I don’t have much longer to live, Riley. I’m going to look for a quiet place and live out the rest of my life alone. After I die, you have to live a good life with Brody.”

I stared at her medical report and felt sad.

I did not hate Rose. Whether she had betrayed me intentionally or not, it no longer mattered.

We spoke for a long time. She left after that, but I could not calm down even after a long time had passed.

She was going to die anyway, but I still intended to leave.

When I woke up the next day, I found the house empty.

While there was no one at home, I quickly packed up, but I could not find my passport.

I could not find it even after searching through every nook and cranny. But I did find a battered notebook.

On the cover were two words.

[Leave him.]

With trembling fingers, I flipped the notebook open. The edges were yellowing. By the looks of it, these words had been written far earlier than the words at the bottom of the makeup box.

There were only a few words on the first page, but the contents were terrifying.