He Erased My Memories

I loved Brandon for ten years.

Loved him so much I was willing to let him personally remove my memories.

He said, Alice, forget the things that hurt you. Let's start fresh.

The surgery was a success.

I forgot who Scarlett was, forgot why I cried myself to sleep every night.

Until I found a hidden compartment in his study.

Inside, an entire wall of surveillance screens, all focused on my hospital room.

And Scarlett, wearing my nightgown, leaned into his arms, laughing softly.

"Brandon, once she's completely gone, those shares from the Brown family will be ours."

At that moment, my excised hippocampus throbbed violently.

I remembered. I was never sick.

He was driving me insane, little by little!

Brandon pushed the door open. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.

"Does your head still hurt today?"

I shook my head, instinctively leaning into his embrace.

In the three months since the surgery, Brandon had been unbelievably good to me.

He'd cancel all his business meetings to be there for my rehab, and he'd hold my hand all night when I had nightmares.

But there was always this empty void inside me, just a dull ache.

"Brandon, did I used to love you a lot?"

I suddenly looked up at him.

Brandon's fingers, which were tidying my hair, paused.

"Of course."

He smiled, gripping my hand.

"You loved me so much you'd do anything for me."

It sounded like a declaration of love.

But I inexplicably shivered.

Just then, the sound of an engine drifted in from outside the window.

A car door opened, and a woman took off her sunglasses, looking up.

A sharp pain suddenly stabbed my temple.

"Who is she?"

I clutched my head in agony.

Brandon drew the curtains, his voice flat.

"Just someone unimportant. Don't worry about it."

But that night, I dreamt again.

The dream was full of fragmented scenes.

A woman's laughter, Brandon's cold profile, and my own hysterical crying.

I woke up covered in cold sweat. Brandon wasn't in bed.

Against my better judgment, I found myself walking into his study C the one place he never let me enter.

The password for the lock was my birthday.

I paused, a faint warmth spreading through me.

Until I opened the hidden compartment behind the bookshelf.

An entire wall of screens lit up.

Sixteen feeds, from the bedroom to the bathroom, from the living room to the garden.

Three hundred and sixty degrees, no blind spots.

And in one of the feeds, Brandon was sitting in a hospital monitoring room, staring expressionlessly at me on the screen.

Beside him stood the red-lipped woman from earlier that day.

She leaned on his shoulder, her fingers suggestively tracing his Adam's apple.

"How much longer until she completely loses her memory?"

The woman asked curiously.

Brandon stared at the confused me on the screen, his voice detached.

"Soon."

"Once she signs the share transfer agreement, we can send her to a mental institution."

I stumbled backward, knocking over a photo frame on the bookshelf.

Inside the frame was a picture of Brandon and me.

I was smiling brightly in the photo, but Brandon's eyes were looking off-camera.

I picked up the photo from the floor and instinctively flipped it over. "Scarlett Jensen" was written on the back.

When Brandon rushed into the study, I had already turned off the screens.

"Alice?"

He tried to take my hand.

I sharply pulled it back, staring at him warily.

"Those cameras what do they mean?"

My voice trembled uncontrollably.

Brandon's face froze.

He was silent for a few seconds, then his tone changed when he spoke again.

"For your safety. You've been prone to self-harm after your surgery. I was worried."

What a perfect excuse.

If I hadn't overheard his conversation with Scarlett, I almost would have believed him.

"Who is Scarlett?"

I demanded, staring into his eyes.

Brandon's pupils constricted almost imperceptibly.

"A business partner."

He shifted his gaze, his voice turning cold.

"You don't need to know."

"But I feel like I know her!"

I insisted. "My head hurts so much when I see her."

"That's a normal post-surgery reaction."

Brandon put on his gentle facade again, reaching out to rub my temple.

"Don't overthink it, Alice. Your most important task right now is to recover."

After that day, Brandon assigned more people to look after me.

Nominally for protection, but in reality, it was surveillance.

Even when I went for a walk in the garden, two bodyguards followed me every step of the way.

The next time Scarlett came, I didn't hide.

She carried a fruit basket, smiling innocently.

"Miss Brown, I heard you were ill, so I came to visit."

I stared at her face, trying to recall any memory.

"Did we know each other before?"

Scarlett paused in peeling an orange.

She looked up at Brandon behind me, her eyes subtly shifting.

"Didn't Brandon tell you? We were college classmates."

Brandon frowned, sharply rebuking her.

"Scarlett!"

"Oops, I guess I let that slip."

Scarlett covered her mouth with a light laugh, but there was no apology in her eyes.

"But Miss Brown is like this now, she probably won't remember anyway, right?"

My nails dug into my palms.

At dinner, Brandon tried to feed me soup.

I turned my head away, not wanting to look at him.

"Throwing a tantrum?"

Brandon put down the bowl, a hint of impatience in his voice.

I looked at him, suddenly feeling exhausted.

"Brandon, if I never remember anything, will you always be this good to me?"

He paused.

Then he took my hand, kissing it to his lips.

"Yes, I'll take care of you forever."

That night, I dreamt again.

This time, a boy appeared in my dream.

He stood under a sycamore tree, waving at me.

I wanted to walk over, but a pair of large hands gripped me tightly.

I turned to see Brandon's sullen face.

"Alice, you shouldn't remember him."

I woke up, my pillow soaked with tears.

Such sweet words.

But I knew that his "taking care" was just a pretty way of saying "imprisonment."

Scarlett started coming to the villa frequently.

She always chose to come when Brandon wasn't around.

Today, she brought a bottle of perfume, claiming it was Brandon's favorite scent.

Tomorrow, she'd deliver a nightgown, impossibly sexy.

"Brandon picked these out."

She didn't hide anything, smiling as she looked at me.

"He was too shy to give them to you directly, so he asked me to."

I looked at the almost transparent lace nightgown in her hand.

My stomach churned.

"Take it away."

My voice was flat.

Scarlett placed the nightgown on the sofa, leaning close to me and lowering her voice.

"Alice, is faking amnesia fun?"

My breath hitched.

"I know you've remembered."

She stared into my eyes, triumph sparkling within them.

"But what good is remembering? Brandon trusts me now."

She stood up, looking down at me.

"Those shares your parents left you, they'll be ours eventually. As for you?"

She paused, her smile brilliant.

"I've already picked out a mental institution for you. It has a wonderful view."

I grabbed the glass of water from the table and threw it at her.

Scarlett shrieked, dodging, but the water splashed her skirt.

Just then, Brandon pushed the door open.

He saw me holding the glass and Scarlett retreating in disarray.

"Alice!"

Brandon rushed over, snatched the glass, and smashed it on the floor.

Glass shards scattered, cutting my ankle.

But he didn't even look. He turned to help Scarlett.

"Are you alright?"

Scarlett shook her head, her eyes red-rimmed, but deliberately showed her reddened hand.

Brandon's gaze suddenly turned cold.

He looked at me as if I were a strange lunatic.

"Apologize!"

I stood still, blood dripping from my ankle onto the floor.

"I didn't do anything wrong."

I heard my voice trembling.

"She provoked me first."

Brandon released Scarlett, stepping closer to me, one by one.

He grabbed my chin, his grip so strong it felt like he might crush my bones.

"Alice, you've been increasingly disobedient lately."

He leaned close to my ear, his voice so low only I could hear it.

"Isn't it time for a follow-up check-up?"

Hearing those words, I felt an instant chill throughout my body.

"I was wrong."

I heard my own voice surrender.

"I'm sorry, Miss Jensen."

Scarlett, behind Brandon, gave me a victorious smile.

That night, Brandon didn't return to the bedroom.

I stood on the balcony and saw the light in the guest room across the way stay on all night.

The curtains weren't fully closed.

Through the gap, I saw two overlapping figures.

Scarlett's nightgown slipped from her shoulder.

Brandon's hand was around her waist.

I turned around, sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.

Moonlight fell on the floor.

I suddenly remembered many years ago, Brandon confessing his love to me under the moonlight.

He said, "Alice, I'll love you forever."

The next morning at the breakfast table, Scarlett sat in my usual seat.

She was wearing my slippers, using my favorite coffee cup.

"Alice, you don't mind, do you?"

She tilted her head, her eyes full of provocation.

I looked at Brandon.

He was looking down at financial news, as if everything before him had nothing to do with him.

"I don't mind."

I heard my own voice.

The housekeeper gave me a new set of cutlery.

Halfway through eating, Scarlett suddenly covered her mouth and rushed into the bathroom.

I heard retching sounds.

Brandon finally put down his newspaper and followed her inside.

I sat at the table, continuing to drink my porridge.

After a long time, Brandon helped Scarlett out.

Scarlett's face was pale, tears still clinging to her eyelashes.

Leaning into his embrace, her voice was delicate.

"Brandon, I think I'm pregnant."

The spoon in my hand clattered into my bowl.

Brandon looked at me, his eyes complex.

"Alice, Scarlett needs rest. For now, please move to the guest room."

Listening to his words, I suddenly laughed.

"Brandon, do you still remember why I lost my memory?"

He frowned, clearly not expecting me to ask that.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Three years ago, Scarlett hit me with her car."

I stared into his eyes, speaking each word distinctly.

"When I was lying in a pool of blood, where were you?"

Brandon's face changed.

"You were celebrating her birthday."

I answered for him, my eyes full of scorn.

"You said there was an emergency at work, but you were actually celebrating her birthday."

"I lost my first child in that car accident, but you didn't even come to the hospital because Scarlett said she was scared and needed you to stay with her."

Scarlett shrieked.

"You're lying! Brandon, she's crazy, she's hallucinating again!"

Brandon closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, there was only cold indifference.

"Alice, let the past be the past. What you need now is treatment, not dragging up the past."

"Treatment?"

I stood up and walked towards him.

"Brandon, tell me, what kind of treatment requires removing the hippocampus? What kind of treatment requires twenty-four-hour surveillance?"

"Are you trying to cure me, or are you trying to shut me up forever?"

Brandon seized my wrist, his grip so hard it felt like he was crushing my bones.

"Enough!"

He suddenly roared, his eyes terrifyingly cold.

"Look at yourself! Suspicious, aggressive, what's the difference between you and a crazy person?"

I looked at the face of the man I had loved for ten years.

Suddenly, he seemed terrifyingly unfamiliar.

"You're right, I am crazy."

"Otherwise, how could I believe that someone who personally sent me into surgery loved me?"

Brandon let go.

He took a step back, as if he couldn't bear to look into my eyes.

Scarlett seized the opportunity to cling to him, linking her arm through his.

"Brandon, my stomach hurts!"

Brandon gave me one last look, then helped her turn and go upstairs.

Brandon still made me move to the guest room.

The housekeeper carelessly stuffed my belongings into a suitcase.

The guest room rarely saw sunlight, and the air was thick with a musty smell.

"What, reluctant to leave?"

Scarlett leaned against the doorframe.

She wore a silk robe, the neckline plunged low, and a suggestive red mark adorned her collarbone.

I turned to leave.

"What's the rush?"

She blocked my path, lowering her voice.

"Alice, guess what Brandon told me last night?"

I didn't answer, just looked at her.

"He said once you sign the share transfer agreement, you'll have an 'accident' and fall down the stairs."

My fingers clenched fiercely.

"You think I'll believe that?"

"Believe it or not, it's up to you."

She chuckled, her eyes sparkling with triumph.

"But do you know why your surgery was scheduled at St. Mary's Hospital?"

"Because Brandon has controlling shares there. They can write your medical records however they want."

She turned, smiling sweetly at me.

"The car accident three years ago? I personally arranged it. Brandon knew all about it, he even helped me delete the dash cam footage."

"You're lying!"

I heard my voice tremble.

"Whether I'm lying or not, you know the truth deep down."

She walked back to me, her eyes filled with pity.

"Alice, the man you loved for ten years, from beginning to end, only loved your money and the shares your parents left you."

"His pursuit, his marriage, his tenderness C it was all an act."

I staggered backward.

A sharp pain shot through my hippocampus.

Fragmented images flooded my mind uncontrollably.

The necklace Brandon gave me on our anniversary, with a miniature listening device hidden in its pendant.

The "vitamins" he gently coaxed me to take, which were actually drugs slowly damaging my nerves.

...

"Remembered now?"

Scarlett's voice pulled me back to reality.

"Too bad, remembering won't help. In everyone's eyes now, you're just a lunatic. Who would believe anything you say?"

The sound of a car engine drifted up from downstairs.

Brandon was back.

Scarlett immediately put on a fragile expression. She quickly walked to the top of the stairs, then suddenly "slipped."

"Ah!"

With a shriek, she tumbled down the stairs.

"Scarlett!"

Brandon rushed through the door, his eyes bloodshot at the sight.

He ran over, scooped up Scarlett, and looked up at me, glaring.

"It wasn't me. She fell by herself."

"Enough!"

Brandon roared, taking the stairs in a few strides and grabbing my throat.

"Alice, I really regret not letting you die on the operating table!"

He gritted his teeth, his fingers tightening.

From behind, Scarlett's wail pierced the air.

He hastily let me go and rushed her to the hospital.

Watching his anxious departure, my heart was suddenly devoid of any love.

I walked back to the bedroom and locked the door.

Then, from the bottom of my closet, I pulled out a metal box.

I had hidden it before my surgery.

Inside was an old phone, a bank card, and a photo.

The photo was of me and the boy under the sycamore tree.

On the back was a small line of text:

"Alice, if you ever get lost, remember to come home Liam!"

Seeing the name, I trembled all over.

I remembered everything.

He was the only one who reached out to me when Brandon abandoned me.

I turned on the old phone; the battery was on its last bar.

There was only one number in the contacts.

My trembling fingers pressed the dial button.

The waiting tone rang three times, then connected.

"Hello?"

I covered my mouth, afraid I would cry out.

"Liam, come get me."

Silence on the other end for two seconds.

Then, an urgent voice.

"Send me your location. Wait for me!"