♪♪I swear the whole world stops, you're my sweetheart

And I'm so glad that you're mine

You are one of a kind and

You mean to me what I mean to you

And together, baby there is nothing we won't do ♪♪

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ [With you] - [Chris Brown]

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I dedicate this chapter to mauachka and  ShwetaSangwan9 for guessing correctly in the comment section previosuly. Read on to find out what you guessed right! 😊🙊

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Esmé squinted her eyes at the light that seeped through the windows of the room. She groaned, feeling her headache at its intensity. The texture of the bed she lay in felt foreign to what she was used to.

She opened her eyes instantly and shuddered at the instant ache she got from the action. The sky blue coloured room confirmed her theory. Her eyes danced around the room taking it all in from the classic white and blue lace curtain to the array of books stacked neatly to the trophy box that stood right by the bookshelf all down to Kian standing in front of an opened wardrobe buttoning up his shirt.

"Kian?" she called out to him.

Kian turned to her with a smile and walked over to her. "Did I wake you?"

Esmé wrapped her hands around his neck, keeping him in place as she sat up. "I don't think so, but it looks like you want to leave me. Is that you opting-out on showing me these childhood pictures you promised last night?"

Kian chuckled, shaking his head. "No, I'm not, but I need to get to the hospital real quick and then I'll be all ours. Mom would be out too so you can look through her cookbooks on the kitchen counter. I hear looking through these things helps people make the best dishes."

"Are you asking me to make a meal for you before you get back, Dr Lincoln?" Esmé teased.

"I will look forward to tasting something moje scre makes," he said and placed a light kiss on her forehead, scurrying away out of her arms right after.

Esmé chuckled as he finished dressing up. She turned over and laid back on the bed, putting her head at the end of the bed where her legs were, watching him finish dressing up with a smile on her face.

Once he was done, he walked over to her and bent down to place a light kiss on her forehead. Esmé returned the favour to place a kiss on his forehead that was right above her lips.

Kian smiled, pulling back. "I'll see you soon."

"Bye."

The moment he shut the door behind him, Esmé sprung up from the bed, excited at going through the cookbook to see what she could make for him. Something different. Ever since their first date, she'd been wanting to do something equally similar for him.

She hurried up, showered and got dressed, ready to begin her adventure. By the time she was out of the room, the silence that greeted her informed her she was the only one home.

Heading over to the kitchen, she spotted the brown carton box on the counter and smiled. It was a gigantic box, but she didn't mind. She pulled a kitchen stool off and settled on it, ready to get to work. Each cookbook had packages of interest that pulled her attention. A couple were from the same chef, but a few were from different countries.

Esmé tried their names on her lips, chuckling at her mispronunciation of some. A certain one got her attention in the box and grabbed it out. The first thing that got her heart racing was the Croatian flag by the side of the book. The print of the book stroke chords of recognition in her head. She knew it had to be the book Kian mentioned on their date, but that wasn't the reason it felt so familiar.

Her eyes flickered to the end of the book with the author's name and her breath hitched.

Ivana!

She scrambled out of her seat, flinging the book away from her as the name broke through the walled-up defences of her memory. A door in her mind opened and with it came a scouring pain. Her hands flew to her head to keep the pain in check, but she lost her balance and the kitchen before her eyes became blurry.

A cry of pain escaped her lips as Esmé collapsed onto the floor with her hands still gripping her head hard, trying to hold it all in. Crashes of things meeting a similar fate as her on the floor pierced through, causing even more agony. Everything was spinning in her mind and out of it.

Clips of memories spilled through that door, each fighting for dominance to be let out.

"Him, Luka. He's the perfect one." Though her polished and firm voice sounded redrawn, it had a hint of a smile in it.

"You want the white Bichon Frise to be our little one?" His hoarse voice boomed with excitement and anticipation of her answer to his underlying question.

"Yes."

Their hands held on to the name tag that read 'Archie'.

Archie...

"Djedice!" a young feminine voice shouted to gain the attention of the older man standing by her side, immersed in the song playing in the background. (Grandfather!)

He turned, smiling at her. His lavish smile crinkled with age. "Zapamtite, pjesma je uvijek u nama. My little..." (Remember, the song is always in us.)

The bang of a gunshot broke his words. The little one turned to her grandfather who had fallen to the floor. Screams echoed in the background and the paddling of hurried feet echoed.

"Djedice!" She dropped by his side with wide-eyed. Her eyes stop short at his hand clutching his chest where blood gushed out. Her piercing scream rang through her ear.

Esmé choked on a sob at the dominance of each memory.

The intensity of the darkened sky along with the hard crashes of the rain against her windowpane was evidence she wasn't meant to be driving at that moment, but it wasn't something she could help. Just around the corner and she was going to be home, anyway.

The headlight of the car was going on and off and she made a mental note to inform Luka about it. For this reason, she slowed down. Her phone rang by her side just as she made a turn in the direction of her house and the headlights went off again.

She turned from the road, not on edge again at the closeness she was to her home, to her phone to see her dad on the caller ID. She tapped on the green button, reassurance of her whereabouts at the tip of her lips, but it didn't make it out.

A fierce blasted horn cut through, making her look right up, straight into the headlight of an oncoming car at full speed. Chills ran up her body as her heart ripped into a million pieces. Thoughts crashed against each other in her mind, stilling her comprehensive thoughts. Her name rang out from her phone just as the car crashed against hers before she could make a move to get out of its way.

Her fists tightened on the steering wheel as the car tumbled, with each turn of the car came rippling pain taking sharp control of her senses till its last tumble on the road.

A burning smell of petrol wafted through the air with her ears ringing. Everything was muffled and distant. Static noise pressed on with her name repeatedly called out. She drew her attention to getting out of the car, bashing against the door with the little strength she had in her.

Groaning at each ache, she stumbled out of the car onto her knees, the door closing behind her. Despite the blood dripping down her face, she pushed herself up to her feet, trying to push through and get herself to safety away from the car dripping petrol.

An explosion broke through the muffled silence, searing the air. Its shock wave flung her weak body crashing through the trees by the side till it lost its momentum and her head slammed straight onto the floor with no cushion for the fall. Darkness followed right after.

Crashing right back into reality. A panicked voice echoed in the distance. It was familiar, yet it wasn't. Drifting in and out, she tried to focus on it till she felt strong arms grip her body.

"Esmé! Esmé!"

"Not- Esmé- name is- Ivana. Ivana Ivaneć."

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😱😱

It has happened guys! She has remembered! Just when things were going so smoothly. What do you think this would mean? I'm so excited we've finally reached this part of the book, it's been a long time in the making. 

To all the questions we've been stuck on from the beginning of the book, it's time to get those answers. Who's ready to get them with me?!

To all who had any suspicion whatsoever about any of the memories. Congratulations! You guessed right.

Hence, my reason for dedicating this chapter to mauachka for dropping this comment. 😁

And to ShwetaSangwan9 for this one.

They guessed pretty good then.

What's your take on the chapter? What were you expecting and what were you not expecting?

Till next time! 💕