“Austin?”, he felt a hand gently brush against his arm as he peeled his eyes open only to be greeted by the white ceilings above him. He groaned in pain as he felt a throbbing, piercing pain on his head, chest and one of his legs.

His vision was a bit blurry as he tried to look around his surrounding, wincing from the pain he felt from his body. He noticed he was in an unfamiliar environment. With his vision slowly clearing up, he could make out two figures in the room, both were women.

“Where am I?”, he croaked out, his throat so dry like he hasn't quenched his thirst in quite some time. He felt a straw placed between his lips and he went on to pull the liquid from the glass into his mouth, instantly soothing his throat and he threw his head back onto the pillow again.

“You're at the hospital my darling. Don't you remember anything?”, he recognized the voice as his mother, who was stroking his cheek softly. Angie watched as he shook his head.

“What happened?”

“You were involved in a car accident honey”, the other woman besides him answered

Honey?

He furrowed his eyebrows at her reply before turning to look her direction. She wore a warm smile on her face as she caressed his hand softly. She didn't look familiar to him. There was a feeling that he probably knew her from somewhere, he thought about it for a second, but nothing came up.

Mira watched as Austin narrowed his eyes at her, thinking that he was still mad about the other night they had an argument. She felt guilty and blamed herself for the accident. If maybe she didn't act the way she did, he wouldn't have stormed out and got hurt.

He was still thinking of places where he might have seen her. Was she a relative he had forgotten about? Surely he could remember her if she was. He looked confused as he stared at her.

“Are you okay love?”, the woman asked. Her face didn't look familiar to him at all.

“Who are you?”, he finally asked and the other woman's jaw dropped in surprise

“What do you mean who am I?”, Mira laughed nervously, thinking he was joking, but he wasn't. He didn't know her. She quickly noticed the seriousness on his face, and she frowned before raising her eyes to look at her mother-in-law standing across her in bewilderment. The older woman was equally shocked at her son's question.

“Austin, darling?”, he turned to look at Angie. “What's the last thing you remember?”

He paused to think for a second before his eyes lit up in remembrance

“Abigail”, a smile played on his lips before it quickly disappeared as his eyes widened at the last piece of information he could recall. He just came back from work and found her letter on the table, finding out she had left him. Then he called his mother.

“I remember telling you Abigail was gone, and you hired that private investigator of yours. He told me he can't find her, like she's disappeared off the face of the earth or something. Then I drove around the city for months looking for her, hired a private investigator of my own, but I still couldn't find her and then,” he paused as he tried to patch up other events but nothing came up. It was pitch black.

“I can't remember”

The two women exchanged looks and then at him again, failing to find the next words to utter

“That's all you remember?”, Mira asked, failing to hide the disappointment in her voice. Her heart sank when he nodded his head.

“You don't remember who I am?”, she seeked confirmation, and he nodded his head again. A sob left her lips as she plopped down the chair next to her and started crying. He watched her in surprise before turning to his mother, who was also close to tears. To her, the nightmare had just begun all over again. Just when she was relieved her son was finding his feet away from Abigail's claws, he was going back again. She had to deal with his devastation and depression of not finding her again.

“Why is she crying?” , he asked quietly as he pointed out to the woman in the room, who was bowling her eyes out in tears

“She's crying because you don't remember her”

“I'm I supposed to remember her?”

“Yes Austin. She's your wife, Mira Jenkins”, she deadpanned only to see her sons eyes widen in astonishment before he looked at the woman again. Why was it pitching black dark on the memories with this woman?

He shook his head. “That's impossible”

“Doctor, what's wrong with my son? He's acting weird”, Angie stood to her feet as the doctor approached them from Austin's ward. It's been a few days after his accident and he still was sticking to his story of the events he remembered.

The doctor heaved a sigh. After performing a full medical examination, there was no easy way of breaking the news to the family, especially that Austin's condition was a rare case.

“The MRI scan showed that Austin suffered a severe blow to the head during the accident, and it caused traumatic injury to the brain”

“Oh my God”, Mira grasped as she found herself feeling lightheaded for a bit, before Angie helped her find a seat

“What does that mean?”

“He's showing signs of retrograde amnesia which affects memories that were formed before the night of the accident, so he may be unable to remember happened in years prior to the accident”

Angie was still processing everything the doctor was telling her. “So, is he going to recover soon? If not what can be done to help him remember things as soon as possible?”, she motioned with her hand as she said her last statement.

“Retrograde amnesia might get better, worse, or fixed throughout life. It's a serious condition that can present challenges, so the help and support of loved ones is often important. He could try occupational therapy”.

“I see”, she nodded her head slowly. She was given a second chance to convince Austin what a monster Abigail was for leaving with their baby. If she got him and Mira to fall in love the first time, she could do it again, even if it's the last thing she does.

“Hi Mother”, Austin smiled as he put his shoes on, he was going home that day, even though he was uncomfortable of going back home with the woman he hardly knew. He wondered how he ended up marrying her, they were so different from each other. They spent the last few days talking, but their conversations sparked nothing in him. He couldn't remember anything when it came to her.

“Can't I go back home with you?”, he begged his mother again. He had been nagging her for the whole week, and she grew very annoyed with him.

“No”, she threw him a warning glare. “You're going home with Mira, your wife”

“I don't even know her”, he folded his arms angrily and let out an exasperated sigh

“You fell in love with her once, you'll fall in love with her again”

“I don't want her, I want Abigail-”

Angie felt her blood boil at the mention of the other woman's name

“For Christ's sake Austin, Abigail is never coming back”, she spat irritatedly at him, earning a look of surprise from him, but quickly composed himself

“Why do you say that?”, he narrowed his eyes at her. “Do you have anything to do with her disappearance?”

“Of course not”, she felt nervous but was too good at deceit to even show it

“Because it would all make sense why she was never found. You hated her”.

“She was carrying my grandchild. Why would I do that?”

“Even more reason to hate her. We both know you were against our relationship. You could be the reason behind her leaving me in the first place”, he was closing onto her, but she had to stick to her side of the story.

“Don't be ridiculous. I would never do anything that would hurt you. I'm your mother, I only want the best for you”.

“Prove it then”, he challenged

“How?”

“Find Abigail. She's the only one who can help me right now. Something in my gut tells me I've seen her again. Seeing her might actually trigger something in my memory. I need answers to some questions I have. Maybe after then things will go back just the way they were

“And if I don't?”

“Then I'll divorce Mira, and I'll look for Abigail myself. Once I do so, no one will stop me, not even you”.

Her eyes widened at her son's ultimatum. Things were going back to how they used to be, but she had to play it cool. Things were going to work out her way, just like they always did.

“Fine. I'll try my level best to find Abigail but it in the meantime, you'll have to focus on making things work with Mira, even after you regain your memory back”.

She watched her son's lips spread into a grin

“Deal”