Remember
Chapter 1
By Risa
Synopsis: 3 years ago, Darien, a lamia, found his soulmate, Fortuna, a human. They were found out by the Night World and Fortuna was tortured. She was rescued from the brink of death with no memory of anything that happened after she met Darien. Now, by a twist of fate, their paths cross once more.
Spoilers: None only that this takes place before the Wild Powers.
Disclaimer: I own the characters and the story, the Night World and all related ideas do not belong to me.
Darien fumbled with his keys, trying to find the right one to open the door with. "Damn," he cursed, "why couldn't she have labelled the keys?"
He was more than mildly irritated. He was hungry, tired and irritated at the way his day had gone, and all he wanted to do was get home and get some rest. Famous last words, as he would soon realise.
Footsteps sounded on the hallway behind him. He heard a male voice say, "- so after Simon told the aunts that he was dropping out of law to do art, all the aunts went ballistic. You should have heard them. The shouting, the nagging, the scolding, the passive-aggressive behaviour, you would have thought that he had committed a sin worse than murder and rape combined."
There was a sound of laughter then, a woman's laughter.
Darien froze.
A female voice said, "Your family is just so ridiculous sometimes."
The keys slipped out of Darien's fingers. That laugh, that voice… he knew them so well. He had heard them every night in his dreams for the past few years. Hoping against hope to hear that voice by his side again – despite the knowledge that he could never see her again. Longing to be with her once more. For a moment, he was lost in complex swirl of emotions – wild joy, grief, regret and yearning.
He forcefully dragged himself back to reality. That time was long buried, irrevocably buried in the past. He bent down and picked up his keys and then turned to get a view of the speaker. What he saw confirmed what he already knew – it was she.
The woman felt someone staring at her and turned. She saw a man probably in his early twenties and a sense of déjà vu came over her. She looked at him, puzzled and tilted her head first one way, then the other, trying to figure why she found this man so familiar.
The man beside her turned to look at Darien also, once he noticed that the woman's attention was now focused on him. He touched her on her shoulder and said softly, "You know him?"
She shook her head and smiled, ignoring her initial sense of familiarity. "You're new here?" she asked.
"Yes," Darien replied slowly, "I'm Darien Li, I've just rented this place."
"Oh," she said, "I'm Fortuna Ji and this is my fiancé Kevan Feng. We haven't moved in for very long either."
Darien was momentarily lost for words. He was stunned. Part of him was relieved that she didn't recognise him, another part of him shocked and jealous that she had gotten on with her life. It took him a while before he could speak coherently.
"Well," he said, "it's nice to meet you. I-I better be getting in, there's still some stuff that I have to sort out."
The man named Kevan smiled and said, "If you need anything, you could just ask us, we stay over here." He gestured to the door just opposite that of Darien's new home.
"Definitely," he replied and went in. The moment he shut the door, he closed his eyes and leaned against it, memories swarming his mind.
Darien was born to one of the oldest Asian lamia families. He was the oldest of his generation and all his elders had high expectations of him. He had grown up with traditional and conservative values that he had never questioned. It was the only world he knew, and he accepted all he was taught as the basic fundamentals of life.
When he was seventeen, he had been sent by his father to Shanghai to settle some business there. His father felt that it was time for him to start taking up more responsibilities. It was the first time that he was completely on his own and the feeling of freedom was delightful. It was also at this time that he first met Fortuna.
Anyway, he had moved into the house that his family owned there while Fortuna was staying with her relatives in the house next door. Her presence might have gone unnoticed since he rarely met or talked with the people next door beyond exchanging civilities. After all, they were human and unless it was necessary, he would rather not involve himself too much in their affairs.
At least, that was what he intended to do. A few days after he had arrived, he had gone out to meet some prospective buyers of the properties his father owned. On his way home, he saw a young lady around his age leaning against the balcony, her face propped on her hands. This, in itself would not have been enough to attract his attention. What attracted his attention was the expression on her face.
She had shoulder length black hair and large eyes that were shining. Her face had a look of absolute contentment and her smile was poignantly sweet. Night had already fallen by then and the moonlight seemed to add an ethereal glow to her face.
Within that instant, he had become smitten with her. He told himself he couldn't and shouldn't but some strange emotion had awakened inside him which refused to hear sense. He wanted to meet her up close, to know her name; to know as much as can be known about her. That need plagued him throughout the night.
The next day, he went over to introduce himself. It was the beginning of a relationship that would have a huge impact on both their lives…
He shook his head to shake away and push back the memories. They were too much for him to take at once. All he wanted to do was to lie down and find some way to numb the pain that had resurfaced. That was one of the reasons why he had taken to a life of wandering, a drifter. Not just because of circumstances that forced him to – he was being hunted by his own family – but simply because he did not want to establish any kind of relations, he would rather keep the emotional stuff out of his life.
He sighed and began the task of unpacking, keeping himself busy. Hoping that that would somehow keep the memories at bay and dull the deep sorrow that he felt.
Fortuna opened the door to the apartment and walked in, dropping her keys into the bowl on the small table beside the door. She went straight to the sofa and plopped herself down, propping her legs on the coffee table. She stretched her arms and slumped further down, sighing.
Kevan closed the door and walked in at a more moderate speed than she did. He sat down next to her and laughed. "I didn't know that spending the evening with my relatives would be so taxing for you. You're young, you're supposed to be able to take it."
She turned to him and made a face, "I'm old enough. Besides, spending the evening with your relatives would take all the energy out of a hyperactive three year old." Then she changed the subject. "I didn't know that Karen was going to rent out her apartment."
"You didn't know? She was going to stay with her boyfriend, it seems like their relationship is getting really serious."
"Oh? It seems that each time she gets serious with someone, the ship runs into an iceberg and the relations perish along with it."
Kevan shook his head and said, "Cynic."
"Hey!" she protested. "I'm just realistic. Karen's in and out of love as fast and as often as a rich woman changes shoes." Then she changed the subject, "Well, the new occupant of her apartment seems like an interesting person anyway."
"Darien Li?"
"No, Little Miss Muffet. Of course I'm referring to Darien Li," Fortuna retorted.
"Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you," Kevan said, with a mock sigh. Fortuna just grinned at him. "Well, he seems nice enough," Kevan replied, "but I get the feeling that he isn't one who talks much about himself, or anything for that matter."
"Perhaps, but he could not be worse than a person who *only* talks about himself," she said. Darien Li intrigued her. There was that sense of familiarity that she felt towards him, as if she should know who he was. It was more than that. She felt as if she had once known him very well. She did not voice her feeling though. It seemed ridiculous, even to herself.
She yawned and got up of the sofa. "I'm going to make some tea before I go to bed. You want some?"
"No," Kevan replied, "I've some work first." With that, he got up, kissed her lightly, and went into his room.
Fortuna got out the tealeaves and placed the kettle on the stove. As she waited, staring at the orange and blue flames, she reflected silently to herself. She and Kevan had shared an apartment for slightly over two years and they had been engaged for three months. It was odd to most people that even though they were engaged, they still kept separate rooms. Nobody knew that he was a distant cousin of hers and that they had stayed together because they were both studying at the same university. At first, they were like siblings, and then they realise that their feelings had grown deeper for each other. Then, soon after, he had proposed.
Her thoughts turned to her family. Her family had passed away in an accident three years ago. They had passed away in an accident that she had no memory of. All she knew about the tragedy was according to her aunt Alyssa. Fortuna's family moved around a lot, due to her father's job. Hence, her mother and Alyssa had kept in contact mainly through letters. Fortuna had only vague memories of her mother mentioning any Alyssa, but she had mentioned details about her mother that only a family member would know.
According to Aunt Alyssa, she and her parents had been driving out for dinner, while on holiday in Taiwan when a drunk driver cut into their path. In order to avoid him, her father swerved to the side but lost control and the car collided with a lamppost. Both her parents had died and she had barely survived. She had remained in a coma for two weeks. The strange thing was, she could remember nothing about the accident.
Kevan was Aunt Alyssa's husband's nephew. They had met at a gathering at Aunt Alyssa's home in Shanghai where Fortuna was staying for the moment. Then she decided to go back to Singapore to finish her studying. Kevan also happened to be studying there as well and Aunt Alyssa had asked her to stay with Kevan instead of being all alone so that it would be safer. She had agreed since Kevan had become like a brother to her.
Before long, she had finished up her tea and she walked to her room. Then she heard a shout from Kevan, "I forgot to tell you Fortuna, Aunt Alyssa just wrote today and said that she would be coming next week to pay us a visit."
"Wonderful," Fortuna said sardonically. "There's one more cynical than I am."
Kevan laughed. "It's all in the genes, love."
A week later, Fortuna and Kevan picked their Aunt Alyssa from the Changi Airport. Alyssa insisted on going to their apartment before they dropped her off at her hotel. "I came specifically to see the two of you and you're not getting rid of me this easily. After all, both of you did not even have the courtesy to announce your engagement in person. You just called and said, "By the way, Kevan and me are getting engaged." There's nothing 'by the way' about this you know?"
Fortuna blushed while Kevan laughed and remarked, "I think I know where Fortuna gets her tongue from." Fortuna hit him lightly on the shoulder.
As they walked, they exchanged news about family members. Fortuna remarked, "You know, watching Kevan's family is like watching a bad soap. The histrionics, the gossiping, the little plots… I think they would make a fascinating study of how Life imitates Art."
"That's my husband's family you're insulting there," Alyssa said.
"I was just making an observation," Fortuna said mildly.
"She's irritating when she does that," Alyssa said sourly to Kevan.
When they arrived at the apartment, Darien was just leaving the house. Fortuna spotted him and told Alyssa, "This is our new neighbour, Darien Li."
His appearance shocked and disturbed Alyssa greatly. She quickly masked it however and smiled and said, "Ah, I'm Fortuna and Kevan's aunt, Alyssa."
The shock that Darien had gotten on seeing her was no less than hers. He forced himself to smile and said, "Please to meet you." Mentally though, he was berating fate, coincidence and all divine spirits for making all the people of his past appear and haunt him. If they wanted something to laugh at or fool around with, they could at least choose someone who would be appreciative.
Then he heard the voice in his head, "I want an explanation and you had better give me one. Look for me at the Four Seasons Hotel tonight." Darien stared at Alyssa but her face gave no indication of what she had just said to him telepathically.
Fortuna and Kevan noticed the strange tension between the two and were puzzled. Fortuna asked, "Do you know each other?"
Alyssa turned to her and smiled, "No, he just looks like someone. Now let's go in, shall we? It's getting rather late and I would like for us to have dinner together. Nice to meet you too, Mr. Li."
With that, they went into the apartment, leaving Darien standing there, stupefied at the way things could get so bad so fast.