CHAPTER 4: Takuya… Who?
ZOE'S POV:
Everything was so dark. I felt as if my bed has recently exploded. My muscles were so sore. Every inch of my body was in agonizing pain, yet, I couldn't move. It was as if the pain had taken control over my entire body. But as I regained conscience, I started to hear the beeping of a machine.
* Beep… Beep… Beep *
It was getting stronger and faster. That's odd. My alarm didn't exactly sound like that. Maybe it's my friend Tami's? Am I at her place? Why does my body hurt so bad? Ugh…. My head is spinning so fast… I feel like I have an enormous hangover, which is ironic because I don't drink. Anyways…
* Beep… Beep… Beep *
UGH! I'm going to kill Tami if she doesn't turn that thing off. It's driving me crazy. Plus, why did I think it was Saturday? Maybe's it's a school day? Great. I'm going to be late since I can't get out of bed. I swear I need a vacation.
* Beep… Beep… Beep *
OH MY GOD! I can't believe it! I'm going to have to turn that thing off myself. Lazy Tami. I slowly opened my eyes, but I was in for the shock of my life. There was a monitor next to me with strange lines coming up and down… I guess I found the source of all the beeping. The walls were white and I had a pink blanket covering me. There were balloons and flowers all around me, some of which said things such as "we love you" or "get better soon!" Get better? I wasn't sick. Where am I?
"Z?"
I turned my head and saw a young man's pair of chocolate eyes staring at me. He was filled with concern and seemed as if he had been crying for hours. Judging by the bags under his eyes, he hadn't gotten much sleep either. But even though it looked as if he had a tough night, he still looked pretty handsome. His eyes lit up when he met mine, making my heart skip a beat and momentarily forget about the pain in my body. Strange, isn't it?
"Oh my god! Zoe! Thank goodness! I was so worried about you! Don't ever do this to me again! I-I…. I… Zoe?"
He stopped and stared at me more deeply into my eyes. Who is this boy?
"Zoe? Are you ok?" he said.
He knows me? How does he know my name? I can't tell who he is. I feel like I know him but… no… I don't. I don't know him.
"Wh-Who…Who are you?" I asked, feeling uneasy about his presence. Where the heck am I?
The boy stood still and frozen. The expression on his face told me he was very hurt and shocked by my question. This boy is cute but… he is definitely weird. Is it that hard to believe that when two people don't know each other, one might ask for their names? But before I could keep on with my thoughts, he ran towards the door and calling a "Dr. Xu." Doctor? Huh?
Just then, he returned to the room, followed by 7 more people. One of them was a younger boy, about 16, with a big, yellow hat on hid head. Next to him was an older guy holding hands with a girl. They both seemed to be in their early 20s. They boy was very tall and heavy, while the other girl had black hair and was very slim. Next to them were a couple of girls about 19. One had her red hair put up in a ponytail, while the other one gazed her blue eyes at me. Finally, there were some boys that looked exactly alike, also around 19. One had shorter hair and the other one had his tied up in a ponytail and a bandana in his head. Twins? Yeah, seemed about right. They all stared at me as well. What is it with the people? They all seemed as if they had been crying four hours, just as the goggle head boy. Suddenly, an older man in a white coat entered the room carrying a clipboard.
"Zoe?"
I took my hand to my head. My head was spinning. "Uh… yeah?"
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm… a little sore. I guess… Wh-where… where am I?"
The man smiled at me and approached my bed. "You're in Shinbuya Hospital. You were brought here last night after you suffered a terrible car accident."
"A c-car accident?" What? I didn't remember getting in a car… Did my mom drive me somewhere? Then, I noticed the doctor was looking at me inquisitively.
"Zoe… what's the last thing you remember?"
"I… I actually don't know. Hmmm… I guess… I might have been hanging out with my friend Tami. Oh and… I think we were going shopping for Tamika's party tonight."
They all gave me confused glares.
"Zoe," said the doctor, "do you recognize any of these people?"
I took another look at each of them. My heart raced when I met the goggle head boy's eyes.
"Um… no… should I?"
They all gasped. I could see the look of frustration and disappointment in their faces. This made my heart break. Something about them seemed familiar, and it made me sad to look at them.
"Zoe," said Dr. Xu, interrupting my thoughts. "How old are you?"
"I turned 13 in May"
NORMAL POV:
No one could believe what they just heard. Their 19-year-old Zoe was taken back six years behind, to the time before she went on the adventure to the DigiWorld with Takuya, JP, Kouji, Kouichi and Tommy; and way before she met Rika, Jasmine and Miki.
"T-There has to be a mistake!" cried Jasmine, turning to the doctor. "What's wrong with her? Why did she just say that?"
Dr. Xu simply put his hand in Jasmine's should and gave her a reassuring nod that everything would be fine. Then, he turned his attention to the blonde girl in the hospital bed.
"Zoe, when you had the accident, the impact of the other car made you fly out of your vehicle. You went straight through a window and landed on the pavement, where you hit your head." He could see how the blonde was now putting her hand in her head. "We couldn't tell the severity of your injury while you were sleeping, so we needed you to wake up. Judging from the areas where you hit your head and your inability to recognize the people standing in this room, I suspect that you might be suffering from a kind of memory loss."
The last phrase struck Zoe like lightning.
"M-Memory Loss?" said Zoe as she began to tremble. "H-how is that… No… I mean… How… What… When… How much time have I lost?"
"Well, you say you're thirteen, when in reality, you are nineteen-year-old lady."
"SIX YEARS?!" Zoe's breath began to rise. "That can't be right! No… I mean… how can anyone lose six years of one's life? That's just… NO!"
"Calm down, Z" said Takuya as he approached the blonde and put his hand on top of hers. The both gazed at each other intensely. "I promise, everything is going to be fine."
The blonde abruptly took his hand out of Takuya's and moved further away from him.
"No! I'm… I'm sorry but I don't know who you are." She then turned to the doctor. "Please, can I see my parents? Where are they?"
There was another silence in the room and everyone exchanged glances.
"Your parents…" said Takuya, taking a deep breath. "Z, your parents died about 4 years ago."
Zoe's eyes widened. "No… no, no, no, no, no, NO! NOOOOOO!" She buried her face in her hands as tears started running deliberately down her cheeks. She started shaking her head and her entire body was trembling. Takuya took her into his arms and gave her a warm embrace, as he kissed the top of her head. Even though she didn't know who he was, her fears were slowly fading away as she felt Takuya's arms wrapped around her. There was something strangely familiar and warm about him that made her feel safe.
"I'm sorry Ms. Orimoto," said the doctor. "I understand this must be very difficult to understand right now, but we will do everything in our power in order to make you feel better. You need to trust us, as well as your friends here. Mr. Kanbara," he pointed at the goggle head boy next to Zoe, " was listed as your emergency contact after all. You must have trusted him before the accident."
Zoe took another look at Takuya's chocolate brown eyes as they stared at her. They both blushed as they realized the closeness of each other's faces. She had a strange feeling inside of her. Hope? Comfort? Whatever it was, it felt nice. Zoe then dropped her eyes to the floor, but Takuya took her by the chin and locked his eyes with hers once again.
"Listen, Z. I'm here for you. We are all here for you. No matter what happens, we will always be there for you. I know we can get through this together. You've helped me through countless situations in the past and I intend to do the same for you. That's a promise. I want you to know that. You are my BEST friend and we are your family. There is nothing we wouldn't do for you. I need you to trust me on that."
"I-I…" stuttered the young blonde. She turned and faced the rest of the people in the room, who were giving her reassuring smiles. Takuya was giving her his signature smile that always used to make Zoe forget about every problem in her life.
"Hello, can I come in?"
Everyone turned around and gasped as Hiraki Yamamoto stood in the doorway. The tall, black-haired boy had his white coat on and held another clipboard in his hand.
"Hiraki!" cried Zoe, giving him a wide smile. "W-What are you doing here?"
Hiraki grinned and took a step towards Zoe. The gang glared at him and Takuya prepared himself for a possible confrontation.
"Hey Zo," the boy said, ignoring the others' reaction. "I work here now, with you. Heard about what happened. You ok?"
"Yeah I… guess. You sure look different from the last time I saw you."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, right. Well I apparently am suffering from some sort of… um… memory loss."
"Oh."
"Yeah, I… last thing I remember was going to the mall with Tami for Tamika's party."
"What? That was like… six years ago?"
Zoe blushed and looked down.
"Wow, I'm… I'm sorry Zo."
"No, it's fine babe."
The last word froze everyone in the room. Takuya couldn't believe what he just heard. Zoe thought she was still a thirteen-year-old, and of course, still had Hiraki as her boyfriend. This made his heart sink.
"Z," said Kouji as he approached her to get between the two of them, after noticing Takuya's reaction. "Hiraki is not your boyfriend anymore."
"What do you mean he's not my boyfriend?"
"He was jerk to you," said Takuya while clenching his fists and teeth. He remembered how he learned in the beginning of their friendship that Zoe's trust in people fell downhill after Hiraki cheated on her. The entire gang spent weeks trying to gain her trust so they could all build a relationship with her. "I remember how you told me cheated on you with your cousin Yurim and he left you heartbroken."
"That's not true" interrupted Hiraki as he darkened his glare towards the goggle head boy. "Yurim tried kissing me but I stopped her because I had you. We split up because I moved away to another town."
"WHAT?!" intervened an outraged Rika. "Z! He hurt you and openly admitted that it was him but that it shouldn't have stopped you from getting back together."
"That's not what happened, Zo. You have to believe me baby. I would never do something like that to you! You know me!"
"STOP IT HIRAKI!" yelled Takuya. "STOP IT! Don't try to manipulate Zoe's state by turning this in your favor!"
"Me?! You're the one whose doing it because you've been in love with her since forever and I'm not going to let you take her from me, Kanbara!"
Takuya froze in place. He wanted to kill the black haired boy in front of him. He lifted his fist up in the air, ready to hit Hiraki in the face.
"Stop it guys!"
They all froze in place as they turned towards the blonde girl, who was now on her feet next to her bed.
"Just stop it, please! Not a single one of you is helping me with all this yelling. I-I… I just need to have some rest and figure things out…"
"I agree with Ms. Orimoto," said Dr. Xu. "She needs her rest."
Zoe nodded and sighed. "I… I need you to leave."
"Yeah, go now you big brute!" said Takuya as he faced Hiraki.
"No. Hiraki should stay. I meant you guys…"
Takuya and the rest of the gang gasped and turned towards the blonde. They thought she wasn't serious at first, but after taking a second glance at Zoe's eyes, the realized they were wrong."
"B-But, Z…"
"Look, I'm sorry. I know this might be hard for you all but you need to understand that this is even harder on me! I don't have a past! I have no idea what's been happening in the last six years! I am scared to death! I know the Zoe you know is friends with you guys and everything but… right now… I am the old Zoe. I trust in the people I know! Regardless of what happened, Hiraki is the only one I know from all of you and he's my boyfriend… or was… or whatever. But that's the point. I know him…"
The gang exchanged shocked glances as Hiraki chuckled quietly to himself. They couldn't believe Zoe would say these things.
"Z," said Tommy. "This guy hurt you… We've been the ones who have been there for you and –"
"I understand" she responded, as she raised her hand to prevent Tommy from speaking. "But I can't deal with this right now. Please, just… just go."
"Zoe!"
"Now."
Without saying another word, they all turned around and starting walking towards the door. Hiraki grinned in victory as the gang walked past him. Takuya took one last look at the love of his life, who had dropped her gaze to her feet, and walked away.
Oh no! Zoe chooses Hiraki over her friends? She has no memory of her past and is now headed down the wrong path. Will she see the errors of her ways? Or, will Takuya lose the love of his life to a guy from Z's past? Will she have her memory back? Stay tuned for more! PLZZZ REVIEWWWW AND FOLLOW/FAVE to find out what happens!
