Scene 7: New Identity, New Role
"Who are you?" he raised an absentminded question in the air as his head laid comfortably against the soft pillow behind him to give support for his condition. His pair of multi-colored irises bore down upon me at the foot of his bed where I sat in a wheelchair.
My mother stood beside me, feeling her grip flinch on the handles of my wheelchair while I stared at him with wide eyes. My mother and I both looked to each, puzzled by his sudden question. I gazed at Akashi again.
He tilted his head a bit to the side, his messy crimson hair dropped like blood down his temples. "Ever since I awoke from my coma, you're always idly sitting in the same space as I am. This is the umpteenth time I've seen you around here and I've been growing impatient since my you piqued my curiosity. Tell me, who are you?" he uttered impassively as though he lied about his growing curiosity.
"Her?" mother pointed her finger at me. Akashi nodded his head slowly. On that moment, a cold chill ran down my spine, making the tiny hairs around my body stand on end. It felt like I had become mute because I was too speechless to utter a word. "W-Well... this girl... her name is Kasumi. She's your fiancée," mother stuttered, her voice sounded obviously dumbfounded.
"My fiancée?" Akashi whispered under his breath. "Which family were you rose from?" he slightly frowned, his brows furrowed.
My lips parted, asking myself mentally if that question was spoken from someone else's mouth in the room. The scary thing was it was just the three of us alone. The doctor, his father and my father will be arriving soon with information of Akashi's condition.
"Akashi-kun... she's my daughter," mother slowly spoke while I tried to find words; simple words which kindergarten students use to introduce themselves in their first day of school. However, it felt impossible to do. My head was too messy and rotten to say such simple words of introduction.
He has forgotten all of it; our pasts, our promises, our little secrets and especially that fateful day where I drove a knife deep within his heart behind his back. How do I feel? How should I react? Where should I start?
Oh God... I feel grateful.
A new guilt spread across my stomach while the happiness that was aching to play a twisted smile on my parted lips twitched. I was happy. I was so content. God has given me another chance to set things right again. Yet, why is there still guilt lingering within me, telling me this one in a lifetime chance that I have never foreseen is the cause of it?
It's not a question of forgive and forget. It's a question if I should ask forgiveness from Akashi about that day or if I should leave it this way; forgetting the sin and finally moving on. It's a question of honesty or choosing to be human.
"Aizawa Kasumi..." Akashi pressed his palms over his eyes, clutching the strands of his long red bangs. "I never knew Tomoe and Saki had a little sister," he murmured, lifting his hand off his eyes. He gazed down at me which I felt alienated from my siblings he knew the names of. "Mrs. Aizawa, can I please have a private chat with my fiancée? It will only take a moment," Akashi requested politely.
I tensed up, feeling my wheelchair motioned from the spot. I became nervous each second my mother wheeled me to Akashi's right side. My heart drummed even faster yet uneasily after my mother shut the door behind her from the outside.
Akashi pushed his hands against the soft mattress, placing himself in a sitting position. I watched him in all carefulness, this time my heart was drumming gently within my chest. Noticing his pillow sagging behind him as he moved, I stretched my arms to clutch the end of its soft rectangular body and pulled it straight up from his back, placing it behind his head for comfort. My hands retreated back to my lap as they started to sweat in anticipation.
"Thank you, Kasumi," that was the first time in years Akashi spoken to me in a soft manner. I was surprised since I was used to the impassive monotone voice he always voiced to everyone. I pressed my lips together in a line, concealing the pinking blush. "I presume I'm engaged to a handicap stranger," he reckoned, scanning me from top to bottom as I sat silently in my wheelchair.
"N-No..." I squeaked feebly, trying to contradict his assumption.
"Oh. So you aren't mute," he quirked a lone brow while a small smirk played on his lips.
"I-If you think I'm lame, I'm not..." I couldn't help but sound shaky. I can't believe we're having a normal conversation just like the old times. I don't want to ever wake up from this dreamlike reality.
"Sorry. I was just teasing," he apologized. His eyes then travelled down on my bandaged knee. "Were you with me on the day of the accident?"
I shook my head. "You don't need to worry for me. I'm fine despite that I'm the one who should be concerned for you,"
"Why should you be? We're not even close," he said, his eyes narrowed as though I was bugging him. "Thank you for being considerate but I prefer that you don't show signs of it,"
I pressed my lips together, exhaling a deep sigh. There was no doubt Akashi had returned to his old self in front of me without recognizing who I really was to him. Moments later, we heard a loud knock on the door then a creak after it swung open. A doctor strode in with a clipboard in his hand whilst my parents and Akashi's father followed close behind him. Father stole a stern glance to me then focused his attention on the redhead patient beside me.
"So... he doesn't remember anything about her?" I heard the doctor whisper in anon to my mother. Mother nodded in concern while my father stole a stern glance to me. Mr. Akashi exchanged words of reassurance to his only son.
"Unfortunately, Akashi Seijuurou is showing one of the symptoms of amnesia. The probability of getting amnesia after receiving a severe impact to the head is moderately high. Fortunately, he's blessed with a sturdy skull and so far there are no signs of internal bleeding or blood clot in our x-ray scans. However, I personally suggest for him to be confined here for a few or several days to be treated and tested before we give the okay," the doctor concluded. "His memories with Aizawa Kasumi is buried deep within his mind since you two might've recently met each other a couple of months ago,"
"Actually..." I began to protest but out of nowhere father harshly cut me off.
"They met each other four months ago," my father surmised. "Before Kasumi knew she was engaged to Seijuurou which she decided to move in to us for that reason, in the last two years she was studying abroad in America since I sent my two other children over there to study diligently in the same age as her as well,"
"What?" I stripped everyone's gaze away from my father to me in an instant. "What are you trying to-"
They didn't give me a chance to finish myself. I was wheeled off by my mother as father glowered at me darkly. "Excuse me," my mother said, her voice was calm as she pushed my wheelchair out of the room. She closed the door behind her, sighed and gazed unto me with a tired look in her eyes. "Kasumi, dear, you should've not raised your voice like that especially to your father," she told as if she didn't hear any of the made up lies of her husband.
"What is he doing? Tell me, why is he lying in front of the Akashis and the doctor?" I interrogated, scared. The only truth he told was my two siblings studying abroad in America for two years. I too was given the same opportunity also but I turned it down for it was pointless.
My mother pressed her temples. "He's doing this for your sake and Akashi's health," she explained. "Apparently, the doctor said that there is a low moderate possibility Akashi won't retrieve his memories back but by chance he gains his recollections of you through slowly recovering then you have to explain to him that you were only just looking out for his condition. His brain is too vulnerable to retain such a huge gap line from you two were in middle school. If we were to attack him of memories that he can't grasp and make sense, we'll surely deal great pain to his brain,"
"B-But why is there a need to lie on my identity?" I stuttered. A sick sensation started to boil within my stomach. "What if he finds out that this whole thing is a lie? What should I tell him if he demands an explanation of who I really am? Should I carry on lying, hiding about that even after he regains his memories of me back?" I was hopelessly begging for solutions that will give me the relief I wanted from my mother but she only displayed obvious signs of helplessness in front of me.
I was holding on to a thin cheap string all this time. At first thought, it was reliable to trust someone who you're close to; the closer you are to them, the stronger the bond, the better.
How ironic can you get? my conscience mocked me. You act like as if you hadn't done it before. You make me puke with your hypocrisy. Humans don't know what they're saying until they acknowledge their sins. This is your karma,
"Kasumi, dear," my mother exhaled a soothing whisper. She knelt before me and squeezed my shaking fists on my lap. "I'm sorry," she apologized, brushing my fringe off my eyes to the side. "Your father and I will help you get through this. Just follow our commands and I guarantee you'll be safer. Please, trust us,"
