Novels by Filayya

The photograph of Mike and Adrian wouldn’t leave my mind.Even after we left Kamelia, I kept thinking about it. Mike standing beside Adrian at the same hotel where I had lost part of my memory. It wasn’t the first time they had met either. According to Kamelia, there had been several meetings.That meant Mike’s return to my life might not have been a coincidence.The next morning, Tiar arrived with more information.“I found something.”I looked up from my coffee.“About Mike?”He nodded and placed several printed documents on the table.“Mike and Adrian met at least four times.”I stared at him.“When?”“Before Mike came back into your life.”My stomach tightened.“So he already knew Adrian.”“Yes.”“Why didn’t he tell me?”“I don’t know.”I looked at the photographs again.For a moment, I remembered how relieved I had bee

The photograph of Mike and Adrian stayed on my mind long after we left the café. I kept seeing the same image over and over again. Mike standing beside Adrian at the same hotel where everything had begun to fall apart. The same place where Kamelia had been watching me. The same place where a part of my memory had disappeared. It couldn’t be a coincidence. But coincidence was still easier to accept than the alternative. “What are you thinking?” Tiar asked as he drove. “That Mike knew Adrian before he came back into my life.” Tiar nodded. “That’s what I’m thinking too.” I looked out the window. “Do you believe he was involved?” Tiar was quiet for a moment. “I believe he’s hiding something.” “That isn’t the same thing.” “No.” He glanced at me. “We shouldn’t accuse him of something we can’t prove.”

We met Kamelia the following afternoon.She was already sitting inside a quiet café when Tiar and I arrived. She looked different from the last time I had seen her. There was no confidence in her expression, no trace of the woman who had once seemed so certain that she could take Tiar away from me. Instead, she looked tired, almost as if she had been waiting for this conversation for a long time.When she saw us, she didn’t ask why we were there.“I knew you would eventually find me,” she said.I stopped in front of the table.“Since when?”Kamelia looked at me for a moment. “Since I realized you had started remembering.”Tiar pulled out a chair for me before sitting beside me.“You knew Laya before she knew you,” he said.Kamelia’s eyes lowered.“Yes.”The answer was simple.Too simple.My chest tightened.“Why didn’t you tell me?”“Because I knew y

I couldn’t say anything.My eyes remained fixed on Kamelia’s face on my phone screen. The woman I had always known as someone who entered my life because of Tiar was standing in an old photograph connected to the hotel. But she wasn’t just there. She was looking directly at me.As if she had been watching me.Long before I ever knew her name.“Laya.”Tiar’s voice pulled me back.I looked at him.“Are you sure that’s Kamelia?”I nodded slowly. “I don’t know how to explain it. But I remember her.”Tiar took my phone and zoomed in on the photograph. Neither of us spoke for a moment.“Then we need to find out when this picture was taken.”“And why she was there.”“Yes.”There was something about the photograph that bothered me. It wasn’t only the fact that Kamelia had been at the hotel. It was the way she was standing. Her body was turned slightly toward me, her eyes fixe

“Who gave this to you?” Tiar’s question stayed between us. I stared at the small object in my hand, trying to hold on to the memory that had suddenly returned. “I remember someone giving it to me,” I said quietly. “But I can’t remember her name.” “Her?” I nodded. “She was a woman.” Tiar looked at me carefully. “You’re sure?” “I think so.” I closed my eyes again, trying to reach deeper into the memory. I could see a hallway. The light was dim. Someone stood in front of me, holding the same small object. “Keep this somewhere safe.” I remembered the voice now. “Why?” The woman had smiled. “You might need it someday.” My eyes opened. Tiar was watching me. “What happened after that?” “I don’t know.” “Nothing else?”

“I know that voice.”The words left my mouth before I could stop them. Tiar stared at me. “Whose?” I shook my head. “I don’t know.” He stepped closer. “Then don’t force yourself to remember.” “But what if remembering is the only way we’ll find out what happened?” His expression softened. “And what if forcing yourself makes you remember something that isn’t real?” I looked at him. For once, he wasn’t trying to solve the mystery. He was worried about me. “I’ll be fine.” He gave me a look. I sighed. “Okay. Maybe I’m not.” A small smile appeared on his face before disappearing again.We went back through everything we knew about Adrian. Tiar searched old records while I tried to remember the drive home. The rain. The dark windows. The smell of leather. Adrian’s voice. Then the woman’s voice.A memory suddenly surfaced.“You’re sure this is what you want?”It was Adrian.Then the woman answered.“She can’t know yet.”