5 - memories returning

For the first time in a long time, Zenith had a good night's rest and not only that, he didn't use his medication. 

Because of his sister and his investment in work, he never had a relationship except for the one time he had a crush on his middle school teacher and this had made his father worried for such a long time that he told Zenith he would accept him even though he was gay. 

Just as long as he had a life partner. 

That was why when Mr Kim came in for his regular surprise visit and snuck up on his adult son to scream ‘peekaboo’ in his ears that morning, but found the strange scene, he froze and tiptoed back to ask Olivia what had happened. 

Olivia told him the full story but he only digested the part that favored him and that was that his son had a woman who could handle him. 

“Are you sure she real had amnesia and wasn't pretending?” The father and daughter pair were whispering in each others ears as they leaned on the door of Zenith's room and watched him sleep with Gift in his arms. 

“Hmm, she even called me her daughter and bought me new clothes, she also told me sweet bedtime stories to sleep yesterday,” Olivia whispered back, happy at the scene and also at the fact that she had slept so well and even dreamt about being the princess that conquered the villain in Gift's stories. 

“This one is a keeper. Let's hope that she doesn't remember anything and they stay together. My son looks like a responsible husband, I can finally rest in peace now,” he said as he brought out a handkerchief to dab his non-existent tears when Olivia smacked him on the back of his head. 

“No one is dying anytime soon and I think you should bring her gifts so she can accept you,” Olivia said and her father nodded, ready to head out as per his daughter's suggestion while thinking in his head, “should it not be the other way round?” 

Just as he turned, Olivia tapped his waist hurriedly. 

“Dad dad, I think she's awake, play your part well,” she said as she hurried to Gift's side of the bed. 

Gift on the other hand had slept mainly from exhaustion and her eyes still felt heavy and were red rimmed when she opened them. 

She yawned and wanted to stretch but the pain from her body stopped her. 

So she tried to take in her environment as she fluttered her eyes open.

Her leg was still on Zenith's waist and Zenith being an healthy adult male had a boner that her leg continually poked. 

The discomfort of it was what woke him up to Gift's first words that morning. 

“Where am I?” She asked as she looked around, staring at the man beside her and the little girl staring back at her with an expectant face and the middle aged man at the edge of the room beaming at her.

“Hmm hmm,” Mr Kim, Zenith's father cleared his throat as he was ready to go along with the play as olivia had told him when Gift spoke again. 

“Who are you guys? Are you my family?” She asked again with a smile on her face as she took everyone's faces in. They were all smiling at her, except for the groggy one that was still squinting to adjust to the lightning in the room. 

“Hehe, yes, I am your…” Mr Kim adjusted his tie with a brag and was about to introduce himself as her father in-law when Gift's gaze passed across the full mirror on the other side of the room. 

The sight of her bandaged head shocked her. She closed her eyes with a wince and when she opened them, the small smile on her face had disappeared. 

“There's no way you are family if I was raised in the orphanage,” she mentioned as that basic part of her memory returned.

Olivia and her father shared eye contact as they tried to make sense of what was happening while the smartest person in the room already understood it. 

He moved her leg from his waist as he tried to sit up, but she stubbornly left it there. A subconscious action because of the mild relief she felt with her leg stretched that way and the pain that was shooting to the pack of her head and spreading around the base of her skull. 

Zenith resigned and propped himself up with his pillows. 

Although he had her to thank for this goodnight’s rest, he would never admit it. 

“You’re finally coming to your senses uhn? Do you remember what you did yesterday and who you really are? If yes, you should pay me back every single penny of my money that you've spent,” he said and was going to continue if she hadn't glared at him and dug her nails into his wrist. 

He gasped in pain that he didn't see coming. 

“What's wrong with you?” he wanted to ask when he got smacked at the back of his head by his dad who shushed him and pointed at Gift. 

Gift held onto her head with her other hand and squeezed tears of pain out of her eyes. 

“My head, it hurts,” she cried as she brought her knees up, unapologetically stepping on his stomach in the process. 

“I'll go get you some water and your drugs,” Olivia was first to react as she ran around to do so, returning with the glass of water and a nylon that contained several drugs recommended by the doctor the day before. 

Gift on the other hand felt like she was under the knife without any inducement to reduce the pain at all, she was crying and thrashing around, for more than ten minutes that Mr Kim in his panic had called in the doctor to attend to her. 

Ten minutes later, she was able to stay calm, with tears still running down her face and her bandages soaked in blood as most of her stitches had broken and her wounds were open. 

The bed was stained in her blood and her night wear was sticking to some part of her body because of it, but she wasn't saying anything or reacting to the pain, she was just staring up to the ceiling while the doctor checked her vitals and the rest of the family stood by her side. 

While Olivia and her father were concerned for her, Zenith was the only one who had an impatient and disgusted look on his face for two reasons. 

The fact that the bed cover was the last original silk cover of that brand made by the now dead Russian designer himself and it was his favorite but was now soaked with blood from the woman he hated. 

The second being that he had overslept and missed two important meetings with his staff members.

An incident that has never occurred since he took over the company and started to run it. 

But just like the previous day and two days before, he couldn't return any calls or get into the meeting because of her. 

The doctor was talking, his sister was crying and his dad was pacing about. 

It was all distracting to him and he couldn't leave the scene, while the woman in the center of everything laid on the bed like a marionette with tears silently streaming down her face. 

He was forced to wait and watch for another two hours while the doctors cleaned her wounds and replaced the bandages before giving him strict instructions to look after her well and not allow her to make any drastic actions as she was in greater shock than the previous day and that there was a probability that she had regained most of her memories. 

He felt glad to know that as he returned to his study to get to work, however, he was distracted during the meetings until he finally gave up on trying and closed his systems to pick up his current reading. 

Another task which he failed at as on every page of the book was her face with tears running on both sides of it which made him feel bothered. 

“Why won't I stop thinking of that stubborn woman?”