Chapter 9

ASTRID

My eyelids felt like they were glued shut with lead. I tried to open them, but the world remained dark, heavy, and distant. Voices cut through the fog of my mind—loud, angry, clashing like thunder in my skull.

They were fighting. The brothers.

“You absolute fool, Kaveh!” Arman’s shout exploded, raw and furious. “She nearly died again because of you! We finally have her back after years, and you risk everything because she throws a tantrum? I told you! I warned you she wasn’t ready!”

Kaveh said nothing in his defense. His silence somehow felt more than any words.

I could picture him with his jaw clenched, eyes dark, taking every blow without flinching. The intensity in Arman’s voice made my stomach twist. Underneath the anger, there was genuine fear in there.

His concern for me would be touching if he wasn’t shouting and making my headache worse.

“You think staying quiet makes you noble?” Arman continued, his voice rising to a dangerous pitch. “It makes you reckless! She ran into the streets screaming like a madwoman. People were staring. If word gets out about her before Father is ready to announce her return, what do you think will happen?”

He took a deep breath. “Did all this so you could prove a point. Now look at her. I should’ve tried harder to stop you!”

Still, Kaveh remained silent. The tension crackled in the air, thick enough to choke on.

Then another voice joined. Kian. Only this time it was sharp and commanding.

“Enough!”

I forced my eyes open then to see Kian shove Arman backward with both hands. The push was hard, sending Arman stumbling into a chair that scraped loudly against the hospital floor.

“Back off, Arman!” Kian shouted, his usually gentle face twisted with annoyance. “You’re not helping anyone by screaming like this! She’s lying right here, and you’re turning this into another one of your power struggles with Kaveh. We all want what’s best for her—stop making it about who’s right!”

Arman’s eyes blazed as he regained his balance. “If you’re too blind to see that—”

“I said enough!”

I tried to lift my hand to get their attention but it was no use. My whole body felt like it was being held down by lead.

I opened my mouth and my weak voice cut through the charged atmosphere, barely above a whisper, but it worked.

All three heads snapped toward me. Their intense expressions shifted instantly, the anger melting away as they rushed closer.

“Astrid!” Kian breathed, reaching for my hand first. “You’re awake. Thank God.”

His touch was warm and welcoming. I sighed in relief that the shouting had stopped.

Arman hovered on my other side, his face softening despite the fire burning in his eyes. “Hey… how are you feeling? Does anything hurt? We were so worried.”

Kaveh stood at the foot of the bed, his broad shoulders tense. He leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a rough whisper. “I’m sorry.”

I blinked slowly, my mind still foggy. Sorry? For what? The drive? The argument I overheard?

But then the memories crashed back like a violent wave—my frantic search through unfamiliar streets, the shops where my parents’ home should have been, the panic, the running, the screaming.

I shut my eyes to quiet it all down before facing them once more.

“It wasn’t your fault,” I said, my throat parched. Tears pricked at my eyes. “I was the one who insisted. I pushed you to take me there. I… I blame myself for everything. For believing in memories that don’t even exist anymore.”

Arman’s jaw tightened. He crossed his arms, but his tone stayed light, laced with protectiveness.

“You don’t need to be scared to call him out, Astrid. What he did was reckless and now, we’re back in this damn hospital because he wouldn’t listen to me.”

Kian snapped immediately, his voice sharp as a whip. “Arman, for once, stop making everything about you! She’s hurt, and you’re still turning it into ‘I told you so.’ Give her space to breathe!”

“How about you stop defending Kaveh when he fucks up?”

The shouting escalated again, their deep voices booming and overlapping in a chaotic storm that pounded against my aching head.

“You always do this—”

“And you always defend him—”

My chest tightened. The faint beeping of monitors grew louder in my ears. I opened my mouth to beg them to stop, but the door swung open before I could.

The doctor strode in, his white coat flapping, face stern and authoritative. “Out. All of you. Now. This is a hospital ward, not a battlefield. She needs calm, not your bickering. Out.”

Kian tried to protest, but the doctor was firm, practically herding them toward the door. Arman shot one last intense glare at Kaveh before leaving. Kaveh lingered a second longer, his eyes meeting mine with unspoken regret, before he too was ushered out.

The doctor turned to me with a gentle but efficient smile. “I didn’t think I’d see you back here so soon,” he joked. “Let’s get you sorted, dear.” He fussed over the machines, checked my vitals, adjusted the IV drip, and spoke in soothing tones about rest and hydration.

“The scratch on your cheek is shallow, so it will heal without a scar,” he said as he administered a clear drug into the line. “This will help with the anxiety and let you rest properly. No more excitement for today.”

I nodded gratefully.

The medication worked fast. Warmth spread through my veins, pulling me under once more.

***

When I woke up again, the room was quieter. Soft afternoon light filtered through the blinds. Kaveh sat in the chair beside my bed, dressed like someone supposed to be at an office instead of by my bedside.

He was tapping his expensive watch rhythmically with one finger as he absently. His presence felt steady, grounding, even after all I’d caused. He was here.

A wave of guilt crashed over me. I’d caused trouble between him and his brothers. I hoped their father wasn’t mad at him either. He couldn’t have known about my parents.

Nobody could’ve predicted the cruel joke the world had in store for me.

Instead of voicing my guilt, I asked softly, “Where are your brothers?”

Kaveh stopped tapping and looked at me, his expression calm. “They had to go to work. Baba isn’t tolerating any more slacking from all of us being here together. And since I caused the emergency, it’s only right for me to be here when you wake.”

I nodded, feeling like the common ground we had was on thin ice.

“Kaveh… about what happened,” I started, my voice hesitant. “I didn’t know it was all gone and I panicked.”

He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “It’s not your fault. I don’t know much about what happened to you before we found you, Astrid. But I promise I’ll try to find out the truth. Whatever it is.”

Fresh fear gripped me. “I’m scared something terrible happened to my parents. They wouldn’t just disappear. They doted on me. Protected me.”

Kaveh’s eyes darkened with something heavy. “Did they have enemies? Anyone who might want to harm them… or you?”

I shook my head quickly. “My parents were kind people; everybody loved them. And me, I’m just nineteen, I have no enemies. All I did was help at the store, go to school, and stay close to home. That’s all.”

But as the words left my mouth, I noticed the strange look in his eyes. Like I’d said something wrong.

My stomach dropped, dread building in my gut. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Kaveh?” I called when he didn’t answer right away.

He struggled visibly, jaw working as if searching for the right words. Instead of answering directly, he stood and helped me out of bed, his arm strong and supportive around my waist.

“Come.”

I followed in confusion, leaning heavily into him as he guided me into the bathroom to the mirror on the far wall.

“Look,” he said quietly.

At what?

I stared at my reflection and gasped. The woman looking back at me wasn’t a nineteen-year-old girl. She had fuller curves that shaped the hospital gown, a mature face with shadows of exhaustion, faint lines of hardship and hard experience carved deep in her hazel eyes.

I looked like a full woman—mid-twenties at least.

“What… what happened to me?” I gasped, touching my face in disbelief. It looked like I’d lived a life far different from what I remembered.

Kaveh stood behind me, his hands gentle on my shoulders to anchor me. “We don’t know yet. So you need to take things easy, Astrid. There’s obviously a lot you don’t remember and our old man wouldn’t want you to shatter now that we’ve only just found you.”

“But…” I trailed off. But what? What was there to protest? The truth was right in front of me.

“One day at a time,” he insisted gently.

I said nothing in response. His suggestion seemed too trivial, but it was better than another layer of mystery to my broken spirit. That was the more sensible thing to do now, not to stress anymore.

I could break again and I didn’t want to be back in the hospital a third time.

I turned to him, voice steady as I pushed the tears down. “Take me out of here, Kaveh. Please. I can’t stay in this hospital for another minute. Just… get me out.”

He searched my face for a long moment, then nodded. “Alright. Let’s go home.”

The word “home” still felt foreign, but in that moment, with my reflection mocking everything I thought I knew, it was the only option left.