Awake!

Zoe’s POV

“Arman.”

He was awake. I had prayed for this day to come, and now my tongue was tied. It was not supposed to happen like this. I was supposed to be in my apartment one evening and then get a call that Arman was awake. It’ll be my sign to stay away and never to visit him again.

But not only had he seen me, he also remembered that I had been coming. He must have heard my voice even while he was unconscious. How could I be so stupid.

“Zoe.” He tried to movie, to sit up, to lift his hands, but I rushed to him. He should not be making any sudden movement yet.

“Don’t move. I’ll go get the doctor.” I told him. That would be my cue to disappear. But he held my hand. His grip was weak, yet I could not bring myself to let go.

“Don’t leave, please. I feel so alone when you’re not here.” His words was faint due to the oxygen mask but I heard him clearly. I could not ignore the plea in his voice. I pushed the alert button and a nurse showed up.

It was her that screamed as soon as her eyes took us in. “He’s awake!!”

The joy in her voice was beautiful. I could not resist a smile.

The doctor came in and accessed his vital signs. The bangage around his head was removed and a smaller one was fixed just to cover the wound at his temple.

I frowned at the wound, it seemed deep and harsh. It had to be a miracle that he was fine.

“How do you feel?” The doctor asked Arman.

My ears could not concentrate on their conversations as my eyes was busy reading and interpreting the results of his vital signs.

His temperature was okay, his blood pressure was fine, his pulse seemed a little low but that was normal considering the fact that he just woke up from a vegetative state.

Next the doctor checked his eyes for sensitivity. Everything was fine.

I could not help the sigh of relief that escaped me.

“My leg hurts.” Arman told the doctor.

“Yes, you had a fracture in one knee and it’ll take a while to heal, but you don’t have to worry. You’ll use a wheel chair but it would not be for more than a month or two.” The doctor assured him.

I wanted to correct him and say it all depended on Arman’s body’s healing process but I kept my mouth shut. A month or two was verbose enough.

All through this time, Arman was yet to let go of my hand.

“What happened to me?” Arman asked. His voice was still weak. He was still weak.

“There was an accident. You had an accident.” I told him. There was a nugging in my mind. Something was off. Something was terribly off but I could not put a finger to it.

The door creaked open, Bridget and manager Jerimiah came running in.

Bridget threw her arms around Arman with tears running down her eyes. I couldn’t help but wonder where she had been the past few days, she looked tired and unkept. “Thank you. Thank you so much for waking up. Thank you for coming back to me.” She wept.

Arman said nothing. Only stiffened under her touch and his hand would not leave mind.

My eyes met M.J. but he wasn’t looking at me, he was staring at my hand which was linked with Arman’s.

“Is everything okay?” Bridget asked Arman, she must have noticed his unresponsiveness.

Arman gave her a clueless look, his expression was confused, “Who are you?”

My body went cold. I knew what was wrong now. It was his eyes. Arman never had that look in his eyes. This was the look of a man that did not know who he was.

It was only the doctor that caught on.

“What’s your name?” The doctor asked him.

“Arman. Zoe called me Arman. She calls me Manny too.”

This was fucked up. But something was off again. I never told him my name. When I got into the room, I called his name and he had called mine.

“What do you remember?” The doctor asked him.

“I remember Zoe. All I remember is Zoe. I heard her voice, I remember her face. I didn’t want her to leave. All I remember is Zoe.” Then he turned to Bridget. “Who are you?” And then he turned to me. “Who am I?

This was a disaster.

“it’s me, it’s Bridget. It has always been the both of us. How? How can you forget me?” Bridget was having a break down.

Arman only stared at her without a clue of how much he was breaking the woman, “Are you my mom?”

Bridget broke into a sob.

Arman turned to M.J. “Who are you?”

“You don’t need to know.” M.J. sassed to Arman before he turned to me. “Tick-tock, Merida. You have somewhere to be and you can’t be late.”

I stood up on my feet but Arman would not leave my hand, “Why do you get to order my girlfriend around?” He fired at M.J.

Oh, Shoot!

Arman thought I was his girlfriend.