Chapter 1: The Wrong Name

[Giana's POV]

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“Hey! Don’t film that!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I need to capture the first cake my wife ever made.”

The screen showed the chocolate cake I had made. It was oddly shaped and looked burnt. A fork cut into the cake.

“Stop, Jasper! Don’t eat it, it doesn’t taste good!”

“Mm, it’s good. Food made with love always tastes good. Thank you, Honey.”

The video stopped, Jasper’s face filling the screen as he kissed my forehead. It was a video taken six months ago, when I had tried to celebrate our wedding anniversary. I wiped away the tears pooling in my eyes.

My gaze shifted to the man lying unconscious in the hospital bed ever since the accident two days ago.

My husband, Jasper Windsor.

“Wake up, Hun. If I keep waiting for you at the hospital, I won’t have any time left to practice baking. Your birthday is coming up soon, remember?” I said as I stroked his hand.

I played a song on my phone.

“This is your morning alarm. You’re supposed to wake up now. Where’s my good morning greeting and forehead kiss?” I said, pretending to be clingy.

The door to the hospital room opened, and I glanced over to see who had just entered before approaching Jasper’s bed.

“See, Hun? Even Noah is worried because you keep missing work.”

I had heard that Nexora Corporation’s stock had fallen over the past two days since Jasper became unconscious. The board of directors had just held a meeting this afternoon to appoint an interim CEO to temporarily replace Jasper.

“Ma’am, you should get some rest.”

“The doctor said if I keep talking to Jasper, he might regain consciousness sooner.”

“But, Ma’am, if Mr. Windsor wakes up and you’re sick, he might blame me.”

I shook my head.

“I want to be the first person by his side when Jasper opens his eyes.” I sighed. “I’ve already made a mistake with him. I want to apologize as soon as he wakes up.”

“What mistake?”

“Before he left that night, I got angry with him and told him not to leave for work.”

“Huh?”

“It was so ridiculous, wasn’t it? I know it was ridiculous. How could I stop him from taking care of work when he’s a CEO?” I let out a long sigh. “But Jasper always said he didn’t feel safe leaving when I was angry. He often said, ‘What if I get into an accident and die while we’re fighting?’”

I was aware of that; Jasper always ‘threatened’ me like that. But I never thought he would actually get into an accident.

“I was really afraid that would happen,” I whispered.

I squeezed Jasper’s hand tightly. The death of the husband I loved? I couldn't even imagine anything worse.

“Don’t worry, Ma’am. The doctor said his vital signs are stable.”

I pressed my lips together, able to do nothing but gently stroke his hand.

Suddenly, I felt the fingers of his hand twitch. The heart monitor suddenly began beeping loudly. I immediately rose from my seat.

Noah quickly pressed the button to call the nurse.

“Honey…” I called as I leaned closer to his face. “Can you hear me?”

Jasper’s eyelids slowly opened. His head turned very slowly toward me. He stared at me for a long moment as he tried to move his lips.

“Jasper…”

That was all I could manage to say, my voice catching in my throat. A wave of emotion and relief surged through my chest.

I held my breath in anticipation, waiting for the first words to come from his lips.

“Lea…”

But that wasn’t my name.

The smile on my face faded.

“Lea?” I murmured the name in disbelief, instinctively taking a step back.

“Mrs. Windsor,” the doctor who had just arrived called out, “we’ll conduct an examination first. Please wait outside.”

I nodded without thinking and left the room with Noah. But my mind was still stuck on the first word that had come out of Jasper’s mouth.

Lea.

It wasn’t a name I was unfamiliar with, even though I had never met the woman before. The woman who had once come between Jasper and me.

I bit my lip. In a situation like this, I had to stay calm. Jasper had only just regained consciousness. Maybe the word meant nothing.

“Noah, contact the Windsor family and tell them Jasper is awake,” I said calmly, as though my mind wasn’t in chaos.

“Yes, Ma’am.”

I sat anxiously in the chair outside the room, waiting for the doctor to finish his examination while reassuring myself that everything was going to be fine.

After about thirty minutes, the doctor and nurse came out of the room. I immediately stood up and approached them.

“Mr. Windsor is conscious now, but we suspect he has amnesia.”

“Amnesia?”

“More precisely, retrograde amnesia. He has forgotten several years of his memories. Specifically, his most recent memories from around the last 3 years. Since part of his brain has suffered damage, we’re worried—”

I ignored what he was saying and hurriedly opened the door, rushing toward Jasper’s bed.

“Ma’am, please calm down,” Noah called as he followed behind me.

But I paid no attention to him. How could I stay calm when my husband had forgotten me and everything he remembered about me?

“Who are you? Why did you enter my room?” he exclaimed, looking at me in slight panic.

I tried to speak as gently as possible. “I’m Giana, your wife. We’ve been married for two and a half years.”

He looked at me suspiciously. “I married you? It’s not possible. You’re not my type at all. Besides, I have a fiancée.”

“You have amnesia. That’s why you’ve forgotten.”

“Look, there’s no way I broke up with Lea and married someone like you.”

I couldn’t answer him. It was true. At first, we had married without love. And he was so immensely in love with Lea at that time.

But I didn’t need to remind him of that. I only needed to remind him that we were husband and wife, and how deeply we had loved each other over the past year. I quickly opened the gallery on my phone.

“Look, Jasper, this is the video from when—”

“I don’t care about that.” He turned to Noah. “I remember you. You’re my assistant. Call Lea.”

“Yes, Sir, but—” Noah looked at me in confusion.

“I need Lea. Now!” Jasper shouted, clutching his head.

I thought the death of the husband I loved was the worst thing in the world. But I was wrong.

Being unwanted by my own husband felt worse than death.

“You’re not in your right mind, Jasper!” I shouted. “You just woke up. You need to rest now. We’ll talk about this later.”

But as long as my enemy wasn’t death, I could still fight it.

“Yeah, I’ll rest if you leave.”

“So you can be alone with Lea? No, thanks. I’m your wife. I have every right to be here.”

“Can you just shut up? ‘Wife this’, ‘wife that’.” Jasper growled as he pressed his temples, as though trying to suppress a headache. “Fine. Stop being my wife then.”

He turned toward Noah.

“Noah, take care of my divorce papers. I want that woman to disappear from my life.”