Lahat ng Kabanata ng A Kiss For Every Bruise : Kabanata 11 - Kabanata 20

Gwen’s POVFor days, the hospital television became my window to the world, one that I did not quite recognize anymore. The nurse said it would help “stimulate memory,” but most days, the images only left me dizzy. Faces blended together, words blurred. Still, one program caught my attention.It was a documentary about narcissistic abuse, women telling their stories, their voices trembling, some crying, some smiling as if relief could finally breathe through them. One woman spoke about her husband isolating her, convincing her that no one else would love her, that she owed him everything because he “saved” her. I stared at the screen until my eyes burned. That story...it was mine.Mason had done the same, had he not? Slowly, carefully, piece by piece, he had taken me apart and replaced every thought I had with his own. Even now, free from him, I felt his voice coiled around my memories, whispering lies I still half-believed. “You’d be nothing without me.” “You can’t survive alone.” I

Adrian’s POV I did not know how long I had been staring at the report on my desk. The hospital lights glowed dimly through the glass, their sterile brightness cutting across the mahogany surface. Gwen’s name was printed in neat, clinical type, but to me, it burned.Imelda Gwen Cruise. Every letter was a scar. Doctor Grayson sat across from me, nervous but determined. He had been the family doctor long before the world started calling me The Smiling Tiger. “There’s something I need to tell you, Mr. Salvador,” he said quietly. “About your fiancee’s condition.” I leaned back, expression neutral, though my pulse was far from calm. “Go on.”He glanced at the closed door before continuing. “When Gwen first came here, five years ago, she was already suffering from amnesia. The story her husband, Mason, told was inconsistent. He claimed she had fallen off a yacht, hit her head, and lost her memories. But her MRI scans didn’t match that. There were signs of induced trauma, controlled patterns

Gwen’s POVThe nights had started gently at first. I told myself they were just dreams, a side effect of the quiet in this hospital room, of the safety I felt in Adrian’s presence. He was… different from anyone I had ever known. He was both gentle and patient. There was no edge of danger, no sudden temper. He reminded me of warmth I could not place, a memory I had lost somewhere along the way.And so, I had dreamed. I saw him again and again, kneeling beside Kayla, singing softly to her, brushing strands of hair from her face. In my dreams, I was there, too, feeling the safety of his hands, the comfort of his voice. At first, I smiled in the waking hours, thinking perhaps I had found a new friend in the stranger who had appeared in our lives.But then Doctor Liang came. I remembered the way he had examined me, his quiet precision, the pressure points along my temples and wrists. He had moved with calm authority, and I felt the layers of confusion within me stir, as if dust had settled

Adrian’s POV I stepped out of the VIP ward, my footsteps silent against the polished floors of the hospital. Doctor Liang was inside with Gwen now, working on the treatment that would pull her memories from the depths of the hypnosis she had been subjected to. I wanted to be there, wanted to hold her hand and shield her from the pain, but I knew better. The process required focus, a quiet mind, and Gwen needed to reclaim herself on her own terms. But my mind refused to be quiet.Five years. Five long, torturous years of nightmares, manipulation, and cruelty. And for what? Because Camilla Dicarpo had decided I should be erased from Gwen’s life? Because she had orchestrated the perfect crime of erasing someone’s identity, planting lies and false memories, and forcing a man like Mason to act as her puppet?I could not fathom the depth of hatred required to do something like that. How could someone despise a person enough to strip them of their past, to make them believe they were weak,

Gwen’s POV As always, Adrian was the only visitor in the VIP ward we shared with Kayla. However, he had not brought doctor Liang along. As if on cue, the old doctor's call came late in the evening. Doctor Liang’s voice was sharp, almost crackling with frustration. My chest tightened as I listened, the weight of his words sinking in like lead. “Adrian… you must understand,” Liang said, his accent thick with urgency, “Gwen’s de-hypnosis has reached a bottleneck. If she remembers all her memories at once… the curse will trigger.” I felt my stomach drop. Curse? “The curse…?” I echoed, my voice trembling. “Bleeding, all orifices. Internal and external. She will not survive if the memories flood without proper control,” Liang explained. His tone softened slightly. “I can slow it, manage fragments, but to fully unlock her mind… the one who placed the hypnosis and the curse must undo it.” Adrian’s grip on the phone tightened, his knuckles white. I had never seen him look so pale, so shak