He Pretended to Have Amnesia and Chose My Best Friend, I Left Chapter 02
That kiss. She didn’t have to do that, and she knew it.
She’d promised me. Sworn she’d keep her distance from him.
And she had, at first, at least when I was in the room.
Somewhere along the way, she’d stopped trying.
Now she kissed him like it was second nature.
“I know you’re looking out for me.”
“Let’s talk about it later, okay? Finding a place isn’t that simple.”
But Callum had an answer ready.
“I already had a buddy look at some apartments a few days ago.”
“They’re close to here and a quick commute for her.”
Tessa didn’t push back.
“I’ll talk to Maren when she gets back.”
My eyes burned. I blinked hard and looked around.
Every corner of this apartment, I’d picked it out myself. The paint, the furniture, the curtains. All of it for the life we were supposed to start together.
Now I was just someone sleeping in the spare room.
All my things had been crammed into the smallest bedroom.
Six months. That’s all it took.
Every trace of me in this place was already gone.
And now Callum wanted me out for good.
Their laughter carried out from the kitchen. I couldn’t stand the sound of it.
I took a breath.
Then I turned around and walked out before either of them could hear me.
I didn’t go to work.
I drove to the hospital instead, holding on to the one thing I had left. Maybe that post wasn’t his.
Maybe someone else had written it. Maybe he still didn’t remember. Maybe the only reason he treated her that way was because he still thought she was me.
“Callum Redford’s file?”
Dr. Voss tapped on his tablet until he pulled up Callum’s file.
“I called him about three months ago for a follow-up. He told me he’d already recovered.”
“I remember because it was Thanksgiving.”
“I told him the timing couldn’t have been better. Home for the holidays, fully recovered.”
I froze.
That Thanksgiving, Tessa’s parents had come to visit, bringing homemade pumpkin pies.
Callum picked them up from Northmere Central Station himself, all smiles.
My parents showed up that same day, loaded down with bags.
Callum told security he didn’t know who they were. He had them escorted out of the building.
I couldn’t hide it anymore after that.
I told them everything: the accident, the amnesia, all of it.
My mom just sighed.
“He’s alive, sweetheart. That’s what matters. The doctor said he’ll get his memory back. It’s just a matter of time.”
But Callum already had his memory back by then.
He knew Tessa wasn’t his girlfriend.
He knew I was, the woman who’d loved him for four years, the one he was supposed to marry.
He picked up Tessa’s parents anyway.
And he sent mine away.
He was ready to keep pretending forever.
Dr. Voss was watching me.
“Everything okay? Is something else going on with him?”
I shook my head.
“No, I just… I wanted to make sure. I was worried the clot hadn’t fully cleared.”
Dr. Voss smiled.
“He came in, we ran the tests, and he’s completely fine.”
“Nothing to worry about. He’s got a clean bill of health.”
“You guys are all set for the wedding.”
After the accident, Callum was unconscious for a full week.
I didn’t leave his side. Seven days in the same clothes, sleeping in the chair next to his bed.
The one time I stepped away, just to grab a coffee from the cafeteria, I asked Tessa to sit with him.
That’s when he woke up.
I tried to explain. I tried everything. He wouldn’t hear it. Tessa was his girlfriend, and that was that.
The doctor told me not to push it. Callum’s brain had just been through major trauma. Any emotional shock could set him back.
That’s what Dr. Voss told me then, too.
“I know this is hard. I know you two are about to get married.”
“Give it three months, tops. He’ll be back to normal. It won’t get in the way of your wedding.”
Three months, he’d said.
It had been six. And now I wasn’t sure there would be a wedding at all.