Fake Amnesia, Real Betrayal: I Left, He Crawled Back

In the fifth year of Irene Shaw's marriage to Ethan Hart, he was involved in a car accident and lost his memory.

No matter how she tried to prove that they had once loved each other, Ethan still insisted on a divorce.

His reasoning was hard to refute. "If I really loved you as much as you claim, how could I forget you?"

The childhood sweetheart who had once cut him off without hesitation had now become his sole emotional anchor.

He looked at Irene coldly. "Since you know this is a mistake, why not end it cleanly?"

The hands that had once refused to let her go now recoiled from even her lightest touch.

Disheartened and exhausted, Irene signed her name and pushed him completely out of her life.

Not long after, Ethan stopped her in the rain, his eyes red from crying.

"Irene, don't leave me. You said I'd never lose you."

As the car window slid shut, the arm around her waist tightened instinctively, and someone spoke before she could. "Drive on. Irene said she doesn't know him."

......

Irene glanced at the thermometer. The fever had subsided.

It seemed the scheduled procedure would not need to be postponed.

Suppressing the headache threatening to flare up, she paused at the turn of the staircase.

Downstairs at the dining table, Sophie Lewis was calmly letting Ethan feed her.

A smile rested on his face, his expression visibly relaxing as he watched her take a few more bites.

Irene frowned without realizing it. Her grip on the handrail tightened, the blood draining from her knuckles. After steadying her breath, she went back downstairs and sat across from them.

"You're awake?"

Sophie hurried to stand, only to be pulled back, a knowing smile playing on her lips.

Acting like the mistress of the house, she called for the servant to bring another set of utensils.

"Ethan had the kitchen make all my favorites. Probably not to your taste, right?"

Irene paused briefly as she took the fork and knife, her peripheral vision catching Ethan's expressionless face.

"It doesn't matter. She's not picky."

Her appetite vanished completely. She picked up a slice of toast, chewed it mechanically, swallowed, then stood and headed out.

Ethan suddenly stopped her. "Wherever you're going, have the driver take you. Sophie wants to use your car."

Irene took a few deep breaths, pulled the keys from her pocket, tossed them onto the table, and left without looking back.

That silver Porsche had been a gift from Ethan.

After five years, she was tired of it too.

A month earlier, Irene's mentor, Caleb Grant had been surprised when he received her application to study in Valemont.

"Ethan agreed to let you go that far? You'll be gone for at least three years. He can accept that? When I tried to persuade you back then, Ethan practically wanted to hold a knife to my throat. I still remember the way he proposed to you in public, eyes red with emotion."

Irene remembered it too. At the time, Harborhaven had been drenched in rain for three straight days.

Ethan had stood there in the rain, holding the ring, for three days. In the end, she softened and said yes.

She thought they would grow closer day by day, their lives finally set into perfectly meshing gears, turning steadily together.

That devotion, however, lasted only five years.

On their wedding anniversary, Ethan was supposed to meet her, but instead was involved in a car accident on the airport expressway and lost his memory.

Sitting in the passenger seat was Sophie, the childhood sweetheart who had once walked away from him without looking back.

The accident report showed that at the moment of impact, he had instinctively shielded her with his own body.

What an instinct.

His memory seemed frozen in the days when he and Sophie were deeply in love, erasing Irene completely.

For more than half a year, she had tried desperately to prove that they had loved each other, accommodating nearly every demand he made.

All she received in return was indifference, disdain, and a divorce agreement.

The look he gave her was filled with nothing but disgust. "If I really loved you the way you say I did, how could I forget you?"

She had to admit that she was beginning to waver.

His question forced her to interrogate herself again and again. What did she really mean to Ethan?

Had giving up her dream of becoming a designer for his sake been a mistake?

Soon enough, the truth struck her like a blow to the head, snapping her fully awake.

Three days earlier, she had mustered the courage to go to his office, intending to tell him she was pregnant.

Instead, she heard Ethan's voice outside the door, along with his mother Elaine Hart's.

"Ethan, even if Sophie is ill, we can give her the best medical care. Pretending to have amnesia for her sake, what are you thinking?"

For a brief moment, it felt as though all the blood in her body had stopped flowing.

Ethan spoke confidently. "I just want to stay close and take care of Sophie. If I didn't pretend to lose my memory, do you think Irene would agree?"

"Taking care of her is one thing, but haven't you gone too far? You've practically been inseparable this entire month. How dare you bring up divorce with Irene?"

Ethan smiled lightly. "If you're acting, you commit fully. Irene can't live without me. She won't agree. Once Sophie finishes her surgery overseas in a month, I'll immediately make things right with Irene. Mom, I do care about Irene. But Sophie and I grew up together. We loved each other once. I can't just let her go."

Irene did not go inside. She turned and walked down the emergency stairwell, one step at a time.

By the time she reached the bottom after more than ten floors, her body was trembling, but her heart had gone cold.

Standing by the roadside, she scheduled the abortion. When she looked up, she realized her eyes were wet.

That very day, she signed the divorce agreement and submitted her application to study in Valemont.

In a month, she would be gone from this place.