Seven Days to Forget

I suffer from a hereditary form of amnesia.

By the time I found out, I had only seven days left.

On the first day, I found my boyfriend had fallen for my younger twin sister. With a bitter smile, I suggested we break up.

On the second day, my most treasured Lego set was smashed by my sister. Everyone laughed at me, saying I was disgraceful, unworthy of being a daughter of the Fleming family.

On the fourth day, I forgot that my sister was allergic to mangoes. She ended up in the hospital, and my parents glared at me with resentment. Even my ex-boyfriend accused me of being heartless.

On the seventh day, I woke up in a hospital bed to see my father walking in with a stern expression. He demanded that I quit my job and devote myself entirely to taking care of the family, as nothing more than a housekeeper.

But I only looked at them in confusion and asked softly, “Who are you?”

When they realized I had truly lost my memory, they lost their minds.

[Ms. Fleming, will you continue the treatment? If you will, don't forget to collect your medicine.]

[Ms. Fleming, your condition is quite serious. It will only deteriorate if you don't treat it. Don't give up. If you do, you'll forget everything in seven days.]

I looked at the messages from Dr. Chester Richmond for a long time without replying.

Perhaps having amnesia was not such a bad thing after all. I could not recall anything worth remembering in my entire life.

After a long moment of hesitation, I sent my response.

[Dr. Chester, thank you, but I've decided to stop the treatment.]

I locked my phone and looked at the calendar on the wall. It was the sixth anniversary of my boyfriend and I being together.

I started preparing his gift a month ago.

A tie was too common. Leather shoes were too insincere.

Ultimately, I bought him an expensive handmade watch with my personal savings.

My boyfriend, Jason Greg, worked in one of the Forbes 500 companies. He constantly met and worked with wealthy people, so he had to look the part.

I did not want him to get involved with my amnesia, so I thought of breaking up with him in person.

Jason was late to the restaurant. After a long time, I saw him frantically running over to me.

"Rachel, I'm sorry. I had to work late."

I noticed how disheveled he looked. There was a lipstick stain on the inner side of his collar.

Something in me suddenly snapped.

"You…"

Before I could continue, Jason wiped the sweat off his forehead and handed me a box. He smiled gently and said, "This is for you. Thank you for being with me for the past six years."

I looked at the gift he handed to me in a daze. I was not surprised, neither was I happy.

I opened the box to see a beautiful platinum bracelet with an intricate peony charm attached to it.

Suddenly, I understood everything.

I never liked peonies, but Raven Fleming, my younger sister, did.

Three months ago, when I first introduced Raven to Jason, he started to take a liking to her. He no longer cared about my feelings. He would always get her gifts and constantly talk about her on our dates. When Raven was there, he often left me behind, happily chatting with her.

Since when did he start to have a change of heart?

I was silent for a long time. Jason nervously asked, "What is it? Don't you like it?"

I smiled at him bitterly and said icily, "Jason, we're done."

Jason was stunned. He looked at me incredulously before springing up on his feet in anger.

He snapped, "What the hell do you mean? What is it right now? You were the one who kept complaining about how no one cared about you or how no one remembered the important days in your life.

"You were the one who asked me to spend our anniversary together! What? So, you're sick of it already? I should've listened to your sister! I shouldn't have spent so much effort preparing a surprise for you. No wonder your family likes your sister better. You're no match to her!"

He panted slightly and placed his glass down on the table hard.

I looked at Jason in disbelief.

It turned out that he was no different than all the other violent men when he got angry.

I said softly, "Jason, so your surprise is to give me a gift that Raven likes?"

He was taken aback. He suddenly looked at me with a complex gaze before looking away suspiciously.

He stuttered, "So, you're breaking up with me because you don't like the gift? If you don't like it, just tell me. Why beat around the bush?"

He shiftily took the box back and placed it in his bag.

"I'll give you another gift. I'll pretend that the breakup never happened. You're not young anymore. Don't joke around with your future."

Looking at Jason covering up his mistakes, my heart slowly sank.

On the day that I decided to give up treatment, I was still worried that he would get upset that I would be losing my memories. I wanted to be honest with him. I wanted to wish him all the happiness in the world.

It turned out that Jason did not even care how oddly I acted for the past few days. All he had on his mind was my sister, whom he had barely known for three months.

Why would I even bother caring about someone like him?