Chapter 280

Chapter 280

Mark reached out, gently ruffling my hair as he spoke in a calm, measured tone.

“The girl I wanted to ask to that concert… was you. The one I’ve been waiting to divorce… also you. And the one I’ve loved for twenty- years… yes, you.”

His voice carried a quiet confidence, his amber eyes shining with unwavering certainty, “Jane, it’s always been you, nobody else.”

It felt like my heart was being pulled out of my chest. Suddenly, I was flustered, at a loss for words.

Tumed out, when faced with someone who genuinely cared for and loved me, my first instinct was to feel unworthy.

Mixed emotions swirled within me, and I instinctively wanted to deny it, “How could it be me? You’ve known her for so many years, and we’ve only…”

“Do you remember me telling you about moving back with the Larsons when I was eight?” Mark patiently explained, lifting his wrist to show me a bracelet, “Before I was taken back by the Larsons, I was in Southhaven. This bracelet, does it ring a bell?”

“No…” I shook my head in confusion.

My memories before moving in with my aunt were fragmented, consisting only of bits and pieces about my parents and being chased for debts.

My aunt, having to put up with Allen’s mood swings just to feed me, would never have taken me to a hospital.

Later, when I sought medical advice, the doctor said it was amnesia caused by severe trauma.

And it’d been too long; the chances of recovering those memories were slim.

“This was a birthday gift you gave me.”

Mark, clueless about the storm inside me, didn’t seem down at all. He spoke gently, “It’s okay. We have a long future ahead of us. It’s enough that I remember the past.”

“You…” I hesitated before asking, “When did you recognize me?”

It was that time you fainted from low blood sugar.”

Mark looked at me with a tender gaze, “I heard someone call your name.”

He chuckled softly, “At first, I wondered if it was just a coincidence. But then, I noticed so many of your habits were the same as when you were little. They haven’t changed.”

I blinked, “Like what?”

“Your love for spicy and sweet foods, the way you fidget with your hands when you’re nervous, your fear of anything squishy…”

Mark observed me, “So, it adds up, right?”

With each habit he listed, my certainty grew, and I had to admit, “Yes! It adds up.”

It really was me. Absolutely me.

But still…

Ifidgeted with my hands, saying, “Mark, I might…”

Not be ready to return your feelings.

Liking someone isn’t easy, and before I can clear my own heart, accepting another feels irresponsible.

Both to myself and to the other person.

“I don’t need an immediate response from you.”

Mark understood me too well, his voice soothing, “Jane, you don’t have to feel guilty or pressured because of this. I like you, and I helped you that time, because, as a kid, you protected me so many times.”

“As a ‘bastard‘ with no father and a deceased mother, whenever I was mocked or bullied, you were there, fists ready, like a little warrior, shielding me.”

“Was it really like that?”

I asked, somewhat wistfully.

Had I been really like that as a child? Bold, brave, fearless, standing tall like a sunflower.

How did I become what I was today…