Chapter 650: Ten Years of Marriage
The familiar memories between Wendy and Zen were gone. They either did not exist at all, or something was wrong with Zen’s or her memory. There was even the possibility that both their memories were distorted.
Wendy felt that her current state of mind was in an absolute mess. This would not do; she had to figure out what was going on.
"You can get a bit of rest. I’ll get the doctor to check on you," Wendy stretched out her hand to put the quilt on Zen, then turned and left.
Zen opened her mouth and wanted to stop her. However, after some hesitation, she decided to let it go before she said anything. Wendy went downstairs after exiting Zen’s room.
Christian was still in the living room. As she entered the room, he smiled and asked, "Has Zen woken up?"
Wendy nodded and asked, "Yes, she has. I’m going to call the doctor to check on her. Do you want to go see her too?"
"No, I shan’t bother her rest," the smile on Christian’s face was increasingly gentle.
He stood up and walked to stand by Wendy’s side. Reaching out to hold her hand in his, he said, "Let’s go for a walk in the garden. Maybe you can recall something as you explore more of this house."
Then, he instructed the maid, "Send the doctor to check on Zen’s condition." The maid immediately nodded in acknowledgment.
Wendy subconsciously retracted her hand the moment Christian’s hand touched hers. Although it was only a small move, it dimmed the light in Christian’s eyes.
Christian acted as if nothing had happened. "Wendy, I understand that you may feel resistant towards me since you just woke up and lost your memory.
"But it doesn’t matter. I have both time and patience. I can tell you more about the past, and things will come to your mind slowly."
Wendy did want to know about the past. Hence, she nodded after some hesitation, although she did not want to walk with him initially.
Christian walked ahead while Wendy slowly followed behind.
"Do you remember this garden?" Christian walked at a leisurely pace. Pointing to a bunch of lilies in the garden, he said, "Those are your favorite, lilies. I planted them for you myself.
"The weather here is not suitable for the growth of lilies. I tried many times before I finally succeeded in keeping them alive this time around. However, they didn’t bloom much. They have only bloomed once in the past few years. Furthermore, it wasn’t a beautiful bloom."
Christian’s words were not exactly fabricated. These lilies were indeed planted by him without any help. Four years ago, he got the lily seeds from China and brought them to Rheinsville City to plant them.
The climate in Rheinsville City was not suitable for the growth of lilies. The lilies that Christian usually bought were shipped by air from the florist. Lilies were rare and expensive in Rheinsville City.
Naturally, Wendy had no recollection of this because she did not even know about it.
Hence, she shook her head in reply.
"It’s okay if you don’t remember. Look, how about the swing stand over there. I built that for you too," Christian pointed to the swing a short distance away. It did not ring a bell to Wendy too.
"Then, do you remember how we met?" Christian knew that Wendy would have no recollection of the things that he had mentioned. He had reserved his main objective for later. "The first time we met was at a talk at your university. To be precise, that was the first time you saw me. At that time, I had no impression of you at all."
As Christian talked about this, Wendy raised her head and looked at him. Christian knew how they met for the first time?
Since both Christian and she knew and remembered how they met, it showed that this had, indeed, happened.
Wendy remained silent. She wanted to hear Christian talk about the past and see how much of it overlapped with what she remembered.
...
"Later, you came to my company for an internship and became my assistant. You took good care of my work and life, and slowly I realized that you liked me," Christian reminisced the past with a smile on his face.
What he said was what had happened between Wendy and Michael. However, although he had made up the memories between Wendy and himself, his expression was genuine and sincere.
"You were so adorable back then," Christian turned his head to gaze at Wendy with a gentle look in his eyes. "I was a workaholic and never did anything else other than sleeping and working.
"I never thought that one day I would fall in love with someone. But after falling in love, I realized that being in love is more beautiful than I could imagine."
Love is beautiful, indeed. Christian thought he would never love anyone in his life.
But the feeling of caring for and missing someone, despite the pain it brings, is inexplicably addictive.
It’s a pity that his love had come to this. He had to use such inferior means to erase Wendy’s memory so that she would have a calm conversation with him like this. How funny and ironic.
Wendy felt that Christian was sincere in his words. However, she also felt that he did not say much about the past.
Pursing her lips, Wendy asked, "What else happened between us; can you tell me in detail? Maybe if you spoke more in detail, I would be able to recover my memory sooner."
Among the things that happened between Wendy and Michael, Christian had mostly known about how Michael had treated her badly.
When he had returned back then, Michael did not love Wendy at all and even hated her very much. He also hurt Wendy multiple times because of Yvonne Taylor.
According to Christian’s investigation, at that time, Michael deducted Wendy’s salary so often that she did not even have enough to eat. If not for their grandmother, who adored her and forbade Michael from divorcing her, things would have been long over between them.
Christian had the hypnotist erase the memories between Wendy and Michael because he did not want her to recall those unpleasant memories.
Now that she has forgotten about them and that he had taken the place of Michael as her husband, he naturally would not mention things that would upset her.
However, he was not clear about the warm memories that Wendy shared with Michael. Hence, he could only make it up himself.
"There were many, many things that happened between us. We have been married for almost ten years," said Christian. "We have been very affectionate throughout the past ten years.
"We used to go and return from work together, and you would cook a lot of delicious meals for me by yourself. We would go to the supermarket together on weekends and cook together."
Wendy was still frowning as she listened to Christian.
"Ten years of marriage." Wendy asked, pursing her lips, "We are only expecting our first child after ten years of marriage?"
Christian was a little caught off guard by Wendy’s question. There were too many potential problems involved in erasing one’s memory.
However, he was able to react quickly and immediately explained, "Your health had always been bad. You were pregnant with a child six years ago, but... " Christian paused even though he had wanted to say something. Wendy continued the conversation and asked, "But what?"
"Wendy, let’s not talk about sad events that happened in the past. I took you out for a walk because I wanted to lighten your mood," Christian’s tone was gentle and sincere.
If she did not know better, she would have taken his word for it. However, she was no ordinary person.
...
"You don’t have to say it if you’re not willing to do so." There was a hint of anger in Wendy’s tone.
Christian seemed worried and afraid. He sighed and said, "Alright, I’ll tell you about it, but I hope you’ll no longer be sad. After all, it’s been so long, and we already have another child."
He paused for a while before continuing, "Six years ago, Michael hired some people to abduct you. Back then, he hadn’t fallen in love with you, so he thought of killing you to make me sad. Do you remember my relationship with Michael?"
Wendy frowned and instinctively blurted, "You’re brothers of different mothers?"
A moment later, she was quite shocked that she had said that. How did she know that Michael and Christian had different mothers? She had no impression of Michael at all.
"That’s right, we’re brothers, but we have different mothers. This means that we’re fated to be enemies ever since we’re born," Christian said.
"MC Enterprise is my father’s business, and the two of us have been fighting for its control. He was on the losing end, so he thought of defeating me using despicable means. That was why he abducted you.
"He knew that I loved you, so he thought that I would give up control over the company after you died. If that happened, MC Enterprise would fall into his hands.
"His men pushed you into the sea. Fortunately, I arrived in time and saved you.
Unfortunately, you were pregnant at that time, and that incident made you lose your child.
"Your body has been weak ever since the near-drowning incident, which caused a miscarriage. The doctor said that you couldn’t conceive again, and I was prepared to be childless for the rest of my life. It’s an incredible blessing that you’re pregnant once more.
"Did you know how scared I was when Michael abducted you again? Now, I’m glad that this is all over."
As she listened to Christian, Wendy remembered a time when she fell into the sea.
She remembered that she was tied up, but there was someone else tied up along with her. But she was the only one who was pushed into the sea.
Only vague flashes of that memory remained. Wendy could not remember anything else of that incident.
"Who was the other woman?" She asked Christian.
"What other woman?" Christian was a little afraid when he looked into Wendy’s eyes.
He was afraid that Wendy would remember what really happened.
"I remember that I’m not the only one who was abducted," Wendy said.
That made Christian even more afraid. "What else do you remember?" he asked.
Wendy shook her head as she replied, "That’s all."
Christian breathed a sigh of relief. "There was indeed another woman. Her name is Isabel Lucas, and she is my younger sister. Michael abducted the two of you and told me that I could only save either one of you."
"What happened after that?"
"I chose to save you." Christian’s gaze wavered as he answered.
"What happened to Isabel then?" Wendy seemed to have remembered something about Isabel when her name was mentioned.
She vaguely remembered that Christian had a younger sister named Isabel, but she did not have a strong impression of her because they rarely met.
"Isabel is fine. Don’t worry," Christian replied.
"If you chose to save me, why did I fall into the sea then?" Wendy asked after she seemed to have realized something.
"Michael is despicable. He pushed you into the sea precisely because I chose you," Christian said. "He wanted to kill the person who’s the most important to me."
