Reborn in the Enemy's Embrace

My head felt dizzy as I stiffly sat beside the bed, my ears buzzing for quite some time

"Sophia?

"Sofia?"

I could hear Damien calling my name but I was in a state of dizziness.

When I abruptly stood up, the room spun before my eyes.

"Sophia?"

Before I lost my memory, I suffered from psychological illness?

Was that the reason I had forgotten about the orphanage, about Dexter Black?

What exactly happened?

"Sophia... Erase me. I won’t blame you. Erase me from your memory..."

"Don’t be scared, Sophia. I’ll always be by your side."

"If your current life is more comfortable without me, then erase me from your memory..."

"Sophia, what am I to you? Am I a forgotten remnant of your past?"

"Sophia... Don’t die, please, I beg of you. Don’t let me become a remnant of your past.

You know I can’t live by myself."

A voice was roaring, crying, and screaming in my mind.

"Sophia, don’t leave me behind."

In my blurred consciousness, it seemed that I had returned to the moment before I was dead.

Under the moonlight, I found myself cornered by those tramps in a dark alley. I was disheveled.

A tall, terrifying figure with a stick in his hand was mercilessly striking those tramps.

"Touch her and you’ll die."

"Don’t worry. I’ll always be here."

"Sophia... Why did you forget about me? Am I part of your painful memories too?"

"I don’t blame you."

In the alley, the figure draped his jacket over me and let me rest on his lap when I fainted from low blood sugar. He stayed by my side through the night.

Dexter...

It was Dexter!

The blurry figure slowly became clear.

Dexter stood before me in the dim light and slowly turned to face me.

His face was streaked with tears, and his hands were bloodied.

With reddened eyes, he looked at me and said, "Sophia... What a disgusting world this is."

"Dexter... Dexter."

As Dexter turned away, a beam of light burst before my eyes.

While others might perceive him as a lunatic or devil, he had always been my redemption-

my sole salvation.

He was my salvation, mine alone.

In my memory, I joyfully embraced Dexter and placed the gift my mother had prepared for him on the table

"Dexter, this is a gift from my mom, but I personally picked this outfit for you. Mom said you’re still growing, so we got a bigger size for you."

"Dexter, if you weren’t a genius; what would you want to do most?"

"Keep loving you...."

"Even if I weren’t a genius and even if I became a fool, I’d still love you."

"Loving you is the only thing I want to do."

"You’re pregnant?" The doctor’s question brought me back to reality.

I found myself in the treatment room, tears soaking my hair. But I had no memory of crying.

Perhaps my desperation to recall memories from the past was overwhelming. Even the slightest fragments of Dexter’s memory Inflicted such heartache that breathing became difficult.

The doctor examined me and instructed the nurse to administer glucose. "Please exercise greater caution in the future. Hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy can lead to dizziness, although it may always be the primary cause. We’ll keep a close eye on your condition."

I asked softly, "Doctor, is there any way to quickly retrieve memories?"

The doctor was startled. "Amnesia? Have you experienced any serious injuries before? I don’t see any history of major injuries in your records, though."

Damien, who stood holding a cup of water by the door, froze in place. He quickly rushed over and crouched in front of me. "You’re Sophia, aren’t you?"

As I looked at Damien, my gaze trembled. My fingers tightened so much that they went numb.

"Mr. Coleman, I heard your mother is trying to exorcise you. It appears that you’ve truly lost your mind." I gritted my teeth and pushed away Damien’s hand.

"I’m not Sophia. And even if Sophia were alive, do you think you’re worth her attention?"

Damien’s eyes reddened. "I can make it up to you. At least give me a chance..."

"You don’t deserve it... "I pushed Damien away and walked out, fighting back the anger. You’re nothing but a liar."

I had considered a thousand reasons why Damien had stopped loving me, but I had never imagined that I was the reason.

I was the one who had been confused. I loved the wrong person, and I was deceived.

Struggling to contain the fire raging in my chest, I felt like losing my mind. I was shaken to- the point where I could barely walk.

As tears flowed uncontrollably from my eyes, all I could think of was Dexter.

I saw the image of him standing in the backlit mist, turning back to look at me.

How could you, Sophia Milford? 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

How could you forget about him?

How could you erase him completely from your mind?

And how could you... fall deeply in love with another man without the slightest hesitation?

How could you...

Tears streaming down my face, I rushed to the emergency exit and delivered a hard slap to my own cheek.

"How could you... "I questioned myself.

How could you not remember anything? How could you?

"Ah!" Overwhelmed by despair, I collapsed into the corner, grabbed my hair, and groaned low.

Why couldn’t I remember anything?

Why had I forgotten about Dexter?

Why did I mistake Damien as someone to count on back then?

This was the reason I died, wasn’t it?

Because I had betrayed Dexter by mistaking Damien for him.

If Dexter was the one who murdered me, I should just accept it because I deserved it.

deserved it!

Sophia...

On the stairs of the emergency hallway, Dexter stood there in his patient gown, his fingers dripping with blood.

I looked up at him, feeling tears welling up. I lowered my head and continued to sob.

"Are you abandoning me again?" Dexter walked up to me, his voice hoarse.

I looked at him as if I were gazing at a god.

He wasn’t a devil; he never was.

"Dexter... "I reached out to him.

Dexter anxiously grasped my hand, his gaze darting around.

"You’re such a fool..." No genius would act like him.

He pulled me into his arms, holding me tightly. "Mm–hmm, I am a fool... As long as Sophia won’t abandon me."

"The nurse said you’re not supposed to get out of bed," I said with tears.

"Sorry, I didn’t listen," Dexter apologized softly, his words soothing me. "You can punish me ...Just don’t abandon me. Don’t go with him, and don’t trust him..."

"Did you pull the needle out yourself?" I asked, noticing his still–bleeding hand.

I quickly pressed down on the wound while wiping my tears.

"It doesn’t hurt at all... " he said softly, wiping away my tears for me.

"Silly," I chided him.

"Why are you crying?" Dexter cradled my face, asking gently, "Did he upset you? I’ll kill him

I shook my head as tears continued to flow. "It’s just... Why can’t I remember anything?

" Why?"

No matter how hard tried, all I could recall were little fragments of memories.

Why had I forgotten about Dexter?

I hated myself.

As I continued to blame myself, Dexter’s fingers stiffened for a moment. His fingertips turned cold. "It’s okay... You don’t need to remember."

He lowered his head, gently kissing away the tears from the corner of my eye. It was as if he were cradling his most precious artwork...

Suddenly, memories flooded back of the basement filled with glass display cabinets and taxidermied animals. It was the place where Eason had taken me.

"Dexter... why did you collect those animal corpses? Did you kill those small animals and insects?" I asked softly.

A flicker of panic and evasion crossed Dexter’s gaze.

Nervously, I looked at Dexter, afraid he might admit to having killed those taxidermied animals displayed in the glass cases.

"No... they were gifts from someone." Dexter lowered his head, gripping his fingers tightly.

I was startled, wondering whether Dexter was lying or if they were indeed gifts from a friend.

My first thought inexplicably went to Simeon, whom I had almost completely forgotten.

Judging from the photo I saw at Carol’s place, it seemed that Simeon, Dexter, and I had a decent relationship–at least enough to take photos together.

Despite this, I had absolutely no memory of him.