It started with a photo.
I was looking through a drawer in Bright's apartment while he was in the shower — just looking for a charger. What I found instead was a small, worn photo tucked into the back of a book. The edges were frayed, like it had been touched too many times. I flipped it over.
It was me. And Bright. Smiling. Laughing. Holding hands at a place she didn't remember ever being.
My heart dropped.
When he came out, towel low around his waist, hair damp, humming like nothing was wrong, I held it up without a word.
"Bright," I said, voice low and trembling. "What is this?"
He froze. His whole body shifted like something inside him snapped back into reality. And that was when I saw it — the fear behind his eyes. The kind he'd been hiding so well behind smirks and kisses and sweet words.
"You weren't supposed to find that yet," he said quietly.
"Yet?" I repeated. My voice cracked. "What is going on?"
He didn't speak for a second. Just walked over slowly, took the photo from my hand like it weighed more than it should.
"That was us," he said. "From before."
My breath caught in my throat. "Before… what?"
Bright swallowed hard. Sat on the edge of the bed. "Before the accident. Before the hospital. Before you forgot me."
Silence.
The world tilted. It felt like gravity stopped working — like my chest had been pulled out of place. My knees went weak and I sat down too, not even realizing I was shaking.
"Y-You're saying… we knew each other?" she whispered.
He looked at me with eyes that had clearly been waiting to say this. For too long. "Not just knew. Terra, I loved you. I still do."
Tears welled up before I even knew they were coming. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried," he said, voice breaking. "At first. But you didn't remember. You looked at me like I was a stranger, and it destroyed me. So I made a choice… I thought, maybe instead of making you remember our love, I'd help you fall in love with me again."
I shook my head. "So all of this — the aquarium, the dinner, the night we spent together — that was you restarting what we already had?"
"Yes." His voice cracked. "But none of it was fake. I didn't trick you. I just… couldn't lose you twice."
I stood up, angry tears falling. "You should have told me. You took away my choice. I trusted you—"
"And I didn't want to break you again," he cut in. "You were healing. You were happy. I thought maybe, just maybe, the universe was giving us another chance."
I turned away, arms wrapped around myself. My heart ached. My mind was spinning. Everything suddenly felt unreal.
And yet…
When I thought about the past few days — his touch, his patience, the butterflies, the way he looked at me like I was his world — I can't remember anything but it felt real. Every bit of it.
I turned back to him slowly. "What if I never remember?"
He looked up at me, tears threatening in his eyes now too. "Then I'll keep loving you like it's the first time. As many times as it takes."
And somehow… those words were more powerful than memory.