Til Death Do Us Part

53

“Maybe I don’t want to. Maybe something inside of me decided I didn’t want those memories anymore, and that’s why they haven’t come back. Maybe the reason I’m happy to be here and not go looking for my past is that my gut says I shouldn’t.” I bite harshly, so badly wanting to call him out on his bullshit with all this. Like he conveniently forgets everything, and what about his mistress? I’m sure he didn’t just toss her aside, and she’s probably lurking in the background of his life still. The woman he threw me away for.

“You don’t belong here, Sohla!” Bryant cuts in because Jyeon’s at a loss for words, and I know it’s probably because my words triggered the truth. He knows what he did, how it was between us the night I disappeared. I can’t believe he has the audacity to come and act like his beloved wife needs to be returned to him. He can’t be this arrogant.

“Yes, I do.” My stubbornness shows face. “Call me Anna…that’s my name.”

“No, it’s not! It’s Sohla f*****g Park…and you belong with me, back home, with our family. You have every reason to come back and take back what belongs to you. Money, shares, the company…. How can you forget OLO when it was your father’s legacy? Did you forget your parents too? And what about our baby? Do you even know we had a kid? Huh? …. Their graves sit waiting for you to come back and see them again. Do you not want to know about your life, your past? Who the people you loved were? If you have siblings? Yoonah, my brother, who loves you like his own sister. Are you not even curious? What about me? Our marriage?” He throws it all in, and it takes every part of me not to explode. How low he can go by using them as bait as though it’ll push me to do what he wants. He has no idea how much I agonised over all of that these past two years.

“You don’t feel like a man I want to be with. Everything you’re saying is nothing but empty words that belong to someone else. Are you sure we were married? I don’t get that from you at all. I don’t get the vibes that you love me, that we had something special….. it feels like I should be getting far away from you and running. My head maybe doesn’t remember, but my body seems to think you’re a threat.” I can’t keep it in, gritting my teeth, and even Greta is trying to curb her temper while I’m blurting out too much, so staying quiet.

My words seem to knock Jyeon’s arrogance for a second, and he looks away, clenching his jaw and seems to take a second to compose himself. Overcome with emotion as my words hit him like a slap in the face. He turns back to me; his eyes glazed a little, and his expression set firm. We both know that our marriage was empty and cold.

“Okay, I’ll admit, our marriage sucked. We didn’t marry for love but duty, responsibility, and our parent’s wishes. We had a pretty rollercoaster relationship, but that doesn’t change the fact that I want to take you home. That I care about you, what happened that night, and now. You have to come home with me. This isn’t just about feelings, but about your inheritance, your shares…. You left behind so much. You had an entire life.”

“Shares and money….is that why you’re here? You worried now she’s alive that she’ll divorce you because she forgot you and threaten all that?” Greta is trying hard to stay in character and not spill the beans. Bubbling up with the need to call him out directly for what she does know to be the truth. This is hard for us both.

“Is that what you think? That finding my wife alive after two years, I immediately go to thinking about what she can take from me?” Jyeon’s temper spikes.

“I’ll divorce you then, give it all up, sign whatever over and resign, what?... Shares? You can have them. If that’s what you came for or are worried about. Give me the papers, and we can call it quits. I haven’t needed anything these past two years. I’ll set you free, Mr Park.”

He has no reason to still want me dead if I do that. Right? If that’s his goal, I can make it simple and give in right now. Jyeon snorts, unimpressed with my statement and even Bryant looks shocked about me saying I’ll throw it all away.

“How can you give up everything when you don’t even know what it is you’re giving up? Are you in the right frame of mind? No, you’re not. Amnesia is grounds for me to take over your care until you recover. You’re doing nothing until then.”

“We petitioned the court for a DNA test to confirm you are Sohla Park positively and a legal guardianship based on your memory loss. To protect you and your finances from those who would use your condition to hold you someplace you do not belong.” Bryant rattles it off, sounding exactly like a cold-hearted lawyer would and not his usual happy go lucky self. I baulk at what he said, hitting a severe brain freeze, and Greta blurts out in angry impulse.

“What? A f*****g what?!?!”

“I told you, I wasn’t leaving my wife here without me. A legal guardianship to take control of her care until she recovers if she ever does. She’s an heiress and worth billions. I have to protect her now I know she’s my Sohla. The courts happen to agree with me.”

We fell into our lie, and now he’s using it as a weapon. Using his lawyer and his calculating mind to f**k me over completely. My mouth dries up, and I have difficulty swallowing, trying to get my brain to connect the dots of what he just said and realising I can’t exactly backtrack out of it with a sudden memory regain.

“What the hell are you?” My words are feeble from a shocked state that he would be this person. He’s me from two years ago, using anything within his means to get the outcome he wants. Isn’t that what I tried to do to Claire White? This is how we were, are, in that game… always stepping up to outdo an opponent. I would be impressed with his plan if it wasn’t about me.

“You want a divorce? You have to remember why first. You want to give up everything? Then you have to know and remember all the facts before I let you do something so drastic. You want your freedom? You come home, and you take whatever treatment to regain your memory. Right now, to me, you’re a blank slate that I’ll protect until you’re capable of taking control of your own life.” He’s deadly serious.

“You can’t do this… this can’t be legal.” Greta’s fire has dulled to worry. Her voice strained, and she slides back against me and takes my hand in hers, knowing this is very real and very not what we planned. Clasping me tight.

“If you try and hide her, we will find her. If you run, you won’t get far. We can forcibly take her if the guardianship is passed, which it will be. I can roll up, pick her up, and make sure you never see her again if that’s what I want.” Jyeon’s words and manner terrify me, and for the first time in my life, I start to wonder if he was capable of trying to kill me. This doesn’t feel like Jyeon, who cares about me. This feels like his father taking down a deal in a ruthless manner that made him famous. In two years, without me taking the hits and acting buffer for him, Jyeon’s grown colder and more able to do the things I used to have to do. He’s grown more brutal and icier than I ever was because he has the added intimidation of a ton more testosterone.

“You’re giving me every reason not to let you touch one hair on my head.” My voice trembles. My fight is wavering because even I know the legal angle is on his side.

“Look, everyone, calm down…. He’s not saying that's the intention. He’s wound up, and at times, he’s a bit highly strung. He genuinely cares about her…. we all do. She has been a big part of our lives since we were kids. Sohla was the baby sister to many of us, and there through everything. We all depended on her. No one wants to hurt her or restrict her freedom. We want to take her back where she belongs and let her find out who she is so she can decide where her future lies with all the facts. Then she can figure out what she wants to do with her wealth. We owe it to her to protect what’s hers and let her sensibly choose.” Bryant is the voice of reason again, and I can’t get used to him being the soft one. Mr stable and calm, while Jyeon seems devil incarnate.