If Love is Forgotten

Three years ago, Darren was retaliated against by his enemies and his body was never found.

At the last moment, I turned the tide and finally saved his life's work.

Today, three years later, Darren has come back to life.

The doctor said he had lost his memory. His memory remained at the time of his college graduation, before he fell in love with me.

At that time, his first love, Vivie, was his everything. And I was just an enemy he despised.

When Darren came back, he forced me to return the company to him and then married Vivie.

Feeling heartbroken, I left in despair.

Before leaving, I asked him, "If one day you remember everything, will you regret it?"

He said, "I will only be grateful that the heavens gave me a second chance with her."

——

When I saw Darren again, I thought I was imagining things.

From the very first day he disappeared, I often saw him in a hazy state of consciousness.

An hour ago, someone told me they had seen a man at the hospital who looked a lot like Darren.

I thought it was just another scam.

Almost the whole city knew I was looking for him and people claiming to have seen Darren kept appearing. But none of them were real.

“Darren?”

I called his name in disbelief, only to see him slowly turn his head and frown at me.

I hadn't seen him in three years. But just from that side profile, I could recognize him instantly.

The moment I saw him clearly, my body froze in place, as if all my functions had shut down and all I could see was him.

Such a familiar face was the one I had loved for three years and the one I had lost for three years.

This time, Darren was really back.

He still frowned, his lips parted as if he wanted to say something.

Then, he extended his hand.

My breath caught and I stood there, waiting. But the next moment, it felt like I had been thrown into an icy pit.

A delicate, fair hand rested on his.

“Darren.”

The voice was sweet and the person looked even more delicate and charming.

I was also familiar with her. She was Darren’s first love, Vivie.

Their natural and intimate actions froze me in place and for a moment, my mind went blank. I couldn’t think of anything.

All these three years Darren had been gone, it turned out he had been with Vivie. What did that make me?

The sight of them standing together was beautiful yet painful, especially the expression on Darren’s face as he looked at me. It was a look I had seen many years ago.

Disgust and disdain.

At that moment, I held back my tears when I first saw him and I didn’t cry when I saw him with Vivie.

But that gaze hurt too much. It reminded me of all the times he had opposed me.

In an instant, my heart felt like it had been brutally crushed and I couldn’t hold back my tears.

It was at this moment that Darren’s friends arrived.

When they saw Darren and Vivie together, their faces all changed. Then, almost in unison, they turned to look at me.

"Cindy, what's going on with Darren?"

Everyone could tell something was wrong. Darren and Vivie hadn’t been in touch for almost six years, so there was no reason for them to be this close now.

"I don’t know," I shook my head, feeling lost. I really didn’t know anything.

A group of them stood in the hospital lobby and it didn’t take long before Darren noticed the situation.

He furrowed his brows and finally walked over to this side.

I held my breath, almost moved to tears, but then I heard him say, "Ned, Juan, how come you're with her?"

He looked extremely displeased and his gaze towards me was filled with intense disdain. "Cindy, what trick are you trying to play again?"

Darren grabbed my hand forcefully, the pressure so intense that it felt like he was trying to crush me.

The surrounding air was almost silent. No one knew what had happened.

They only knew that Darren had once loved me deeply.

Not to mention touching me, even his tone would be gentle, so light that it couldn't be lighter.

The usually cold and domineering CEO, Darren, was like a loyal puppy when he was with me, a wellknown "lover slave" in his social circle.

But now, he seemed to despise me so much.

"Darren." Vivie suddenly walked up to him, gently pulling his hand away and even stroked his head.

"You don't need to be so harsh, you'll scare people."

Sure enough, upon hearing this, Darren almost seemed to shed all the hostility from his demeanor.

He didn’t speak anymore, but his guard was still up, unchanged.

I stubbornly held back my tears, watching them walk away.

It wasn’t until Vivie led him into a consultation room that I couldn’t hold back anymore and burst into tears.

"How did he become like this?"

Juan and Ned smoked one cigarette after another, their gazes avoiding mine.

They both knew that the past few years, when Darren was gone, it had been the hardest for me.

I had once boldly declared in front of them that if Darren didn’t die, I would drag him to the fighting room and beat him half to death.

When the moment finally arrived, I was overjoyed, wanting nothing more than to rush up and hug him tightly.

But by his side, there was someone else.

We stood in the corner for a long time, until Darren and Vivie walked out hand in hand and only then did we make a move.

Juan stubbed out his cigarette and threw it into the trash can, pulling me toward the consultation room.

“Let’s go, let’s figure out what’s going on.”

The doctor said that Darren had amnesia.

His memory stopped at the time before his college graduation, when Vivie was everything to him and I was the rival he disliked the most.

I grew up with him, as our families have been close for generations. But somehow, it felt like we had always been at odds.

I was competitive and he couldn’t tolerate anyone opposing him even a little. During our younger years, we were both full of youthful pride. We argued over everything, from academics to life and every time we met, we almost always ended up in a heated argument.

But Vivie was different.

She was gentle, intellectual, sweet and cute.

If it hadn’t been for her leaving him to go abroad for a better life, he wouldn’t have ended up drunk and in that state, spent a night with me, also intoxicated.

After that, we slowly stopped seeing each other as enemies and began to discover each other’s good qualities.

Despite our relationship breaking the ice, on the day he proposed to me, Darren became entangled in a business dispute. He offended the wrong person and was deliberately set up for revenge, his life hanging in the balance.

Now he’s back, but all the mutual probing and shared understanding over the past years have turned to nothing.

“Is there really no chance for Darren to recover his memory?” Juan asked, frowning.

The doctor shook his head and replied, “The chances are slim.”

We exchanged glances, but none of us spoke.

From our earlier conversation with the doctor, we learned that Darren’s treatment had been ongoing for several months.

During this period, he slowly began to remember many things and it wasn’t until recently that his memory finally returned to the level of when he was in university.

Apart from this, I was also forced to listen to a lot of evidence of his love for Vivie.

For example, after each treatment, Darren would experience a period of withdrawal symptoms.

At this point, he didn’t want anyone, only Vivie could calm his emotions.

Another example was that Darren had proposed to Vivie last month and she happily accepted. They were soon to be officially married.

It felt absurd.

My lover disappeared for three years and when he finally returned, he was about to become someone else’s husband.

When we left the treatment room, Ned’s eyes were red.

He said, “Cindy, let’s go confront Darren. We can’t let them get married, can we?”

“No.” I firmly rejected the idea, knowing that with the way Darren felt about me in this memory, if we went and caused a scene, not only would I be cut off from him, but even Ned and Juan would no longer be considered his friends.

“What should we do then? Just let things get worse?”

I looked out the window, feeling dizzy. These past few days, with everything going on at the company, I hadn’t slept well at all.

Today, a friend told me they saw someone who looked very much like Darren at this hospital. I hadn’t slept all night and rushed over here. The result was a huge blow to me.

They knew it too, but there was nothing they could do, nothing they could change.

By the time I got home, it was already evening. I lay on the sofa, staring blankly at the light above me.

That crystal chandelier was something Darren and I bought during a trip to Lochfog, spending tens of thousands dollars to have it shipped back.

At times, he loved to hold me here because every facet of the crystal chandelier reflected the traces of his love for me.

“Darren, I hate you so much.” As I spoke, I couldn’t help but cry again.

The next second, a noise suddenly came from outside the door and I was momentarily stunned.

The door opened and Darren stood at the doorway.

He was holding a briefcase in his hand and because his memory only stopped at university, he was dressed like a college student, with not as many schemes in his eyes.

Of course, every time he stood at the door looking at me, he never had any schemes. He only had a smile on his face, then walked over and gave me a romantic kiss.

But now, when he saw me, he paused for a moment. Then, with a tone filled with deep disgust, he said, “What are you doing in my house?”

I sat up from the sofa and replied, “Darren, this is also my house.”

He furrowed his brows, walking in step by step, his eyes scanning the apartment.

Everything in here was paired up, clearly showing signs of the life we had shared together.

Even the big wall in the living room was adorned with all the photos of our trips.

All the evidence of our love was displayed in front of him and I didn’t need to explain anything

“Move out,” he said.

I took a sharp breath, my voice trembling as I asked him, “What’s the reason?”

Darren’s lips twitched slightly, looking a bit pained.

I struggled to force a smile, “Darren, you’ve just forgotten. You do love me. Please, don’t make me hate you, okay?”

Darren seemed confused, as if he was deep in thought.

But my casual words weren’t enough to change the expression on his face.

Instead, it reminded him that his company was still in my hands. That was why he had come back to find me tonight.

“Yes, you reminded me,” he said, pulling a document from the briefcase he was carrying. “I hope you can return my company to me. And also...”

He took out another item, with a red cover embossed with golden lily of the valley flowers and the large double happiness character almost drew my gaze.

“They say I had a relationship with you, but I forgot. Now I’m getting married and I hope you can come to our wedding.”

My lover invited me to attend his wedding with someone else. There’s probably no other situation like this in the world.

I didn’t take the invitation because his intention wasn’t a sincere invitation anyway.

He placed the invitation on the table and coldly said, “I want the company. I want this house too. You should pack your things and move out as soon as possible. I will give you some compensation.”

After speaking, he turned and left without a trace of hesitation.

I ran my fingers over the invitation on the table and suddenly laughed.

Lily of the valley was his favorite flower.

It was also mine.

Three years ago, the scene when he proposed to me was filled with lilies of the valley.

I heard that he specifically found the best flower shop and in the early morning, he had lilies of the valley shipped from the flower farm.

He even had people spend more than ten hours setting up the venue.

That day, he called me, his voice carrying an unease I didn’t notice at the time.

“Cindy, do you have time tonight?”

At that time, I was still working at the office, so I couldn’t give him a definite answer.

He was so cautious. He really wanted me to go but also afraid I might sense something was off.

In the end, I pushed aside the work I had and decided to go on a date with him. “Alright, I’ll definitely be there on time.”

But because of the busy schedule, I still arrived ten minutes late.

At the time, I didn’t realize what those ten minutes meant.

When I finally reached the venue, all I saw was the ruined lilies of the valley scattered everywhere. The small white flowers, like little bells, were stained with blood.

Ned and Juan rushed over and said they couldn’t reach Darren.

And so, we missed each other for another three years.

“Darren, you really have a cold heart.”

I carefully put away the invitation and walked into our bedroom.

Everything here, every decoration, was picked out by me and Darren together.

He said this was our love nest.

We were supposed to be two birds that would never part. But now, everything had changed.

I walked over to the window, trying to compose myself and hold back the overwhelming sadness.

Then, I noticed a car parked downstairs. A familiar figure stood in front of the car and beside him was the person he loved most now.

It turned out they had just arrived together.

Darren and Vivie stood facing each other and they didn’t seem to be saying anything. After a while, Vivie stood on her tiptoes and kissed Darren.

Darren wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss voluntarily.

They were now like the most passionate lovers from their college days, the kind whose love could not be broken by any hardship.

I bitterly smiled, my gaze unable to move away for a moment.

The next second, I locked eyes with Darren, who had suddenly looked up.

It was obvious that in his eyes, there was no longer “me.”

Darren was determined to make me return the company to him.

The next day when I went to work, countless people carefully watched me.

Confused, I walked into the office, only to see Darren and Vivie already sitting at the desk like the owners, yet calmly and composedly.

“You’re here.” Darren raised an eyebrow. “Your things have already been packed. Considering that you didn’t transfer Henley Group to your name, I will give you 400 thousand dollars as a management fee for three years.”

He pointed to a cardboard box in the corner of the room, which contained all my office supplies.

Three years ago, when he suddenly had an accident, the entire group was left without support.

But fortunately, they all knew I was Darren’s lover and since I was also the daughter of the Marjorie family, they accepted my invisible management of Henley Group.

But during this period, there were many people who were dissatisfied.

So, as soon as Darren returned, someone immediately went to him and said that three years ago, I had usurped his company.

The fact that Darren could say something like this now meant he must have investigated and cleared things up.

But I really want to know, had he found out about the suffering I endured for him over the past three years?

I thought about this and asked him.

Darren nodded and admitted, “I really didn’t expect that you would go this far for me.”

He stood up from the desk and stared at me intently.

“Unfortunately, he’s already dead. The person I am now is not the same as he was.”

Darren had split himself into two people.

One was the current him and the other was the person who once loved me.

Now, he said that the person who loved me was dead.

It seemed that not only was he determined to take the company back, but he was also determined to sever all ties with me.

“Fine.” I looked at him and agreed without hesitation.

He seemed surprised that I would compromise so easily, especially since in his mind, I was the kind of person who would argue about everything with him.

But now, I truly couldn’t argue anymore. I felt dizzy, as though I were about to collapse.

The moment I was moving my things out of the office, Darren was still standing there watching me.

He said, “Remember to come to my wedding.”

I stared at him, tears welling in my eyes. Meanwhile, he had already turned around, pulling Vivie into his arms.

Vivie looked at me and gave a slight apologetic smile, but I could see that within that apology, there was also a sense of triumph.

From the moment we met, everything about her could never compare to me.

Now, the things she once discarded, she treasured like jewels, while she saw me as nothing more than dust. How could she not be happy?

But it didn’t matter. I didn’t care anymore.

Since the moment Darren forgot about me, I stopped caring.