Taming The Wild CEO novel Chapter 89

C H A P T E R 1 8 : L O S T F E E L I N G S

E L L A S T A N F O R D

Ella woke up and saw Javier and a nurse holding each other’s hand. She waited for a moment as she continued to stare at them yet nothing came. No feelings whatsoever. If he truly was her fiancé like how he had claimed to be, surely she would feel something. Maybe not some sense of ownership but at least a little bit of jealousy. Yet nothing. She waited for a few moments before deciding to interrupt them. “What is with all the noises?”

“Ella,” he greeted back and pulled his hand out of Aimee's grasp. “This is Aimee Sonata. She is a nurse here.”

“And why do you both look like you have known each other for a long time?” she asked out of curiosity and also because there was something in Nurse Aimee's eyes that she found to be irritating. There was that look that she did not particularly like although she could not pinpoint what it was.

“We used to date until I found her on the bed with Piers,” Javier explained without a hitch or a pause.

Ella lifted one eyebrow, a bit surprised that her fiancé decided to speak bluntly instead of simply telling her that they had known each other in the past. Her eyes turned to the other person and she could see Nurse Aimee's face turn red. “Oh,” she muttered a response. “Well, it is nice to meet you,” she said to Nurse Aimee and forced her lips to form a smile.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Stanford.” Nurse Aimee gave her a polite smile in return. “I suppose I should leave you both. Please let me know if you need any help by pressing the button on the left side of your bed.” With that she turned around and left the room.

“You are being mean,” commented Ella once Nurse Aimee had closed the door behind her.

Javier shook his head. “I am being honest.”

“I like it,” muttered Ella in a low voice then she looked up to meet his baby blues. “Please continue being honest with me. I may not remember everything but honesty would definitely help me than a bunch of lies.”

“I will,” he promised then as if he was trying to go for a lighter subject, he asked, “How was your day? I noticed your parents have left.”

“It was a bit too much, to be honest.” She leaned back on her pillow and sighed. “My dad has married someone else and he has another daughter now. Her name is Jessica. Apparently she goes to some private school called Carlton High.”

“Ah, my niece also goes there.”

Ella turned to him. “Your niece?”

“Yeah, Autumn.”

“Autumn. Autumn Summers.” A frown formed on her forehead. “Why does that name sound so familiar? Did someone name her for fun to combine two seasons?”

Javier nearly sucked in his breath. Did she just remember? They had been talking about Autumn’s name two weeks ago after the blasted dinner with his family, before her accident. “Yes. My brother did, actually.”

“Oh.” The frown disappeared. “Poor child.”

“Do you remember anything else?” Javier tried to keep his voice from sounding too hopeful and failed. He hoped she would start remembering.

Yet she killed his hope by shaking her head. “No.”

“We had a talk about Autumn’s names a few weeks ago.”

“No.” She shook her head again. “I do not remember anything from that conversation or whether we have that conversation or not.”

“That is alright.” He was not sure whether he tried to reassure her or himself. “What else did you learn from meeting with your parents?”

“Mom told me that she has run away from home because she was raped.” She briefly closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “She went to some party with my aunt, Rachelle, and then someone raped her. She did not tell me anything else and I can understand considering how traumatizing that experience must have been for her.” She paused and stared blankly ahead. Bits and pieces of her memory have returned but nothing on him. Nothing on Javier Summers and it baffled her. She did not know whether she should trust him or her unreliable memory. “I do not understand one thing. According to my mom, I went to her place and then on my way back to Seattle, I had an accident.”

“That is correct,” he confirmed.

Then slowly but surely, Ella’s gaze went back to him. Her eyes were icy cold. “Where were you then?”

Being asked directly, Javier nearly lost his tongue. “I was looking for you.”

“So you were not with me during the accident?” Her eyes were questioning him.

“No,” he breathed out.

“Hmm.” Her eyes narrowed as she was giving it a second thought.

“You are allowed to leave the hospital, Ella,” he said carefully. "My family actually can not wait to see you. Especially my sister."

“But what am I going to do in the meantime if I can’t remember anything or anyone?”

Her question hit him square between the eyes. This was his ¹chance, he realized, feeling like a man who had felt the worst when he had thought she would not make it. This was the chance he had waited for, prayed for—to be able to go back, to make things right between the two of them. “Do not worry. You are going to let me take care of you and everything will be fine."

“I can not possibly ask you to do that.”

“Sure you can. I am your fiancé, and I love you.”

“But it seems unfair. I mean, I do not remember you or anything about our marriage.” She flushed. “You are — you’re a stranger to me.”

The sudden chill in his voice was spurring her on. But for some reason, she was actually excited to open the piece of luggage. She was going to see pieces of her personality. Of herself. But what was inside truly confused her. She was not sure they were clothes at first sight. Everything inside was in somewhat felt strange.

"What is this?" Ella picked up what seemed to be a scrap of lace and held it in front of her. When she realized what it was she quickly dropped it. Her face went as red as the lingerie.

"Your clothes.” Javier blankly stared at her. He hesitated at first but then he started to explain, “I bought you that about two weeks after we got engaged. You said that since that gorgeous red dress, you started to like the color red better so I got you this.” The corner of his eyes wrinkled as he smiled. “You told me that you are going to become a mother and this might not be appropriate and I told you that it is not a crime to be both a woman and a mother.”

Ella muttered under her breath, "I wore that?"

A headache started to develop as she rummaged through her things. Everything she saw was too much. There were five pairs of shoes. All glitzy heels of not less than three inches. Tops with necklines so low they did not really make sense, leather micro miniskirts, glittery party dresses. And there was no sense of recognition.

"Are you sure these are mine? There is nothing here appropriate to wear." She looked back at Javier, frustrated.

He was looking back with an unreadable face.

"I will leave you to get dressed." He walked out of the room.

No decent person would wear most of what was inside that crazy suitcase. Her crazy suitcase. What kind of person did that make her?

Baffled, she randomly chose a crop top and ripped shorts because really, there was nothing else she could bear to put on. A pair of ankle length leather boots. There was a makeup bag in there but when she saw the dark red lipstick, she quickly gave up.

"Are you done?" Javier stood by the door like a dark prince, eyeing at her from top to toe.

Ella left her waist length hair down to cover her back and wrapped one arm around her middle to hide the showing skin. Forget about wearing clothes, she felt naked when he looked at her that way.

"Yes," she forced herself to nod and went to him. He quickly grabbed her hand and interlaced their fingers. She froze at his action but he started taking her out of the room. Where he touched, tingles were spreading on her skin and her heart started to beat wildly.

"We are heading home," he informed.

Home. Her head stayed blank at the mention.

All those clothes felt like a stranger to her. What if this home would be a stranger too?

* * *

Dear Gentle Readers, the operation went successful. Thank you for your well wishes. Back to the story, one question remains: do you think Ella will ever recognize herself (especially herself post meeting and dating Javier)?