A Writer's Billionaire

Chapter 55: All of Laila's lies

Jeremy POV

It took a while before Laila calmed down but despite the worries, nothing else happened. It was almost as if what Clarisse mentioned wasn't real which surprised her.

"Laila, how are you feeling?" she questioned

The doctor step aside but still remained in the room observing Laila.

"You don't feel suffocated or nauseous? Don't you want to get out of here?" she continued to ask.

We all looked at Laila waiting for her answer.  "I think I feel fine now. Did I pass out again?" 

"No, you didn't just pass out," Clarisse said.

"I didn't? Anyway, why are you asking if I wanna get out of here?" 

Clarisse gasped, "Laila, you can't stand being in a hospital remember? You hated here and you'll always have a panic attack-"

"What do you mean?" Laila cuts her off.

"Laila," Clarisse looked at me, unsure if she should continue. "Don't you remember what happened to your mom and Jeremy and why you broke up with him-"

"I broke up with Jer?" she stammered.

We are now all alarmed at the situation. Laila looked at me with wide eyes, confused about the whole situation. The doctor began to ask questions. Afterwhile he suggested getting Laila an MRI Scan. 

The whole time we are all anxiously waiting for the results. 

"Well, the good thing is that the result of the drug also came out." the doctor sighed. "I don't know how he got it but trials on that drug were stopped long ago because of its negative effect. It was found out that if taken in large amount it makes a person be confused about what is the truth and his memories can be easily distorted."

"So you are saying that Laila didn't forget anything but her memories right now are distorted," Tina faltered.

"That seems to be the case. You all heard her answers and made your input. I'm guessing that she's unknowingly taking a small dosage and then when she was suddenly injected by a highly concentrated one the process sped up so that moment on possibly trigger the distortion in her memories."

A memory flashed in my mind, "Does saying things repeatedly to her do anything?"

The doctor thinks for a second before answering me, "Yes, at that time whatever she hears or sees that can remotely be related to her memories can be a catalyst."

Clarisse turn to me, "What are you saying?"

'If you can just forget all the pain away. I want you to be happy Laila.'

I remember the moment perfectly. How I kept whispering those to Laila. 

I can't believe it. So Laila forgot everything that had happened before and just thought that she went away for further studies and that she never left me. It was hard to accept what happened.

"I don't think it will be permanent since she got treated immediately. We just need to observe her more and see if the effects fade away." the doctor stated.

"And what if it doesn't?" I questioned.

"We are already gathering the data about the drug."

I went back to Laila's room and found her asleep again. I took a seat on the chair beside her bed and gaze at her. There are a million questions I want to ask her but right now I can never know the answers. It was a good thing that this happened. She doesn't have to suffer in pain anymore. She'll be like how she is before. But, I don't think I can be happy about this knowing all the things that Clarisse had revealed making me realize that I don't even know Laila even before.

I wanted to let go of this doubt and just be happy that Laila is safe. 

Isn't it a good thing that in her memories, we are nothing but a loving couple? In her memories, nothing wrong ever happened to us. We'll be happy.

Will I be happy?

The doctor said the effects will fade but why am I hoping that it won't?

Am I being selfish? Of course, I am but as much as I want for it to happen, the things I found out earlier plague my mind. There were a lot of things I don't know about Laila, things that had happened to her. Why didn't she say anything before? For her, am I that unreliable that she was compelled to keep things all to herself?

I need to know.

Since Laila couldn't answer me right now, I'll just have to drain out the answers to the next person who knows.

It was at that exact moment that I opened the door Clarisse was standing in front of me. I immediately drag her to an empty. Brian panicked when he saw what happened.

"Jer! Calm down!" he yelled after me. 

I shut the door to his face but he still went inside.

"So you finally had a realization?" Clarisse voiced in a neutral tone as if already seen this coming. "You should know that I can only tell you as much as what I also know but the whole truth can only be answered by Laila."

I stayed quiet. What she said is true but right now all I want is to at least get a glimpse of what happened.

"You know I can't believe you had never caught on to it. All of Laila's lies. You were so attentive to her yet you missed all the crucial parts." she continue. "Seeing you right now, I guess I feel a little satisfaction. For all the things Laila had to suffer just because you made her fall in love with you."

"Hey, it was Laila's choice to love Jer-" Brian interjected.

"And that was the moment things went downhill for her." 

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You don't know or are you pretending not to know because you know that the moment you acknowledge it you'll open up that option of what will make her happy. You are one selfish jerk, Jeremy, now and even before. You just want to hold on to that idea that only you can bring her happiness. You are hellbent on being her perfect man that you ignore everything else. Laila is also a human being with emotions and is capable of looking after herself."

She finally showed her frustration. She plops down on the chair in exasperation. Her eyes glared at me as if wishing for me to just disappear at that moment. I stood my ground and take everything all in. this is my only way of ever knowing everything.

"There was nothing wrong. Laila was happy-" I slowly uttered.

"Nothing is wrong," she scoffs. "Then why did she make that decision?"

"I don't know" I honestly said.

"I can't believe I'm still getting this much frustration from your relationship. The two of you, both of you are both holding on to that absurd idea of yours that you both pretend things are fine and ignore everything. You two manage to show a perfectly good relationship but all of it was so fragile that the moment one of you breaks it will crumble." 

"It was my fault-" 

"No Jeremy. It wasn't you."

There was silence after that. 

"Why is Laila is afraid of being in a hospital?  I finally asked.

She looked at me with a guilty eye this time. 

"Tell me, just how well you actually know about Laila."