A Love Forgotten (Arianna and Elijah) novel Chapter 2

Teri dropped me home after I'd spent another two days resting at the hospital. I wanted to leave with her, but she locked the door once I'd gotten out.

She scoffed and said, "You should still head home. I don't want to be the bad guy if you regain your memories and beg me in tears to let you continue being Elijah's bootlicker."

I saw the lingering fear in her eyes. It looked like the hopeless romantic in me had caused enough trouble for her over the years that she was traumatized.

I watched as she drove off and headed into the looming villa with a frown. It was large, empty, and unfamiliar.

However, when I saw the row of wedding photos hung on the wall, I knew I was in the right place. A middle-aged woman who looked like a maid came to take my luggage. "Mr. Linden is away on a business trip and won't be back tonight, Ms. York. You don't need to wait for him for dinner."

I nodded and headed upstairs. The maid seemed surprised. "A-Aren't you going to ask why Mr. Linden isn't coming back?"

That was an odd question. I asked in return, "Didn't you say he's away on a business trip?"

She gave me a weird look. "I-I did, but… you've never believed it in the past."

I waved my hand irritably. "Don't bother cooking anything for him since he won't be back. I'm heading upstairs."

I turned and continued up the staircase while the maid muttered, "How odd. Why does it seem like she's completely changed?"

…

I headed to the bathroom to shower when I got to the bedroom. My hospital stay had been a comfortable one, but showering had been a huge issue. It didn't help that I was a germaphobe.

I relaxed as I soaked in the warm bath. Thanks to Teri filling me in for the past three days, I knew how I'd ended up like this.

I was married, and my husband of five years was Elijah Linden, once known as Halton University's ice god. He and I had met in my sophomore year.

According to what Teri had told me, Elijah and I had been involved for seven years. But my memory was still of me being a freshman and the proud heiress of the York family.

In my memories, I was young and beautiful. I came from a wealthy family and had grown up pampered. The young men interested in me could've formed a line from one end of the city to the other. In Teri's words, every hair on my head screamed "rich".

But since meeting Elijah when he'd helped out in an activity organized by my drama club in my sophomore year, I'd turned into his bootlicker. I spent the rest of my university life showing everyone what a perfect bootlicker was like.

There was nothing I couldn't do to suck up to Elijah. Teri told me it was as if I'd been placed under a spell during that time. I knew he had a childhood sweetheart, but I'd still clung to him, wanting to ruin their relationship so I could have him to myself.

Under my brainless and shameless pursuit, Elijah had finally agreed to marry me when it was almost time for graduation.

Yes, I was the one who'd proposed to him. After that, we registered our marriage without having a wedding ceremony. We'd just taken simple wedding photos before I officially became Mrs. Linden.

After marriage, Elijah threw himself into his work because his family's company was at a critical juncture. Initially, I acted relatively normally. But after realizing that he didn't love me and constantly left traces of his true love in his life, I started acting like a maniac.

I pulled all sorts of tricks to find out where Elijah was 24/7. I even hired a private investigator to dig up information on Elijah's true love, who was abroad.

After spending a fortune, I found out the reason behind Elijah and his girlfriend's breakup. At the same time, I'd tragically realized I was nothing but a pawn Elijah had used to resolve the crisis his family's company had faced.

He didn't love me, yet he'd blatantly taken the shares and funds of York Group which were under my name. Linden Group had risen from the ashes thanks to my investment, but York Group suffered a huge loss.