“Aaliya, are you there? Aaliya, please say something.” Gabe’s imploring voice breaks into my spiraling thoughts.

The tears I’ve so far held at bay flow like a river down my cheeks. I trace a finger down Damien’s handsome face on the laptop screen in front of me and that’s when it finally hits me. The man I’ve loved for the last five years has been someone else. He lied to me about everything. He told me he was an orphan and I believed naively that he didn’t have anyone. But now I know the truth. He has an entire life in England—a family I don’t know of and now...now he’s forgotten me, forgotten our child and our life. I choke down a sob as my heart shatters into a million pieces.

Another sob threatens to free out of my lips but I can’t breakdown yet. I need answers first. Taking a huge gulp of air, I ask, “If that is his actual life, then what is this here? Him and me...was that ever real? Did he even love me?”

“Stop right there!” Gabe orders. “Aaliya, you’re his world, you and Rian. In the last five years, he has been the happiest I’ve seen him. I helped him disappear from this life in England that he hated. He abhorred his family. His father was a monster, his brother more so. They were cruel, heartless and powerful. They’d have never accepted you in his life. And that’s one of the main reasons he didn’t tell you about them when he fell in love with you. He wanted to keep you safe. He left that life behind when he came to India five years ago. Meeting you and marrying you was the best thing that ever happened to him. So, don’t think for one second that he didn’t love you.”

I remain silent, unable to make sense of what I’ve learnt. My life has turned upside down in the space of a few minutes and I don’t know which way is north or south. I scroll through the various entries on the laptop and holy shit there is a Wikipedia entry on Damien! I click on it and glance through details about him, facts I have no clue of. It’s as if I’m reading about a completely new person. In that instant, I know that my marriage as I’ve known it will never be the same again.

“Aaliya, please. You need to come here. His doctor hopes that seeing you will return his memory.”

I take a deep breath and then another. There is nothing to decide. Of course, I’m going to go because in the end all my roads will always lead up to Damien. He’s my love. He’s my life!