Yanna is struggling to move on from her amnesiac ex. That is, until she (re)meets her high school rival and sworn nemesis, Zeke, who's even more infuriatingly charming than before.
So when he devises a plan for her to forget her ex, she, well - she...
It seems so delicate, the idea that once a moment passes, our mind will capture it and store it as a flashback reel we can always go back to, a mortal means of immortalizing the momentary. But like all things, it's not foolproof—it's prone to the erosion of time. Eventually, these memories will fade into oblivion.
And all that'll be left is us, the proof that it once happened.
It's easier to forget the insignificant moments, though—why hold onto them when there's nothing to reminisce? But some of them are only mundane on the surface, until they mesh and are molded into a momentous part of you.
Memories like staying up all night for a college paper, and then waking up late and scrambling to class the next day. Luckily for you, there was a vacant seat at the back, so you slinked your way to it, hoping not to get noticed. But just when you thought you'd averted disaster, you turned your head and realized that your crush was sitting next to you—on the day you chose not to comb your hair and wash your face.
Memories like passing by your crush in the hallways. The first time your crush said your name. The awkward moment you mistook his cousin for his girlfriend. Him finding you at a vulnerable moment, but he didn't ask you questions—just stayed by your side and held your hand. Your first date at a Filipino bakery, your first anniversary at the same place, your graduation day, working in the same city, moving into the same apartment. That irreplaceable day he promised to love you forever.
Before you know it, a simple moment blossomed into something bigger, changing your life forever.
But sometimes . . . memories don't just fade.
Sometimes, fate rears its ugly head and the unimaginable happens: memories get wrenched away from your grasp, fracturing into infinitesimal, irreparable fragments, never to be whole again. But it wouldn't happen to you, no. It would happen to the one you love—where he forgets everything, and you remember everything.
I closed my eyes, replaying the memories in my head.
Fragment one. A car accident.
Fragment two. The hazy, blurry ride to the hospital we were rushed to.
Fragment three. Coma and head injuries leaving the doctor's mouth. Days and nights overlapping, a seemingly endless cycle of waiting.
And then fragment four. One afternoon, his eyes fluttered open, the doctor and nurses flew in, and he dragged a long look across the room: his parents, holding each other, and me, holding his hand. He answered the doctor's questions with some difficulty, identified himself and his parents.
Finally, fragment five. His eyes landed on me. Thinking back on it now, I should've noticed the unfamiliar glint in them, the telltale sign that there was something wrong. But I didn't, so when the doctor asked him to identify me, I wasn't ready for his answer.
It should've been easy. Yanna Angeles, my girlfriend of five years, the love of my life.
But instead, what stumbled out of his lips—lips I'd kissed a thousand times—were words I wasn't expecting. Words that might as well have been serrated steel, hacking at me and rending my skin to shreds:
"Who are you?"
And with these five fragments, my entire life changed.
✦
A U T H O R ' S N O T E
hi lovely! thank you so, SO much for giving this story a chance!! i appreciate the time you've spent reading the prologue, and if you're reading this right now, you're the cutest and i love you 🫶🏻
i feel like a little girl standing on stage for the very first time: nervous, a little trembly, heart racing so fast. but i'd like to be brave and ask: what do you think about the prologue? is it to your liking?
your friendly neighborhood roasted piglet,
myka 🐽
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