PART 3 — The Truth Beneath the Waves
The next morning, I woke up before the sun rose. I had barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the exact same image again. James standing in front of my door. The man I had mourned for three years. The man I had buried in my heart. Pero also the man who had looked at me yesterday as if he were seeing me for the first time. I didn't know what to feel.
Joy? Anger? Sadness? Maybe all of them at once. When I went down to the hotel lobby, James was already there. He was holding two cups of coffee. Just like he used to do. My heart made a painful leap. He might not remember everything... pero some habits had never disappeared. "I didn't remember how you took your coffee," he said softly. "Pero I knew you never wanted sugar." I looked at the cup in his hand.
A small detail. A small piece of the old James that was still somewhere inside. "You remembered." He smiled sadly. "Not with my head." He placed his hand on his chest. "Pero somewhere here, yes." I looked away. Because I was afraid I would break all over again if I didn't. That morning, he took me to a small house on the edge of town. That was where the man lived who had found him three years ago.
His name was Thomas. An old fisherman who had worked on the sea his entire life. When he opened the door and saw James, his face changed instantly. "You found her." I froze. "You knew about me?" Thomas looked at me with guilt in his eyes. "Yes." My heart began to beat faster. "Then why did you never look for me?" He sighed deeply. "Because James couldn't ask me to." I looked at James.
"What is he talking about?" Thomas invited us inside. On the table lay an old box. A box full of documents. Photos. And a damaged mobile phone. "That night," Thomas began slowly, "I found James miles away from where the ship had disappeared." I looked at him in surprise. "Pero the rescue services searched everywhere." He nodded. "That's true.
Because nobody knew where they were really supposed to look." He picked up a photo. "The ship suddenly changed course right before the storm hit." James looked at the picture. Slowly, emotions appeared on his face. "This place..." He closed his eyes. "I remember this." Thomas put the photo down. "James discovered that someone had intentionally messed with the navigation." I looked at my husband.
"Who?" Thomas was silent for a moment. "A colleague of his." The silence grew heavy. "Why?" "Because James had discovered something." James looked inquiringly. "What?" Thomas took a deep breath. "There were illegal activities tied to the company you worked for." James turned pale. "That's why someone wanted me to silence." I felt a chill.
For three years, I had thought the sea had taken him. Pero maybe the sea had only been used to hide a secret. "When I found James," Thomas continued, "he was unconscious." "He was still alive." My eyes filled with tears. "Then why didn't he come back?" Thomas looked sad. "Because when he woke up... he didn't remember anything anymore." He pointed at James.
"He didn't know who he was. He didn't know where he came from." James looked at his hands. "I always felt like someone was waiting for me." His voice broke. "Pero I didn't know who." I felt my heart ache. Because suddenly, I saw the past three years differently. I had thought James had forgotten me. That he had moved on. But maybe he had fought an empty void all that time that he couldn't understand.
"I often tried to find his past," Thomas said. "Pero without a name, without memories, without proof, it was impossible." He looked at me. "Until he started saying your name in his sleep." I startled. "My name?" Thomas nodded. "Every single time." "Emily." A tear slid down my cheek. Even without his memory, a part of him had still known me.
After the conversation, James and I walked back to the beach in silence. The exact same place where I had seen him yesterday. The exact same place where my heart broke all over again. তিনি stood beside me. "I know I can't bring anything back." I looked at the sea. "My pregnancy." His face twisted. "The years without you." He nodded. "The nights I thought you were dead." "I know." His voice was soft.
"And I will never forgive myself for making you go through that." I finally looked at him. "Pero you went through it too, James." He looked surprised. "What?" "You lost yourself." For the first time, I didn't see him as the one who had left me behind. Sondern as someone who was also a victim of that night. He gently took my hand. At first, I wanted to pull away.
Pero I didn't. Because my heart remembered something my mind didn't dare allow yet. His hand still felt exactly the same. Warm. Familiar. As if three years had never existed. Pero suddenly, James received a message on his phone. His face changed. "What is it?" He looked at the screen. His hands began to tremble. "Emily..." He showed me the message.
It contained only a single sentence: "If you want your past back, you need to stop digging. Otherwise, you'll lose her again." My blood ran cold. James looked at me. For the first time, I didn't see fear of getting his memories back. I saw fear of losing me all over again. And then I understood... the storm that had taken our love away had perhaps never truly ended.
