“Did Ben know someone named Nicholas?” Emma asks as Ann’s smile is wiped off her face. “Maybe I should ask, do you know someone named Nicholas?”
“Emma…,” Ann says in a soft voice looking concerned. She knows Emma would notice such things easily and so there’s no point in trying to lie to her. “Yes, we did. He was my ex-boyfriend.”
“What?” Emma asks shocked. “You never mentioned this ex named Nicholas before. I thought we were closer than that,” Emma teases. “We were supposed to be best friends but you…I can’t take this betrayal.”
“Emma, let’s be serious please,” Ann says sternly. “Did he remember something?”
“Ann, you know how these things are,” Emma says. “So, care to tell me what’s really going on? Who is that man?”
“I don’t know,” Ann lies, though her statement is true.
“But does this guy remind you of him or…,” Emma asks analysing Ann’s contemplative look. “Well, if it’s something important you’ll tell me,” Emma says quickly giving Ann her space. “About Nicholas though, he suffered a really bad head injury.”
“It’ll take some time before he remembers,” Ann says.
“There are situations where people never remember,” Emma replies. “It’s best for him to try and live a normal life now.”
“That’s true.” Ann knows the best thing to do is leave Nicholas alone and not pester him about his memories. Despite this, a part of her cannot take the suspense and just wants to know the truth.
“How is Ben taking all of this?” Emma asks. “You both knew your ex right, and I know Ben, he’s the jealous type.”
“Surprisingly Ben doesn’t seem to be jealous or anything so far,” Ann says as Emma looks at her friend as if she lied. “Really, Ben just keeps an eye on him, mainly because he’s clumsy. He just gets annoyed with how many times he says sorry and thank you, nothing else.”
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“That’s new,” Emma says genuinely surprised. “I am so curious about this ex of yours. Did he get along with Ben or something?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“He said Ben suggested the name.” Emma says peering into Ann’s face again looking for answers. “Did he set you guys up or something.”
“No,” Ann says knowing why Emma would be curious. Though Ben is over Scarlet, her betrayal left a deep scar in his heart. Ben had become quite possessive and often jealous. And though he rarely acted on it, his obvious facial expression told the world what he was thinking. Ann’s understanding of Ben made things easier for their relationship, but she assumed the worst when he agreed to bring Nicholas home. This time, Ben surprised Ann by behaving maturely.
“So how was your day?” Emma asks knowing she won’t get many answers at the moment.
“Well, it was strange,” Ann says. “You know my patient, Kane, he said he couldn’t sleep for the past few days and asked for sleeping pills.”
“What’s so wrong about that?” Emma asks.
“It’s the way he asked for it,” Ann says. “He’s normally soft-spoken and polite, but today he seemed so desperate.”
“You lost me.”
“I mean he was behaving strangely; it wasn’t like him at all. I wanted to talk to him to see what’s going on, he just demanded the pills and ran out of the room as soon as I gave him the prescription. Usually when I say something off, he sits down and tries to figure it out, but he didn’t this time,” Ann says.
“I told you something is off about that man,” Emma says.
“He doesn’t seem that bad though,” Ann replies.
“Usually,” Emma replies. “Does he normally as for pills?”
“No. But he does have insomnia so I do prescribe him some pills at times. He tries his best to sleep without them but sometimes he needs a little help,” Ann says.
“Ah well, anything else happen?” Emma asks as the two women continue to talk. Meanwhile, across town Ben is at the gym while Tom goes to visit him.
“How’s everything going?” Tom asks.
“Fine, I think,” Ben answers irritably. “Nick is really… something.”
“Didn’t get anything did you?”
“I can’t get a read on that man,” Ben says as he sits next to Tom and drinks some water. “He’s just so… I don’t know,” Ben takes a moment to catch his breath and turns to Tom. “There is something I’ve been thinking about…” Ben says as Tom listens in.
Back at the apartment, Nick sits around bored of watching movies. As he looks around the apartment for something to do as he remembers Ben has a PS4 with him. He goes to his room and finds the games at the top of one of the shelves. As he reaches to take it, however, he holds on to something small. He takes it down curiously and is surprised to find a ring box.