Go back to work

The day was set, the following week, they would visit that place. Cole was already mentally counting the hours left to that day. He deeply down set his hope so high that once she will see the lake toured every day that summer, the memory would soon bring her memory back.

He looked up at the sky that peeked through his lights at the window and he smiled at it.

"I know you will remember Claire, I have faith in you and us."

He whispered to himself, and the sun. That was their secret and he trusted the sun to bless their love and awake in her what they had.

Cole went to the office the next day and took advantage of the occasion to talk to his friend, his loyal coworker Sandro. He couldn't wait to inform him about the news.

As soon as his friend walked into the office Cole was waiting for him with a big smile.

"Hi," he said.

"What is that huge smile for?" Sandro asked Cole, he barely smiled when he worked. Especially not in the morning, he was too focused to smile.

So it wasn't hard to notice when something happened. His mood would speak for him, and that day the smile and his happy eyes screamed and announced extremely positive happened.

"Claire asked me to visit the lake in the picture I showed her. Do you what it mean? That she trusts me and who knows maybe visiting the place will awake in her the memory."

Sandro listened to Cole and smiled, happy to hear that she was trusting him and that she slowly had opened up.

But he worked in hospitals often, he had seen decades of cases like Claire and there was a very minimal chance for her to recover fully her memories.

He had never believed in miracles, for how much he wanted to do so now he couldn't pretend he did just because he loved his best friend.

"There are many chances she would only get glimpses of memories. It may take a while before she remembers you, Cole." He sighed, his voice trailed off.

"I know. But I trust the process. It would mean the world to me even if she only remembers something. I'd be happy with that. She doesn't need to remember me, I just want her to remember what she felt."

Cole wasn't demanding about her memory, unlike Brendon they had two different mindsets and purposes. Brendon didn't want her to remember because remembering would lead her away from him whereas Cole wanted her to remember so that their love would get a second chance.

How could two different men like them be brothers and at the same time love the same woman?

Cole took a deep breath, "Don't look at me like that, as if I am desperately waiting for something that will never happen. She is the only woman I had ever loved and she still has my heart and my love to return. If she will never remember me, at least I want her to return my love. I hate feeling like this. I hate feeling this big hole inside my chest, aching every time she is away and filling only when she is next to me. Do not ever look at me that way, unless you know how it feels to be ripped away from the love of your life. Do not pity me unless you have felt the same pain and healed from it."

After saying that, his friend took one step backward and lifted his hands in a sign of apology.

"I didn't mean to… I just… I hate seeing you like this."

"Get back to work now," Cole soon regained his cold compose and set his walls high again.

"Cole come on." Sandro insisted.

"I have to work." He gestured with his hand and even if his friend wanted to talk him back. Sandro remained in silence. Cole was still his boss, so he bit his tongue and nodded.

Cole was his best friend and he knew very well when to shut up and not to bother him furthermore. He also knew that was the right time to stop the skeptical talking and head to his office as well.

Cole wasn't someone easy to deal with, his dearest friends had learned how to handle him and his sudden mood swings. Some of them had the luck to see him during the summer when he met Claire and they agreed he was different. His moods didn't change so drastically in those months, he was always happy and he constantly had a positive point of view about everything. Almost as if he had found his own happy place and defeated the darkness in him that usually dragged him down.

Now that he had lost his happy place, he wandered around as a lost soul in search of a breath of peace for his sore heart.

Will he ever find his other half, or will their love story stay in the shadow of a missing sun forever?