An Unexpected Past

"I'd like to speak with your parents before I leave."

"All right."

With that, Lord Phillip and I stood up from the love seat, our hands still intertwined. Appearing before my parents like this was a little too embarrassing, even for me. My father, who'd been the one to suggest breaking off the engagement for me, would likely be confused at the sight as well.

"Um, Phil, don't you think it's about time we stop holding hands?"

"You don't like it?"

"It's not that. My hands have been getting a little sweaty, so..."

"I understand."

With that, he finally released my right hand. But before I could fully relax, I felt him scoop up my left hand in his. That wasn't what I'd meant...

Now that I thought about it, though, I was the one who had first made physical contact. My plan had completely backfired on me. I reflected on that as I tried to come up with another reason for why he should let go of my hand, but I couldn't think of anything. So I followed him to the parlor where my parents were without any further fuss.

When they saw our connected hands, they both looked at each other and said, "I knew it." They appeared so delighted. An alarm bell started to ring in my head.

"Please allow me to remain as her fiancé," Lord Phillip said immediately.

I'd thought he wanted to say his farewells, so I started to cough at the unexpected words.

"But she doesn't have her memories right now. She won't be able to support you. In fact, we fear that she'll simply cause trouble for you, Lord Phillip," my father said.

"I simply require Viola to remain by my side. I'll do my best to make sure that she can live comfortably, even in her current condition. I'll treasure her dearly, and I am prepared to do everything I can for her. I vow to protect her for the rest of our lives," Lord Phillip said solemnly. It was like he was proposing. Then, at the very end, he added clearly and unambiguously, "I love her."

It seemed that my parents were deeply touched by his proclamations, and my mother was even dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief. Of course, I knew that everything he'd said was a lie. The only thing that impressed me was the fact that he could say so many words in one go.

"I understand your feelings, Lord Phillip. Viola, what do you think?" my father asked.

"Hmm? Uh, I..."

"Earlier, she agreed to stay by my side as well."

"Oh, is that so? Well, I'm glad to hear that."

Was he talking about how I'd nodded when he said, "So don't try to leave my side again"? There were a lot of things I wanted to say about all this, but the sight of my parents' relieved expressions made me hold my tongue.

Finally, while still standing before my parents, Lord Phillip made plans for us to meet next week and then left the house.

***

A week later, as I sat in a carriage headed toward Duke Lawrenson's mansion, I struggled to come up with a solution to my problems. Under the current circumstances, it was impossible to immediately break off the engagement with Lord Phillip. After giving it some thought, I decided that the best thing to do for now was to find out why he came up with such a lie.

Eventually, we reached the mansion. Normally I'd be guided to the parlor, but for some reason today I was taken to Lord Phillip's room. It must have been several years since I'd last stepped foot inside of it. There were two high-quality sofas facing each other, and I sat down on one of them. Strangely, instead of sitting opposite of me, he sat down next to me.

"We used to converse with each other like this all the time," he said.

The lies flowed out of him today as easily as they had the previous week. As the maid prepared our tea, my eyes drifted around the room and I noticed a portrait displayed on the wall. It was a painting of Lord Phillip, Duke and Duchess Lawrenson, and Lord Cedric, who was Lord Phillip's little brother. In the portrait, Lord Phillip's long, navy blue hair was tied up, and it felt nostalgic to see.

"That was when I was thirteen," Lord Phillip told me when he noticed me staring at the picture.

That reminds me. Why did he cut that beautiful, long hair of his? One day, he'd suddenly sliced off his hair, shortening it until the tips barely grazed his shoulders, about the same length it was now. In his case, he looked good no matter what kind of hairstyle he had.

"I cut my hair."

"Yes, it looks wonderful."

"I see..."

If I recalled correctly, that conversation was right after he cut it. It was such an obvious change that I'd even felt confused as to why he'd gone out of his way to tell me about it. Since his only response had been "I see" before he stood up and left, I wasn't able to ask him for the reason at the time. But wasn't this the perfect chance to do so, especially since I was pretending I'd lost my memories? With that thought in mind, I opened my mouth.

"So you used to have long hair when you were younger. You're still very handsome now, but why did you cut it short?"

"Because you said that you like shorter hair."

"I see. So it was because I... Wait, I said that?"

"That's right." Lord Phillip nodded in affirmation when I unconsciously asked him the question again.

I could say for a fact that I had absolutely no memory of ever stating something like that to him. He was once again taking advantage of my fake amnesia to make up some random lie.

As I chalked it up to that, he continued, "To be more precise, I overheard you saying that to a friend."

"To...a friend?"

"Yes, when Lady Preston asked you if you preferred long or short hair, you told her that you liked short hair."

Lady Preston, or Jamie Preston, was the daughter of Marquess Preston, as well as my best friend. I rifled through my memories, wondering if what Lord Phillip was describing really did happen. As I did so, I bit back a sound of surprise.

What he said was true. A few years ago, Jamie did indeed ask me something like that while we were at a soiree. Jamie was the assertive type when it came to pursuing a partner, and she'd said something about deciding on what men she'd talk to depending on my answer. Since a male acquaintance that Jamie had called "cute" in the past had been attending that particular soiree, I'd answered "short hair" since that was what he had. While I did like short hair more, I was of the opinion that the hairstyle itself didn't matter, so long as it suited the person.

Hadn't Lord Phillip excused himself around then? I never thought he'd heard our conversation. And now that I thought about it, he'd cut his hair around that time. So that meant...

"Th-That's the only reason you cut it short?"

"For me, there is no greater reason."

Just because of a random opinion I'd thoughtlessly expressed, he cut off all of that beautiful hair he'd spent so long growing out?

"Why...?"

"I wanted you to like me more, even if only a little." After he said that, he gave me a gentle smile, and my heart skipped a beat at the sight.

Why would he say such a thing? For some reason, I couldn't chalk this up to one of Lord Phillip's nonsensical lies like I could before. Even so, there was no way his words were true.

Because if they are true, then doesn't that sound like Lord Phillip really and truly is in love with me?