We stayed for the rest of the funeral and Zara was told several stories by her friends' parents.

"You lot secretly got matching tattoos once you were all 18," Ally's mother said one time.

"Matching tattoos?" Zara asked.

Serena's mother took Zara's foot, removed her shoe and rolled down her sock, and there was a little moon on the inside of her ankle. "You have the moon," Serena's mother explained. "Serena had the sun, Ally had a lightning bolt, and Faizah had a star."

"It meant that even though you're all different forces of nature, you still belonged together," Faizah's mother laughed softly. "It made sense but at the same time it made no sense at all."

"Whoa," Zara breathed, and even I was astonished by the tattoo and the meaning it held. I hadn't noticed the tattoo on any of them, but then again it was at a spot where it wouldn't have been easily visible.

Zara admired the tattoo before asking, "what else did we do?"

****

By the time all the stories were exhausted, Zara was in tears, grieved that she couldn't remember anything. The parents comforted her and told her that if she ever needed anything, they were there. While they were saying their goodbyes, I found Reed. He looked beaten down, but he assured me that he would be alright and then changed the topic of conversation by asking about Zara. I explained everything to him, the fact that I was the only one she remembered and why, the fact that I had to stay with her and why, and the fact that I was going to refer to her as my distant cousin and why.

"Hey," Zara suddenly appeared behind me. I turned around and found her with her head lowered, tears threatening to reappear. "We can go now."

With that, I said goodbye to Reed, who then said bye to Zara. She looked up then, at Reed, and for a long moment, she didn't say anything.

"Are you someone else I should know?" She eventually asked.

"Yeah, though you only knew me for a few days," Reed told her.

She nodded and took a deep breath, "bye then."

****

After a few hours on the road, we finally arrived at my parent's place. By then, Zara had completely calmed down, but the shock of losing her memory seemed to still be weighing on her. My parents had suggested that I leave her with them while I go stay at my place, but since I was the only person she knew, I told them I couldn't leave her. And also, I was wary of what my family had planned. My mother said that since Zara thought we were family, we had to treat her like family, not a stranger.

We walked up to the front porch and I placed my hand on the door handle, but I didn't open the door. I didn't know why I was feeling so anxious.

"What's wrong with you?" Zara asked. "Do you not know how to open a door or something?" Before I could answer, she pushed me aside and held the door handle instead. "I may have lost my memory, but I still remember this much. Pull down and push," she narrated as she opened the door. She looked back at me with a smile, "Simple."

My lips curved into a grin of their own, "you aren't nervous?"

"Nah," she said calmly. "I think that being surrounded by the family will help me regain my memory, even if I don't remember them at first."

I tried not to react to the use of the word 'family.' She thought they were family, not knowing that they were all strangers. It pained me to have to lie, but it was better than the alternative.

She entered the house and I followed after her, closing the door behind me. Zara took in the surroundings, running her hand along the oakwood table in the entryway before feeling the fake potted plant that rested there. She looked to her left at the staircase that led upstairs before turning to her right to the sliding door that led to the living room.

Just as she slid the doors open, everyone jumped from their hiding spots and shouted, "Welcome home, Zara!"

My mom hadn't been kidding when she said they'd treat her like family. She had invited everyone to welcome Zara, and I mean everyone. All my aunts and uncles and their family were here, and I had no doubt my fiancé and her family were on their way too.

I thought it was going to be a small welcome, but I should have known better. If my mother planned something, she went all out. There was even a large welcome home banner draped around the roof and in the backyard, I spotted a table of food and even a braai stand.

I couldn't believe she had done all of this for someone she had never even met until now.