She took time parting, and as she gained strength to finally turn away from the grave, a hand enveloped hers. She didn't even need to look up, nor did she flinch- she knew who it was.

He held on tightly, and she gripped back just as hard, and slowly they walked. She could feel his gaze on her, but unlike every other gaze, she wasn't bothered. She didn't realize the extent of her feelings towards Ace until she said it out loud, and for one moment, it frightened her.

But in the next moment, the fear died down as soon as her eyes landed on him. She knew that in the days she couldn't remember he had been a huge part of her life. He had proven that he wouldn't just get up and leave, which she feared most with him. She didn't want to feel affection of any sort towards a person who could easily dismiss her entire existence.

Because admittedly, Eden wasn't much of a person. She was merely a body passing through life, but with Ace, she felt as if there was something one would call a soul within her.

A woman stood next to Ace's mom, who seemed to be oblivious to the person right in front of her eyes. Eden briefly glanced at Ace, who had stopped walking, and looked at the woman with a foreign feeling in his eyes.

"Eden," the woman breathed out just as she saw them coming, rushing over to her. Eden stood frozen as the woman's cold hands enveloped her in a hug.

She felt suffocated.

Ace could see it by her expression, and he immediately detached the strange woman from her. She looked at Ace with a scowl, her gaze traveling back to Eden immediately.

"Didn't you miss me? I sent you a letter a while ago, I called, I did everything to contact you. I thought-"

"Excuse me," Eden interrupted, "but who are you?"

The woman's expression saddened for a brief moment, quickly composed back to confusion.

"Eden, baby girl, don't you remember me?" she said, stepping towards her and reaching out.

"Please, don't touch me," Eden said calmly, but the woman didn't seem to have heard her plea.

She enveloped her in a another hug, and before Ace could intervene or Eden could push her off, another set of hands took the woman off Eden. A girl barely a few inches taller than her stood with a bewildered expression, gripping the woman's forearms. She shared Eden's eyes, the turbid brown, and had the same head of dark hair, only cropped shorter.

"Ed?" she said quietly, holding onto the woman as if she was about to fall.

"Is that- is that you?" the girl said, barely above a whisper, but Eden heard. Her puzzled glance went to Ace, who was at her side immediately.

"Ace?" the girl whispered. He nodded. She had more common sense than to fling herself at Eden, but only stood in front of her, face to face. They were almost replicas of one another; but Eden had her scars, tired eyes, pale face, while the other girl had a tanned complexion, sparkling eyes and neatly put on make up.

"Who are you?" Eden finally uttered.

"Perhaps it will be too much to take in," Ace's mom butted in. "Let's take it step by step. You know what she wished for before-"

"But they said she would remember-" the woman objected.

"They said maybe," the girl interrupted. "And she doesn't. She chose not to, we can't."

"She has the right to know," the woman argued, but Eden cleared her throat before she went on further.

"I am right here," she said, seeking Ace's hand. She gripped onto it, hoping for a sense of comfort to wash over her. It didn't.

"Eden, before your...er... accident," the woman started to explain, "they said you would lose your memory, they didn't know for how long. You made us all swear that when and if you woke up, none of us would involve ourselves in your life, and that you'd stay oblivious to the past."

As she explained that, pieces of puzzles started fitting. Why Ace didn't want to be near her at first, why he refused to tell her anything, why he begged her to remember it all herself- she had made them all promise.

"Who are you?" was Eden's next question.

"I'm your mother, Eden," the woman said, "and this is your sister, Elina."

"My mother is dead," Eden said slowly.

"You said that we should tell you that once you woke up. You didn't want any encounter with us later," Elina said slowly.

"My parents were killed in a car accident and I survived, but lost my memory," Eden said, doubting in her own knowledge.

"Eden, it was the least painful-"

Eden couldn't listen anymore. She was overflown with information, and their faces were too familiar to be strangers. Their voices were too familiar. Just the presence of all the people around her overwhelmed her in that moment. She wanted to ask so much; why she wanted to keep it a secret, why she wanted to forget, why Ace wanted her to remember, why they showed up.

"-and we came as soon as we heard Nana died, it had been years, and we thought maybe we should just see if she remembered any of us-"

Their voices completely died out. She was left with a brain swirling with newly found information, endless questions, eternal possibilities that she, as much as she tried to utter, wouldn't come out. She felt caged inside her own body, not able to move or speak.

She didn't even realize the moment her legs gave out, and she was half-caught just before she completely hit the ground.

++++

"Promise me," Eden said to him, her hand gripping his as the drug started kicking in.

"Anything," he said.

"Promise me, that even after this, even if I never remember you, you will come back to me," she said quietly.

"I would do that even if you forbid me to," he answered, tears in his eyes.

"Promise me that you will make me fall in love with you all over again, because I think as many times I forget you, I will always fall in love with you," she whispered.

"I promise," he said, tears now silently dropping onto her hand as he held it tight, bringing it to his lips.

"And promise me, that you will never tell me what happened that night." Her eyes were filled with tears that escaped silently and sneakily.

"I promise you everything, I will always come back, I will always keep an eye on you," he said, looking into her closing eyes.

"Your heart will always beat to the same rhythm mine does," she said.

"That is why I will love you until they both stop beating," he finished.

"I love you Ace."

"I love you Eden."

"Always?"

"Past tense, present tense, future tense. Yesterday, now, tomorrow, always."

+++++