Imaginary Notes part 15

It was not an extreme accident. Most of them survived with small scratches that would heal in no time. Vanz managed to escape without a scratch too. But Sebastian was not as lucky.
The doctors told him the memory loss was probably temporary, and he was fortunate he'd come away from it all with a single broken rib, a concussion, and a little retrograde amnesia. Sebastian retained most of his memory: he knew Reo and Lizzy when they showed up in his hospital room, and remembered how much he'd like to punch out the both of them; and one look at James gave him the same creepy serial killer vibes as always.
But then he looked at Vanz, and drew a blank. So the shadow of a frown passed over Vanz's face, and then she asked Sebastian if he knew his own name. Sebastian thought about it, and was rewarded with a headache for his troubles.

The other moves forward and leans in, examining Sebastian. A look of shock flashes across his face. "You," she whispered, suddenly.
Sebastian shaked his head quickly. "Me?" He asks, flustered, flushing a little under the girl's intense stare.
The other bites his bottom lip, successfully distracting Sebastian, before answering, "Don’t you remember?"
Sebastian shakes his head once more, glancing away from the girl's features and ignoring the pull of attraction he feels with the other in such a close proximity. "Where am I?"
"You don't remember?" the girl leaned even closer. Sebastian takes a step back, foot landing on the cold floor of the hospital. "You just had an accident, and you tell me you don't remember?"
"I... I don't!" Sebastian cried. "Let me go!"
The girl searched his eyes, and Sebastian feels a little lost, a little overwhelmed. The other's grip loosens, and a sigh graced her lips. "I’m happy that you’re okay," she said simply, letting Sebastian go, only to pull him into a warm embrace. "Sebastian..."
"I don't understand," Sebastian murmured to himself, eyes staring listlessly at the egg white ceiling of the hospital room. “Are you that far apart from me? Cause I couldn’t remember a thing.”
"No," the girl—Vanz, she'd told Sebastian—insisted, reaching for Sebastian's wrist. "We were best friends; we were..." she trailed off, eyelids sliding close in exasperation.
"We were...?" Sebastian prompts, curious eyes turned upon Vanz's attractive face. He feels a pang of something, recognition, maybe, but Sebastian can’t place where he’s seen Vanz before.
"Forget it," Vanz shook her head and walked toward the exit. "Go to sleep."

"Sure you'll be okay?" Grimsby asked Vanz when they trained; Vanz keep messing up with the dialogue and her acting was not as convincing as ever.
"I'm fine, Grimsby," Vanz replied shortly. "It's not like I'm going to drop dead at the moment because he didn't remember me. I'm fine."
Everyone knew she was not. It was a stupid question from the start; people knew that Vanz was extremely disappointed that Sebastian did not remember even a single thing about her. It was pathetic, and Vanz hardly believe that Sebastian could remember everything but not her.
"Do you think she'll be fine?" Reo asked, nervous and worried expression were nailed into his skull. "Even though she said opposite, I'm quite sure she'll drop dead any moment judging from her horrible acting."
"For now? Yes," Lizzy answered. "But if these circumstances continue, she'll..."
"Let's just hope for the best," James cut her sentence and gave them a smile.
And they certainly hope so.

Vanz remembers the last time she laughed, the kind of laughter that had her bending over and clutching at her stomach, tears streaming down her face and short gasps of air not enough for sufficient oxygen to enter her lungs.
Weird, Vanz thinks, when Sebastian's eyes bore into her forehead. What happened until he forgot everything about them? What kind of illness that could cause such silly thing to happen?
More questions is all Vanz gets when she questions Sebastian's behavior. And when Sebastian texts her every night, from his apartment; it should be the one to make her laugh, and Vanz couldn't stop her lips from quirking into a smile. She ignored her roommate's muffled protests to turn the lights off, like “It's fucking bright,” in favor of returning Sebastian's text;
“Silly, you're just not funny enough”.
But the messages were never coming again.

If Vanz was really hurt that Sebastian’s apparently lost all recollection of who she was, she certainly didn't show it.
For the two weeks they kept Sebastian in the hospital for observation, memories began to trickle into the gaps in his mind--childhood friends, lost pets.
"Don't try too hard when it comes to me," Vanz suggested. "It'll make it more difficult."
Sebastian narrowed his eyes. "You're assuming I want to remember you. I don't even know who you are," he said petulantly. "Might not even be worth trying."
"Well, I know who you are," said Vanz. "And you get angry when something you used to have is gone. So you'll want it back. Just... Don't try too hard," she repeated.
But Sebastian had never been one to take anyone's advice but his own—and Vanz's, if only he could remember. Vanz came to see him every day, spoke briefly to the nurses about his condition. Vanz understand him at most—what food he want and K-Pop DVDs—and it has been a while since he stared at the short, quick movements of her mouth and the space between her eyes and tried to reach into himself, grasp the old memories and force them out. Nothing came but migraines and frustration—which he told Vanz about, who just rolled her eyes and fed him aspirin.