Chapter 30 His Irene
Upstairs, Nelson stepped out of the bedroom. The suite had two rooms, and one of which Williams was already asleep in.
Nelson had taken the other bed, but he hadn't gone to sleep. How could he after everything that happened today?
First... Was the slap scene that he had witnessed between Irene and her lover?
He had dreamt of something like this happening once. It was around the first year Irene had changed and was suddenly asking for a divorce.
He had dreamt... Or rather, imagined that she would just change back suddenly. That she would slap her lover and come back to him.
But after a few more months had passed, that thought slowly faded. But, there it was... The slap.
He didn't want to admit it, but the way she had called herself his wife... It gave him a sense of hope. That maybe their marriage wasn't really over.
And then there was the concert.
He hadn't seen Irene so lively since... Since.
She acted like a child, smiling at the decor, and pointing things out to William. She had done the same thing when he brought her home from the station a few days ago.
The air around her had changed.
It seemed as though she was really a changed person. But how? How could a person change suddenly like that?
This was the third time Irene had suddenly changed.
The first was a long time ago, before they were together... But he knew about it. The second was when she became cruel and hostile, even to her own kids, and the third... The third time felt like she was going back to the way she used to be.
To the way things used to be.
Nelson had gone back to thinking it was a brain problem.
Amnesia?
No.
That was too strange a change for a person with amnesia.
Bipolar?
No. Bipolar dealt with just emotions and expressions. The change was quick and sudden, but it happened in under a day, or at most a week. Not years.
Nelson had gotten used to being confused whenever he tried to understand Irene. So he just stopped.
He walked out of the room.
A frown appeared on his lips when he got to the kitchen but didn't see Irene.
Not like he was looking for her for anything but...
He needed to know where she was planning on sleeping for the night.
“Irene?” he called out but got no response.
His gaze moved toward the living area.
It was empty.
His jaw tightened.
Nelson without thinking, walked quickly to William's room as a thought crossed his mind.
"Will..." As soon as he opened the door, his eyes fell on his son who was sleeping soundly on the bed, his head facing the door.
A sigh of relief left Nelson's lips, and he gently closed the door.
Just now, he thought he had been played.
That Irene had somehow tricked him into believing something else, and then had taken their son and fled to be with her lover in the dead of night.
But... That seemed not to be the case.
So... "Where is she?" Nelson muttered to himself as he took a few steps away from the door to his son's room. He shoved his hands into his pockets, grabbed his phone, about to dial
But then paused.
Something faint reached his ears.
It was music. Piano music.
But the surprising part was that it was the opening tune that the pianist from the concert had played.
Nelson's ears perked as he listened.
It didn't sound like a recording. And he knew the lady couldn't be here, playing, right now. So...
Who...
...
Irene didn’t know how long she had been playing.
Her fingers moved on their own, dancing on the board as they made the wonderful sound.
She had her eyes closed, feeling each tune... It was a sight to behold.
Nelson followed the sound of the sweet melody back to the living room, the other one, until he got close to the spot where Irene was playing.
He stopped and just stared at her. Watching as she played like she was a prodigy.
His eyes searched her closed ones, his gentle expression... They were like that from before too. When the pianist had been playing.
She wasn't just repeating what she had heard someone play. The way she played it, it seemed like she knew it well.
Nelson didn't know that Irene still loved pianos. She hadn't played in a long time. Even before they got married.
His chest tightened.
Something uncomfortable settled deep inside him.
Irene was making him doubt a lot of things, including himself.
...
The final note lingered, then slowly faded.
Irene’s fingers stilled on the keys.
Her breathing slightly uneven.
Slowly…
She opened her eyes and froze.
She wasn't alone.
Nelson stood a few steps away watching her. His expression was unreadable.
Irene’s heart skipped, “I…” she started, quickly pulling her hands back from the keys. “I didn’t..."
Her voice faltered. She didn’t even know what she was trying to say.
She should have known that playing would alert him. It was a piano. It probably alerted most of the others in the hotel.
It wasn't an electric one... so she couldn't have just slowed the volume.
Nelson stepped forward, his gaze never leaving hers.
“When did you start playing again?” he asked quietly.
Irene blinked. Her fingers curled slightly in her lap. “I never stopped,” she said softly.
"Irene stop this..." Nelson muttered softly.
She was doing it again. Making him doubt everything he knew about her. And maybe his very sanity.
Irene sighed. Not this conversation again, she brought her hands forward towards the lid of the piano and closed it. "It's your choice if you don't want to believe it, but I'm not your Irene."
Nelson stared at her as though he wanted to believe her. But how could he?
If he believed her words, then it would mean that the woman he loved was not her. And this... This person, seated not too far from him, was someone else.
Then where was his Irene?
No... Nelson shook his head. He then stared at Irene for a couple of seconds before saying. "Do you still want a divorce?"
The papers were in his bag.
All she had to do was say the word. But as soon as she signed those documents, he would never believe a word she would say again, and by tomorrow he would be gone.
Irene blinked after hearing his question.
She wanted to nod her head. Yes.
Wouldn't that be what the real Irene would want?
Maybe that was why she had someone moved to this body. To fulfil that one task.
But then, what if it was just a test?
She let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't know." She admitted, looking away from him. "You're the only person whom I know in this place who doesn't hate me."
"I don't think separating from you now is the best thing." She said as she slowly raised her gaze.
Her breath hitched, and her eyes skipped a beat when she saw Nelson looking right back at her without blinking.
Okay.
Maybe she should stay.
Just for a while.
Until she fixed the relationship between the real Irene and her parents... Maybe then she would leave.
Irene thought. But deep down, she knew she made this decision because of Nelson.
She had crush on the Nelson back on her universe once, when she had first arrived at her new school. But then he began to bully her, and their prank war began, and slowly his love morphed into hate.
This Nelson was everything she wished the other one would be, and more.
So... Maybe, maybe the crush was coming back.
Even if it was for a little time, she wanted to experience this nicer Nelson.
Nelson nodded.
He didn't know if she was faking her answer because he asked directly, or if she meant it... But he would find out.
He could postpone going back to the country for a few more days.
He had to prove to himself that the lady in front of him was Irene. The one he knew. And maybe after that, he would figure out where she either didn't know or didn't remember.
"Okay." He said, "Where would you sleep tonight?"
Was that supposed to be a question? "With Will." Irene's cheeks turned light pink at the thought of the other options. And an action which Nelson noticed, but he said nothing.
"Goodnight." He turned around and left.