Husband With Benefits
Chapter 218: The Past

Chapter 218: The Past

"Princess Eleanora! Please wake up."

Eleanora opened her eyes slowly and turned her head to look at Lily, who was almost ready to jump. Sometimes, she found the girl’s energy tiring to even look at. Today was one of those days. She’d barely had any sleep and woken up with no memory of nightmares only her wet face left behind by tears. So, it wasn’t enough to know that she was crying but she had no idea why she had been crying.

Eleanora studied the maid’s face and sighed inwardly. The last time she had bee this excited, she’d had to endure a date with that Prince Augustus. What was it going to be this time?

"Lily. You have to stop waking me up every time I try to sleep."

"But Princess, you won’t believe who has come."

Eleanora rolled her eyes at the maid and shook her head," If it is Prince Augustus, then tell him that I have the pox and so I am unavailable to meet. And since its just started so the disease will probably last all month."

"You have the pox, princess?" Lily squeaked out in a high voice. Eleanora watched in amusement as the maid tried to see her face and body for signs of the disease while at the same time deciding whether she should come close or not.

Eleanora shook her head at the maid’s silliness and groaned," Just tell him that."

"It’s not Prince Augustus ma’am. Its someone called Mr Antonio. He is a friend from your high school I think. But I’ll refuse the visitor for now and summon the doctor."

As Lily turned to hurry around, Eleanora quickly called out," Lily wait! Who did you say it is?"

"Its someone called Mr. Antonio. He took the Queen’s permission to visit you. He says that he was a good friend of yours."

Eleanora tested the name and tried to think of this person, hoping that the name would jog her memory and maybe she would be able to think of a face, but it was useless. "Lily, welcome him to the drawing room. I’ll come down soon."

"But Princess, your pox... it is not safe..."

"Relax, Lily. I was only teasing you. Now go and invite him in quickly."

As Lily nodded and walked away with a confused look on her face, Eleanora took a calm breath. She really needed to calm the flutter of excitement and curiosity.

Quickly she raced down the stairs, stopping at the entrance of the drawing room. She crossed her fingers behind her back. Hopefully looking at someone from her past might trigger her memories to return.

The man looked very young. Something she should have expected considering that she was twenty and he was from the same school as her. He had what one would call a ’boy next door face’. He was not classically handsome but still he seemed to have a good demeanour. And unfortunately, as she stood there observing him, her mind continued to remain a blank canvas, not recognizing him.

Carefully, she called out," Mr Antonio?"

The person looked up at her, carefully studying her while she did the same. However, the way he was looking at her suddenly made her feel a bit weird. "Hi. I am so sorry, but do I know you really? Are you a friend?"

Antonio smiled and casually walked to her, kissing her cheek," No... Eleanora, it’s been a long time."

Eleanora felt a shiver down her spine and had the urge to wipe her cheek where the man had kissed her face. Stepping back, she gestured to him to sit on the couch, and carefully walked around, making sure to keep the table between them.

Antonio noticed her care and smiled at her warmly," Eleanora, I heard about the accident and your loss of memories. I am so sorry about that."

"Why are you sorry? Did you cause the accident?" Eleanora asked, her head cocked to the side.

The man stopped what he was about to say and looked at her with a scandalized frown on his face. Hmm. So, maybe she did not have this sarcastic side before she lost her memory. Otherwise, as her friend, he would have understood that.

"I didn’t cause the accident. I meant that... if I’d known that the reason you never contacted me again was because you had no memory of the past, I would have called on you earlier. I’m just thankful that your grandmother reached out to me for help. So I even brought some pictures for you to see. Actually we were classmates throughout high school. And you were really bad at Math, so I used to teach you that..."

Antonio carefully took out the photo album that he had brought and placed it on his lap, expecting her to come and sit next to him but she simply extended her hand to him. Hesitantly, he handed her the album and she browsed through it.

Eleanora looked at the first picture of her young self and could not help but frown. Why did she look so malnourished and weak? Had she been sick at the time?

"This is from your sixteenth birthday. You’d caught a stomach bug...and threw up right after this picture was taken."

Nodding, she leafed through the picture and was slightly relieved as well as worried. She looked better in the other phots but not much. Even as Antonio related the anecdotes related to the pictures, she felt no connection to the girl in them. For one, she looked too sad as she stared into the camera. Despite the smile on her face, her eyes looked melancholy. Did she have a depressing personality?

She did not want that. She’d like it better if she was someone who could speak her mind. It took an hour for her to finish the album but instead of satisfaction or even happiness, she felt as if she was looking at a stranger. There was nothing that...

Just then, the last picture caught her attention. She wasn’t looking at the camera directly, but somehow, she looked happy. She’d even put on a little weight. This girl could be her...

She waited for Antonio to tell her when this picture was taken but the man suddenly seemed to have quieted down. "When was this picture taken?"

"This... Uh.. this was taken some time after we entered the university. I think you’d just aced the Math exam and vindicated yourself in front of the professor." As she heard the anecdote where the Mathematic professor had tried to shame her by claiming that she was weak in math, she could not help but grin to herself. Yes! That sounded just like her.

Closing the album, she sighed and looked at her friend," Thank you, Mr Antonio, for sharing this. I don’t know how to thank you."

"Don’t call me Mr. Antonio, No... Eleanora. You used to call me Antonio or Toni in the past. Even if you do not remember me, I hope you know that you will always have me as a friend."

Eleanora smiled and thanked the man, warmly inviting him," Mr Antonio, this has been a pleasure. If you don’t mind, may I invite you to a meal tomorrow? And I’d like to keep this for a while if it’s okay."

Antonio stood up and nodded," Of course. I’ll call on you tomorrow."

As the man extended his hand to shake hers, he glanced down at her gloved hand. Feeling conscious, she clenched her fingers and looked at the man carefully...

Over the course of the morning, she had felt this man’s gaze on her repeatedly. Could it be that Antonio was the man... who she called Mr Husband? Was she only his?

She tried hard to think, before clenching her hands. Maybe she should ask him directly... But that would make things awkward for them if the man was really only her friend...

Finally, she bid Antonio goodbye and opened the album again, browsing through it absently. Most of the pictures seemed to be taken at the same place, some cafe. Why did they study at a cafe? Why not her home or the library? And even though she seemed to share closeness with Antonio, she did not seem to be looking at him like a lover would.

As she continued to turn the pages, someone’s side profile caught her sight in the background. This person looked familiar. As she peered closer into the picture, she frowned. Who could this person be?

Suddenly, a name struck her. Dam*! This person looked almost like Gaia did from the side. They seemed to have the same nose and chin. How was that possible? What kind of a coincidence was this? She tried to search through the other pics but there was only one pic of this man... sigh! Her brain seemed to have become possessed by the gardener. Why else would she think a random person in another country resembles Gaia. But maybe she should show him the picture. That man could easily pass on as his cousin!

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