Chapter 94

• HAERA
• It was definitely working and I have never felt so happy about something in my entire life. The recognition was there in his eyes as he looked at me but said nothing after the first few ones he said in a stutter as if processing the best way to say the rest of his words to me that he recognized me and who I was. I stood there, the sash on my face and the black and white color of the uniform that used to be one I wore from when I was able to do chores and take care of myself, donning my body. If you look closely at it, you'd see that there wasn't even a significant change in the way I looked except for the fact that the pimples that used to be on my face have gone with puberty and all dried up. I was still of the same stature, shape and physique. It definitely wouldn't be hard for him to still see me as the timid maid who came up to his tower, bearing his food and also bearing a scent that changed both our lives up till this present moment. If this nostalgic feeling hit me this hard, I wondered how it must feel for the grey eyed man staring at me and at the room momentarily. I was reminded of the first time I walked in here with all the certainty that I was serving the food to the crazy Alpha, the one who seemed so bittered while fighting during the duel that very day. I was so certain that I wouldn't meet my mate again and if I did, I would run the other way. I had even convinced myself that it was better to get sent to the infirmary by the crazy Alpha than meeting my mate and getting outrightly rejected by him because of my status. It's funny how everything went downhill that day and how my thoughts weren't even close to what happened that day. It's all still in my memory, vivid and attacking my thoughts once in a while when I let myself think of the past and how far I've come. The scent I perceived, the fact that it was too late to run back when the door was already open and how he had called for me to come in. The moment he pulled me into his bed and the close proximity of his face to mine. The way I felt his hot breath fan my face and the way he grey black eyes stared at me with adoration dancing inside of them. The way he touched my hair almost with disbelief because he probably thought it wasn't real, that I wasn't real. The way he assured me that he didn't care about my status. Everything about our first moment together was magical and heartwarming. No matter what we've both been through and what he has done, I would never forget how cherished he made me feel on that very night. Sometimes I imagine how life would have gone if Ilvira and Gennora didn't come into the picture. Would things have gone rosily like I thought they would? Would we have found our happily ever after as mates and not try to steer our way through all these problems? Would I have loved him with all my heart? Would it have come naturally as I got to know him? Because in all truth and honesty, I fell for Alpha Zachary that very night. His soothing words and his acceptance of me made me fall without thinking. He wasn't like I expected, he accepted me and told me he was going to keep me from running until he was able to mark me as his mate. The words left goosebumps all over my skin that day. No other day can be as amazing as the first day we met. No other event can be as special as it. Which is why I considered it the best way to trigger my mate's memory. If it made me blush just by thinking about it, it should definitely be enough to help him regain his memories. I stood there still waiting for him to say something. I didn't want to rush his brain processing and just waited patiently for everything to come naturally. I couldn't wait to tell everyone who has helped me in one way or the other today that my mate has finally regained his memories. I couldn't wait to shove it in the faces of the werewolf council who were blunt enough to say they wanted to have my mate removed from his position as the Alpha. But I was slowly losing patience as well. Standing and waiting for him to say something. "Alpha Zachary...say something. Anything." I urged him after I couldn't keep quiet anymore. The excitement of what he would say and how he would react was coursing through me. He blinked once. Then twice. As if trying to wake up from the trance seeing me like this put him in. The sash was making it hard for me to breathe and it reminded me of the day I used it when we first met. Heck, I held my breath so much I thought I was going to die. Zachary slowly began to walk towards me and I stood there watching the hunk of a man taking slow steps towards me while I tried to contain my excitement. He stopped merely a feet from me, right on that all too familiar red demarcation line that divided the room into two. Even that one piece of information about the demarcation line brought memories and him standing on top of it, a foot away from me, had me feeling like it was a re-enactment of what happened the first day we met. His eyes roamed my body from down below and finally stopped on my face where the sash covered it tightly. Then he scrunched his nose in apparent disgust. I knew that look. I've gotten it from for the past few days for me to know what it meant. It's the kind of look he gives when a food I cook isn't to his taste or the flavor of soap I use to bath him isn't what he prefers or he is disgusted by something I said just to get him from disturbing me and keeping me from doing my duties. I knew what the look meant and I saw it coming when he said the next words. But it didn't stop my face from falling and my heart and the excitement coursing through it, slowing down immediately. "Mum, why are you wearing such a dress? It's hideous!" He said with a more disgusted tone than him scrunching his nose at me. It didn't work. It didn't work. "Calm down Haera, calm down.." Dezra said, trying to soothe me even when I was literally losing it. I smiled behind my teeth. "Alpha Zachary, I thought you said you know me and you know this place?" I said, ignoring the comment about my dress because I wasn't even surprised he thinks it's hideous. He bobbed his head like the year old he still happened to be. "Yes,I know you and this place too. You're my mum." He said. It didn't work. I took in a sharp breath but I wasn't able to let it out fully because of the sash. I angrily ripped the sash off my face and threw it to the ground, breathing hard in and out. "Are you sure? Look closely. Doesn't this dress ring a bell?" I asked again. He looked closely at the dress and what he did next annoyed me more than the fact that my plan didn't work. He grinned. He fucking grinned and I wanted to slap it off his face so bad. "The only bell it rings is the one that announces how terrible it is." He said and then frowned, moving closer to me to touch the material of the dress. "But mum, why would you wear something like this? You always dress in the best clothes. And why did you use the sash? Do you have a cold? Are you afraid I would catch it too?" He rambled on and on while I zoned out on his words. He didn't remember a thing and he was just being his usual ten year old self, blabbing nonsense and acting all protective of me even with his obviously limited capacity brain. I tried to keep myself from yelling at him or from losing my temper. I breathed in and out and then looked back at him with a smile. "You don't remember this dress?look closely , Zachary." said again. He pouted but still didn't change the disgusted look on his face. "I don't remember seeing this on you mum. I would remember if I did because a cloth like this can't be lost in one's memory .it's that hideous." He stated and it was funny how his words all made sense to our situation. He said a cloth like that couldn't be lost in one memory and yet he doesn't remember ever seeing it. The clothes triggered nothing in his memory. "Mum, please take it off and wear something nicer. This doesn't suit your taste." He said. I wanted to scoff and tell him off. I wanted to tell him he didn't seem to mind the first time he saw it on me in this same room. Seeing that the attempt of using a dress wasn't working, I decided to think fast and think of something else. I looked around and finally at the floor where he was standing on. The red line that demarcated the room caught my hair and I remembered all the fuss he caused about it the first time we met as mates. I was quick on my feet to make him shift to the side while he looked at me in confusion. I pointed at the redline hoping it would trigger something as well. "What about this line? You don't remember this line?" I asked. He looked down at it and smiled. "Of course I do." My eyes lit up with hope. Maybe a more distant memory was the one that resurfaced first. A memory that came before me. Maybe the red line has a history of its own that he remembers so well. "I came here with Alan a few days ago to play. He was also saying strange stuff and asking me if I remember some things but I know Alan is a little crazy in the head but not you too mom." I blinked hard. "So when you said you knew me and this place, it's because you came here to play with Alan not because you've been here before then?" I asked the obvious question even if the answer was right in front of me. "Yes." He replied. "He's hopeless." Dezra sighed. I stood there for a few seconds, not knowing what else to do because the disappointment really slapped hard. I zoned out on his words that came after and it was basically him asking if I was okay and when we would go back down the tower. I couldn't wrap my head around my failure. What else do I have to try to make him remember when the council is on my neck with an ultimatum to get my mate in the right frame of mind. "Common, let's go." I said and he followed after me bounding down the stairs with me. We got to the foot of the stairs and met Alan on the way. He seemed like he was walking up the stairs towards us. "Princess Haera." He called but I just stopped short, shook my head to indicate that I failed to make him remember. Alan nodded and just followed behind us. "Alan, mum was saying funny things to me today as well. Why is she dressed like that? Tell her to take it off." I heard Zachary complain from behind me. I didn't turn to them as we scaled the length away from the tower and back to the Alpha's chambers. "Let's just go to your room Zachary." Alan said and Zachary seemed to fall silent after that as if he already read the mood and it wasn't a good one at all. Wordlessly, I walked into the Alpha's chambers and asked to see Alan alone in the throne room "But mom–" Zachary complained. "Do as I say or you get punished, do you want me to punish you? I asked. He shook his head with a pout before hanging his head and walking away from the throne room. The moment he left, I turned to Alan. "It didn't work." I said. "I figured." He responded with a sigh. "The council gave me an ultimatum Alan and I don't think this is a good start. How will I get him to remember before then?" I asked. "I understand how overwhelming it is, we just have to keep trying. I'm sure he will come around. I know it." Alan said, trying to sound as comforting as he could. He left moments after and my big bundle of "joy" came bounding in with a cheeky smile. "So...what's for dinner?" He asked. I sighed. Dear moon goddess, give me the patience to keep pushing.