Knight in Shining Suit (46 page)

Another woman sat beside
me. I stared up at her. She had a regal face, and an almost
formidable stand. She was as graceful as she was strong. She wasn’t
crying. She smiled at me. Her name was Helen Thompson, Ryder’s
mother.

“
We have the best surgeons
in the room with my son,” she said. “I told them to make sure they
do everything they could to save him.”

I nodded, in spite of my
tears.

Ryder’s mom held her hand
out to me. “Come. Family should wait together,” she
said.

Paris put an arm around me
and we all went into a lounge to wait for news of Ryder’s
surgery.

At first, I was scared to
meet Ryder’s family. I knew most rich people would prefer an
equally rich woman for their heir.

But from the moment I
arrived at the airport, Paris had arranged for a limousine to pick
me up and take me to the hospital. As soon as she saw me, she
recognized who I was and hugged me, as if she had known me for a
long time.

The first thing that
Ryder’s mother said to me was, “I wish we had met under more
fortunate circumstances, Astrid. But I am glad to finally meet the
most important woman in my son’s life.”

They had been nothing but
nice to me. And their calmer reaction towards Ryder’s accident gave
me a little strength that Ryder could survive this.

A man arrived at the
waiting room.

“
All those bastards are in
jail now,” he said to Helen. “And I will make sure they stay
there.”

I knew he was talking
about the drunken teenage kids who hit Ryder. They were speeding
and they almost totaled Ryder’s Cayenne. The only things that saved
him were the car’s safety features. But still, he suffered from
severe head trauma and a couple of broken bones.

I was looking down and
didn’t notice that Mr. Van Woodsen was looking at me.

“
And who is this beautiful
young woman?” he asked.

I stared up at him and
thought I saw a ghost… only an older version of it. He had raven
black hair and his piercing green eyes were similar to
Ryder’s.

“
Before you get any ideas,
Richard, I have to inform you that this beautiful girl already
belongs to your son,” Helen said matter-of-factly. And then she
turned to me. “Sweetheart, this is Richard, Ryder’s father.” She
leaned closer to me and in a lower voice she said, “Don’t worry.
Ryder is nothing like him.” Then she turned to the man. “Richard,
this is Astrid, your son’s fiancée.”

I stared back at Ryder’s
mother. “I’m sorry, Ma’am… I’m not his fiancée,” I corrected
her.

She stared at me and
smiled. “I think you will be… once the doctors get him
fixed.”

I looked at Ryder’s father
and extended my hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Van
Woodsen.”

He shook my hand. “It’s
nice to meet the woman who finally captured my son’s heart. For a
while I thought he would be like his mother. Cold and incapable of
falling in love.”

“
I think my son is better
off that way. Unlike you who falls in love with anything that wears
a skirt,” Helen retorted haughtily.

Clearly, even though
Ryder’s parents managed to be in the same room with each other,
they both still had a lot of unresolved issues.

“
Mom, Dad…” Paris
interrupted. “If you keep on with the bickering, Astrid will
probably turn down Ryder just so she won’t be part of this
family.”

As if realizing the way
that they were behaving, Ryder’s mom smiled at me apologetically
and Mr. Van Woodsen said, “I’m sorry, Astrid. I guess it’s too
early for you to witness that.”

I forced a
smile.

Paris took my arm and
said, “Come, Astrid. I’m starving. You look like you need chocolate
to cheer you up.”

I was quiet all the way to
the cafeteria. Paris ordered coffee and devil’s chocolate cake for
both of us. When I sat on the table opposite her, she was eyeing me
wearily.

“
I’m sorry,” I said. “I
can’t help worrying.”

She smiled. How could she
be so calm?

“
Ryder will get through
this,” she said.

“
I really hope you’re
right.” I stared back at her. She looked so much like Ryder, but
she looked every bit feminine and beautiful. Her hair is perfectly
tied in a pony. Her long delicate fingers ended with perfectly
trimmed short nails. Her skin was creamy and flawless. She was
every bit a princess with her calm demeanor, bright eyes, and
haughty smile.

“
My brother loves you, you
know.”

I nodded. “I love him
too.” Then tears brimmed in my eyes again. “God, I wish I could say
that to him again.”

“
You will,” she said
encouragingly. “He’s a fighter. He won’t give you up so easily.
Well… you know that by now, right?”

I nodded. I knew that.
Ryder spent months waiting for me to realize that he was the right
one for me. I only realized that two days ago. And two days is just
too damn short for me to show him that I was worth the wait. I
prayed that I had more time with him. And I would make up for all
the months I resisted falling in love with him.

“
I was so excited to meet
you,” Paris said. “I thought my brother cared for nothing but our
businesses and his own self. But when he gave me Oil Rig Manhattan,
I knew something was up. And then I realized it was you. He was
ready to settle down and spend down time with the girl of his
dreams.”

“
How do you know I was the
girl of his dreams?”

“
Because you made him fall
in love,” she replied. “And he seemed so incapable of doing that.
He wanted a woman who would like him even if he wasn’t who he
was.”

“
The fact that he is Ryder
Van Woodsen made me think twice or thrice about falling for him,” I
said. “I didn’t want a complicated relationship.”

“
But he’s so much worth
it, sweetheart,” Paris said. “Ryder is probably the sweetest guy I
know. He just doesn’t show it.”

I smiled bitterly. “He
showed me all the time. I was too stubborn to appreciate it. And
then… two days ago, I gave in. I gave up fighting what I feel for
him. I thought I’d take a risk. Because he was worth it. And now…”
Tears rolled down my cheeks. “This can’t be over!”

“
Ssshhh…” Paris reached
out and squeezed my hand. “A love story as beautiful as yours
couldn’t be over too soon, Astrid. You have so much more to go
through together. You both deserve to be happy with each
other.”

Just then, her phone rang.
It was her mother. My heart pounded in my ribcage.

God! Please!

Paris hung up and she
stared at me. She smiled slowly. “Surgery is done,” she said. “The
doctors said he is stable, but still unconscious.”

Relief washed through me.
Tears streamed down my cheeks. I stood up and hugged
Paris.

“
See? I told you, your
love story isn’t over yet,” she said as she hugged me
back.

***

I stayed with Paris in
Ryder’s apartment. In the mornings, I relentlessly stayed on
Ryder’s side, waiting for him to open his eyes. His vitals were
stable, but we couldn’t be sure he was out of danger until he
opened his eyes.

He had a broken wrist and
a couple of broken ribs. His major injury was to his head. And that
worried everyone the most.

Then finally, he opened
his eyes. I hugged Janis in relief when we first heard him
speak.

“
Come on, guys,” he said
to them. “I’m slightly tougher than you give me credit
for.”

Then he whispered
everybody’s names, as he looked at us one by one. We were all
laughing and crying at the same time. It was such a relief for us
to see him get through a terrible accident.

Then finally, his eyes
landed on me. I smiled at him with all the love I had in my
heart.

A glitter lit in his eyes
for a moment and then it died. He narrowed his eyes and continued
staring at me.

Finally, he opened his
mouth and asked, “Who the hell are you?”

Everybody in the room
gasped, including myself.

“
Ry… Ryder… you’re
kidding, right?” I whispered.

He raised a brow and
stared at me haughtily. Then he stared at his father. “Dad, I told
you I don’t want a female secretary! We discussed this. The last
thing I want is for one of our female employees to get too close to
me and hope she could get her hands on my…”

“
Ryder Anthony Van
Woodsen!” his mother’s voice boomed in the room getting everybody’s
attention, including Ryder’s. “I didn’t raise you to act so
ungentlemanly towards a woman… especially if she is your
girlfriend.”

Ryder blinked back at his
mother. “Girlfriend? The last time I checked, I was very…
very
single.”

I lost my breath. How
could this be?

“
Wait…” Paris said. “You
don’t remember Astrid?”

“
Is that her name?” Ryder
asked. He looked back at me curiously. “I’m pretty sure I would
remember having a girlfriend. But I don’t. Sorry, sweetheart. Nice
try, though.” And he turned away from me.

My heart felt like it just
shattered to pieces. How could he act like this towards
me?

Jake came back with the
doctor. We were asked to leave the room. Jake put an arm around my
shoulder and escorted me outside the room.

“
What’s wrong with him,
Jake?” I asked.

“
I have a suspicion. But
we need tests to confirm this,” he said,” he said. He squeezed my
shoulder. “Ryder loves you, Ash. Trust me. I’ve known him since we
were kids. No matter what happens, I want you to keep remembering
that, okay?”

Then he went back into
Ryder’s room.

Tears streamed down my
face. Paris and Janis both hugged me.

“
It will be okay,” Janis
said.

I took a deep breath and
hugged them back. “But at least, he’s conscious now,
right?”

Even if he was acting
weird like he didn’t know me, I was sincerely glad that he made it
out of this accident alive.

We waited for a whole six
hours. We were asked not to see Ryder while the tests were being
done. Even Jake didn’t want to say anything to us. The waiting was
killing me. I was relieved that Ryder would make it. But I was so
scared by the way he acted towards me when he woke up.

It was three in the
morning when finally Jake came to the waiting room. He looked
tired. But I could see that he didn’t look devastated, and somehow
that was comforting enough for me.

“
He’s stable,” he said and
everybody breathed in a sigh of relief. Then Jake took a deep
breath and said, “But… he’s suffering from retrograde
amnesia.”

“
What?” Mr. Van Woodsen
echoed.

“
It’s a form of amnesia
where the patient loses some of his memories. But it could be
temporary. It could heal by itself eventually.”

“
When?”

Jake shrugged. “We can’t
tell.”

“
What could be done?”
Ryder’s mom asked.

Jake shook his head.
“Nothing much. Some therapies could help. But other than that, we
just wait it out.”

“
How… how much of his
memories did he lose?” I asked in a weak voice.

Jake had a hard expression
on his face when he looked at me. I could immediately tell it was
not good news for me.

“
How much?” I repeated my
question.

“
A year,
Astrid.”

I gasped.
A year.
No wonder he
didn’t remember me.

An arm came around me. I
realized it was Paris’s. She gave me an encouraging squeeze. When I
stared up at her, tears were brimming in my eyes.

Paris promised that Ryder
would come back for me. He did come back alright. But not for me.
He didn’t even know me.

“
Could we… see him?” Janis
asked.

Jake stared at me for a
while. Then he said, “It’s not a good idea for Astrid to see him
yet. He’s not ready for you, honey. We have to take this
slowly.”

I whimpered. When I
squeezed my eyes shut, tears slid down my cheeks. But I completely
understood what Jake was saying. We all had to do our parts in
getting Ryder through this. And right now, my part was… to stay
away.

“
I… I understand.” I
whispered.

“
It’s already late, child.
You haven’t had enough sleep. You could rest. I will ask the driver
to take you back to Ryder’s apartment.”

I didn’t argue. I nodded
and gave Helen a weak smile. Then I looked at Jake. “When could I
see him?”

“
I will see how he
improves in a couple of days,” he replied.

I fought the tears and
kept a calm façade in front of Ryder’s family and friends. The last
thing they needed was to see me devastated. They deserved to be
happy that at least Ryder is out of danger now. That he would live
through this.