"HELLO! Oh, Doc, good morning..." Jasmin talked to their doctor on the other line. After a while, she hung up the phone. She looked as if she was carrying the whole world on her shoulders and suddenly burst into tears.
"Honey, we can't push through our plan! There is no reason for us to look for a surrogate mother! Oh, God! "
"What? I don't understand…"
"The result of the second test has been released. It's no different from the result that Doc Regala told me when he called up yesterday."
"Did you talk to the doctor yesterday?" His forehead creased. Jasmin did not mention that to him.
"I didn't bother to tell you because, I was still hoping that the result of the last test would be better. But the results of the tests are the same. Surrogacy is not an option anymore ... I can never give you even one child, oh my God!" she said hysterically.
"Honey, calm down ... If surrogacy is no longer possible, we can always adopt. I'm open to the idea of adoption if you really want to—"
"No! Don't ever say that again! Will you entrust our properties to a complete stranger? I want my own child!" Jasmin suddenly stopped crying. Her face lit up as she looked up at him. "Honey, there's still a solution... There's still a way for us to have a child!"
"I don't understand…"
She held his face between her hands. "I'm the only one who has a problem, honey. You're healthy and capable. You can have even a dozen children if you like... If if it's not possible to do it with me, you can do it with someone else and the child would be ours! I'd still be a mother, honey!"
"What? Are you crazy?!" Daniel's voice echoed throughout the room. He immediately stood up to get away from her, but Jasmin immediately hugged his back. He gently removed her hands from him and faced her. "Honey, I can't do that. You know I can't do that!
"I know, I know... But honey, that's the only way for us to have a child. Doc Peralta told me that I can't give you a child. I'm barren, Daniel! Don't you understand? That news alone was already dreadful, but look at me, I'm trying my best to accept it. "
"We can always seek for other doctors' opinions—"
"But honey, the other test came from another specialist! There's nothing we can do! Two different doctors gave us the same results, so let's just accept the fact that I can't give you a child!" Jasmin's voice broke, and she cried in his chest.
"Are you sure you really want to do this?" he asked, still confused. When she nodded, he pulled her closer to him. "Okay, don't cry anymore. I will think about it. In the meantime, I guess we need to rest. " He guided his wife on the bed, pulled up the blanket on her, and then caressed her forehead.
Jasmin closed her eyes while Daniel stared at his wife, trying to remember how they were before. How he used to love her before. But why couldn't he remember anything? Why didn't he feel any romantic emotion towards her?
He had been doing his best for the past three years to learn how to love her but obviously, his effort was not enough. He couldn't even remember how their love story started. Jasmin repeatedly recounted their past, but it was useless because he couldn't find a single trace in his memories. Even the photos she showed him were unfamiliar in his eyes. He really couldn't remember anything. Not even a trace of his past. He was just holding onto the things and information that Jasmin was telling him.
More than two years ago, he woke up to a seemingly deep sleep. Jasmin was the first person he saw beside him. On her back was the doctor and the attending nurses who were also staring at him. They immediately attended to him, especially when he asked for water.
He could hardly believe when Jasmin started telling him what happened. She told him that he had been asleep for more than nine months. He suffered from a comatose; that was the medical term. His vital signs were stable, but he remained unconscious for a long time. Throughout his comatose state, Jasmin watched over him. She prayed every day and talked to him even though he was unconscious because she firmly believed that one day, he would wake up.
He became curious so he asked who she was, but he didn't know how he'd exactly feel when she told him about their relationship. According to her, they had been married for two years when the plane bounded for Manila suddenly crashed. He was one among the twenty-seven people who survived that tragedy. And even though he was unconscious for several months, the important thing was he was still alive.
That was how it all started after he recovered from comatose. He felt like a newborn baby that he did not know even his name. Of course, he knew how to read, write, and converse with other people. All that he didn't know was his past. But who was he, and what he went through? All of the things that he should know were patiently provided by Jasmin until he could finally get out of the hospital and regain his strength.
With Jasmin's help, he gradually recuperated. Although he was not fully recovered because he still couldn't remember anything, somehow he had managed to start again. His wife took him to different places. She said it could help him to remember his past. She also introduced him to many people, some were his friends, but most of them were hers. Despite that, he still did not remember anything.
Occasionally, many scenes would just enter his mind. He'd automatically close his eyes whenever it happens so that those scenes would continue, but like the previous ones, they would just completely disappear. Memories were elusive, but he did not give up. He knew the day would come when all the memories stolen from him by that tragedy would return. And when that happens, it would probably be the happiest moment for him.