Chapter 7

SYBIL was making a grocery list in the living room when Ace approached her. He crouched beside her and peeked through the list.
“Are you going out?”
“Hm.” She nodded her head without looking at him. “We’re running out of supplies again. Ah, I didn’t expect we’d be running out this fast—”
“Perhaps it’s me,” he said, cutting her off.
That made her revert her gaze to him.
“Ace…” She caressed his arm. “It’s okay.”
He heaved a deep sigh and plopped down beside her.
“I’m sorry.” There was somberness in his voice.
“For what?”
“That I couldn’t do anything to help with the house expenses.”
“I understand your situation, anyway.” Sybil continued making the grocery list.
“May I come with you?”
She gave Ace a side-way glance.
“Why?”
“I want to see the world outside of this cabin and to help you, of course. That’s the only thing I can do to help.”
“Oh, right. Perhaps that could also help you to remember.”
She hoped it could really help him remember because it wasn’t the case for her. No matter what she did, her memories didn’t come back. Sybil could only wonder if her memories were coming back. Perhaps only time could tell.
She rose after finishing the list.
“Let’s go. Sonja would be mad if we stayed out late.”
She grabbed the key from the rack and headed out of the cabin. Moments later, Ace followed her.
“Perhaps I should drive,” Ace said when she was just about to get in the driver’s seat.
She gave him the key and walked around to the other side of the car.
“We’re going to park at the diner and take a bus from there,” she told him after settling in their seats.
“What? Why?” He turned to her with furrowed brows.
“Because both of us don’t have a driver’s license.”
It took him a few moments to process what she said.
“Oh! Right.” His shoulders dropped.
“Don’t worry.” She gave him a light tap on the shoulder. “At least you still get to drive.”
“Yeah, right.”
Ace started the engine and drove away from the cabin. They were both silent inside the car when she suddenly spoke after a few minutes.
“It’s here… this is where we met for the first time.” He glanced at her and saw him blushing.
“You remember, don’t you?”
“Of course… I do.” He cleared his throat. “It’s just that… I don’t want to talk about it. It’s the most embarrassing moment of my life.”
Sybil wanted to laugh but did her best to suppress it because she didn’t want to embarrass him more.
“While others would run if they saw a naked man in the middle of nowhere, you even came to me and asked if I needed help. How brave of you,” Ace said after a while.
“I told you… I felt this force drawing me near you. I wouldn’t dare do that if you were some other guys.”
“I wonder if…” He glanced at her. “We ever met before?”
“How would we know? We’re two strangers with no memories stuck in this place.” She patted him on the arm when she saw the diner’s signage. “That’s Mrs. Collin’s diner.”

“SYBIL, darling,” Mrs. Colin greeted her with a smile when they entered the diner. “Oh, you have a companion.”
They hadn’t eaten lunch yet, so she decided to eat a quick lunch at the diner.
“Go and get us a table while I order,” she whispered in Ace’s ear.
He was quick to do what he was told.
“Why did you send him away when you can order on your table?”
“Because I know you’d ask unnecessary questions.” She tapped her fingers above the counter. “One double-sized pizza, chicken wings, and two four seasons, please.”
“So, who’s this handsome lad with you?” Mrs. Collin asked as she punched her orders. “Is he your boyfriend?”
“Nope.” She leaned over the counter. “Didn’t you hear anything from James a few weeks back?”
Mrs. Collin shrugged.
“James didn’t say anything. Why?”
“Oh.” Sybil pressed her lips together. “Uhm… he got lost here a few weeks ago. Sonja and I took him in.”
Mrs. Collin’s mouth formed an O. She then grasped her arm and looked at her intently in the eye.
“Have you reported this to the police? Sybil, that lad could be—”
“I can assure you he’s not a bad guy, Mrs. Collin.”
“Whether he’s a bad guy or not, you should get this reported. He might be missing, and his family’s looking for him.”
Well, Mrs. Collin did have a point. She turned around and looked at Ace from afar. What if his family couldn’t find him because no one was reporting the incident to the police?
“Your order will be served in fifteen minutes,” said Mrs. Collin.
She took the card and tapped it for her payment before leaving the counter.
“You two seem close,” Ace said when she arrived at their table.
“Yeah. Mrs. Collin and I became friends since I started to use their parking,” she said as she sat down across from him.
“Is that why you also make sure to purchase orders from the diner?”
“Sort of.”
His eyes wandered around the diner, looking at every newcomer who entered the diner.
“Is there anyone or anything familiar to you?”
Ace shook his head in response to her question and heaved a deep sigh.
“I think it’s about time to… report the incident to the police. You can’t remember a thing, but the police report might help your family find you.”
He was silent for a moment.
“You think so?”
“Hm.” She nodded her head and cupped his hand. “I will tell Sonja to make a report when we get home.”
“T-thanks.”
She let go of his hand when she saw Jason approaching their table with the orders.
“Here’s your order, beautiful.”
Jason glanced in Ace’s direction, but he didn’t say a thing. However, he gave her that look that she immediately understood. He was warning her just like his boss.
If truth be told, Sybil couldn’t feel any danger toward Ace; all she could feel was empathy for what had happened.