The more Sia spoke, the more Aria felt her mind would explode. Apart from the general diziness and headache, the words coming out of Sia' mouth were something else. She zoned out a couple times and only came back when Mo interjected, "the chairman is in the elevator."
Sia continued explaining, "with him, I always maintain a smile, not too big, neither too small. If you smile, openly, he might like it, but his assistant might report to the chairwoman which will be problem for me. If you smile too little, and lack attention to his words, he will ask his assistant to look into what I have been doing these days."
Aria felt like she was on pins and needles. For a moment she wondered how Sia had lived.
Mo added, "for something you don't know, you can always look at me and I will take it from there."
Before Aria could say anything Sia continued, "but we have a memory loss story. Looking at you will not work. It is better if you don't look at all. If I loose my memories, I won't be into the habit of looking at you."
Aria finally stopped them, "I will manage. You don't need to be so on edge."
"Manage won't work. You need to follow it as I said it. Smile, but don't speak. Nod but do not acknowledge in words. Keep a look of confusion and but do not look anywhere for answers. Definitely don't look at Mo. And if anyone tries to get you to sign anything-"
"I cannot." Aria repeated. It was the first thing she learned. "I will be careful in everything I do. I couldn't have imagined, that you'd been sleeping on a bed of nails you whole life. My life suddenly feels like easier."
Sia smiled non-commitmently. Mo was the one who responded in her place, "take it seriously. Someone tried to kill her."
"And me." Aria snapped at Mo. but smiled reassuringly as her own face, much more comfortable looking at the defects in her face than the perfect beauty in Sia's face. "We don't know how long this will last. I will do my best. Anything I do that is unexplained, can be attributed to memory loss. I can handle it. Alright?"
Sia held her laughter in, looking at Mo sideways but nodded nonetheless. Aria could how smart Sia was, but she was always looking for support from Mo. Surely the relationship between them was more than friends. She was about to ask when the door opened and Ke's round face poked in, "the elevator is almost here. Hurry."
Sia got up from her place and scrambled back. Mo said, "wait two rooms down, I booked all three remaining rooms on the floor.
Three rooms? Ke called, "they are here."
Sia hurried out and Mo sat down in her place. "Be serious."
"Shut up," Aria was slightly annoyed at him but didn't say more. She closed her eyes.
Mo said, "Don't do that. Consider it a test run. Interact and observe. You might have to deal with them more in the future."
"People don't climb mountains in a day." Aria said and relaxed into her pillow. The throbbing in her head was slightly better when she closed her eyes.
"Trust in Sia's plan. It is one thing she excels in like no one I have ever seen."
Aria wondered what kind of a person this Sia was, a woman who shared the same face as her but not the same fate. They were words apart. While Sia had all the money in the world, she was struggling to make ends meet every month, working every down and under job, irrespective of judgement of taboos. It was difficult to stay afloat as is, but she also had to refuse people too, who thought they could take advantage of her, or bully her and make things difficult. There was never a shortage of such people.
Then the door slid a inch and Aria opened her eyes instinctively. The excitement of the day wore her down. Every part of her ached and her head hurt. While she was usually good at keeping up a casual facade, to play Sia, she needed a different facade.
An old man stepped through the door. Sia's father. The pain in her head sharpened behind her eyes as she focused on the same straight nose, square forehead, and angular jaw, now sagging under wrinkly skin. Aria breathed deeply, her breath quivering in and quivering out. The old man, so familiar yet unfamiliar smiled at her. His eyes were kind. A superficial kindness. Goosebumps rose on the back of her neck and stiffness gripped her down.
She had seen him man before. That one memory in her head was far too distinct than any memory of she had of her family. It was the one and only time she had met him. She didn't like him. The kindness in his smiling eyes was unsettling, something hidden under the perfectory glance. It was the same smile he had now.
An unsettling, practised pull, he had flashed before. Now, Aria was old enough to know what she found unsettling behind the man's smile. It lacked warmth. She could see his pupils shaking with some thought far away as he reached out to put his hand on the bed.
Fingers brushed the top of her hand and Aria recoiled from the touch.
Those pupils shook with confusion and curiosity, wrapped in every wrinkle but his mind was still far away, wondering if she had figured something out.
"Old D, bring in the bags." he called, instead of asking Mo about her well being.
"Sia. My child." Aria blinked, forcing herself to be present, here and now. He was calling her Sia. But he had also met her, long ago, as Aria. Did this man know something more? Aria shook herself. She was Sia. Now, she was Sia who didn't know she was Sia. The utter confusion was all she needed.
The door opened a second time and the driver, lean and old, her murderer, walked in with two heavy bags, perfectly composed.
Aria knew she had to focus. She could. She had seen assailants before. Though this was a murderer, there shouldn't be much difference in acting. And what if, his presence was a test to see how much she remembered. Aria watched blankly as the man put away the bags, smiled with an awkward bow and left the room. Start to finish, Aria simply stared without a word. Blank, watchful, confused.
When the driver was gone, as if he had not just tried to kill her last night, Sia's father asked, "what happened?"
Aria still did not speak, slightly inching away as soon as the man showed any signs of sitting. "I can't remember."
Sia's father looked at Mo, slightly surprised. Aria had slipped up in the beginning but those three words fixed things. Mo shook his head without an answer. Sia's dad turned to her again, "What did the doctor say?"
Sia spoke tentatively. "Sleep more…?"
Once, her head turned to Mo, fleetingly, unsure and turned away without actually looking at him. As if habit and unease were fighting in her body. They were all unfamiliar to her.
Mo stepped forward, reached out for her shoulder but her body inclined away from him, on instinct. His hand paused midair, "rest."
Aria relaxed slightly but did not close her eyes until Mo took Sia's father outside. The old man looked a lot more convinced now. Mohan closed the door behind him but it remained slightly ajar. Her head hurt. If she dared close her eyes, she might drift. She couldn't afford that right now.
"The doctor says she might have a concussion. But she doesn't seem to recognise anyone since she woke up. The doctor is going to run some tests. They suspect, the hit might have damaged her memories."
Aria listened intently but she heard no words, not even an illegible murmur from Sia's father. Her heart constricted. If Sia's father was behind this, he would try to test the truth of Mo's words, and if he was not, he wouldn't be much concerned. For all that Aria saw in the man, she could say he had no particular affection for Sia. Everything from his smile to his visit was a part of some cunning she did not understand.
She kept her eyes closed when the young man came back in.
He asked softly, "sleeping?"
Aria opened her eyes quickly. She had closed her eyes without realising, drifting with her thoughts. She asked, "what is your relationship with Sia?"
"She is my fiancee." he said simply, with little emotion. Really? Nothing about them said so. Either the two of them were extremely private or the relationship was hollows. As little as she liked it, it wasn't her place to speak. "Since I am being a clean slate version, I don't have to…"
"No. But me and Sia were close, so I will still be present and meeting you often." he answered before she could ask. Aria wondered if he caught her discomfort of touch. Without or without him noticing, it was a good thing that she didn't have to act that part. She asked, "where are the others?"
"They will come soon."
Aria asked, "I want to talk to Sia."
Mo left and came back with Sia, Lock and Ke. Ke was busy in his phone. "I told mom we are in the hospital. Better get checked at a licenced place."
With all of them gathering around the door, Aria called, "everyone sit."
Sia looked back again, perhaps at Mo. Lock and Ke took the nearmost chairs while the pair took a small couch. Sia looked comfortable without being intimate with Mohan. Seeing herself sitting snuggling with a stranger felt odd. Or was it just her imagination since she was seeing her own self sitting there. It was like looking at a mirror.
Sia wasn't used to it either, as she was staring back with equal intensity.
She told Sia, "that old, thin frail looking driver came with your father. Was he one who attacked you…" Aria reconsidered what she had seen. How the old man had looked inside the car and changed her words, "or kidnapped you?"
"White hair. Combed sideways. Wrinkles all over his face but none of them were sagging, wore a suit?"
Aria nodded at the details in Sia's description. She had noticed these things too, but not as clearly as her. Aria explained, "He came in after your father, put those things," she pointed at the bags on the floor, "and left as if he had not just tried to unalive us."
Lock looked down with disgust, as did Sia. For a moment, fear coursed through her expression before she tamed it. Aria said quickly, "I think he came to check if you will say something. But this memory loss worked in our favour. He might not try to target you again."
Sia and Mo looked at one another, as if there was more to this kidnapping than merely a rich child and father problem. Aria thought of the father, the man's eyes trying to look into her soul, trying to find a deception. Had Sia really stood to such scrutiny?
Since Sia was unwilling to speak of her family matters, she naturally couldn't ask her. She had her own troubles to deal with. First the body, then she wondered if Sia will be able to work through her many jobs. Then there was rent and living space. Moreover, she needed to go to the officer to mark her presence in a few days. The last part, she could still get around. The biggest problem was looking into the company that led her to that bogus address.
She looked at Lock, the message conveyed before. He looked at his phone and started typing. Aria looked around for her phone but only found Sia's. She picked it up and passed it to Sia. In return, Sia pulled out her phone from the pocket and passed it to her. Surely, a message popped up.
Loc said, "That property is registered a construction business. There are multiple businesses registered there, as if they had brought space in the housing that was to be built but the construction never happened due to dispute. But a handful of companies are operating out of that address. Your mother's old company is just one of them."
"What others?"
"I have asked someone to look into them. Will get an answer in a few days."
When she put her phone away. Mo was looking at her. "What are you guys talking about?"
Aria said, "how to manage things on our end."
Neither Sia, not Mo spoke. They exchanged a look of their own though. Eventually Sia insisted. "Move in with me. I insist."
Aria shook his head, "I will just move back home," she said jerking her head to the two young men, lounging sideways busy in their own phone. If they were not texting each other, they were surely checking on their many small streams of investment.
Sia countered her, "but you look like me right now. How will you explain it to your mother?"
Aria dismissed it, "she will think I am a few inches shorter and a medical miracle but she won't have the time to dig deeper. It is better than you going there and she ends up thinking I am different person."
Sia looked at Mo, a little helplessly, who jumped in support her argument. "We don't know why they wanted to kill you. Even if they didn't target Sia for a while because she had forgotten things, they might target you because you are a witness who clearly remembers."
Lock abruptly sat straighter. All of them looked at him. He only looked at Aria in the hospital bed and said, "if you live together, whoever put you in danger might get a little cautious and scared. They won't try something as easily again. Better if we all, who know the truth move in together."
Aria narrowed her eyes at him. Lock smiled slightly, almost uncomfortably, otherwise said nothing. If she didn't know better, she'd think Lock might be interested in Sia. Aria had no problem with Lock and Ke moving in with her but would Sia be comfortable with that. She was still unconvinced. More so, will her fiance come, or allow it? The girl wearing her face differed everything to her partner. Mo did not say yes or no. He simply stared, contemplating before she concluded.
"One step at a time. For the time being, I need to stay in the hospital and you need to be cautious."
"Everything needs to look normal on the surface. Let's exchange numbers and keep in touch. When she is released from the hospital, we can regroup and plan ahead." Mo relented. Aria could have sighed. All of Sia's courage came from Mo's support. With him rethinking this choice. Sia did not insist anymore.
Lock texted her that he will keep watch and Aria finally could fall asleep.