My boss doesn’t know I’m his wife. I sit at a small desk outside his big office, I bring him his coffee, I answer his calls, I organize his papers. He looks at me, but he doesn’t see me. To him, I’m just the assistant.
But to me, he’s David, my husband. I grew up in a small village, where everyone knew everyone. David and I were neighbors, we played by the river, we went to school together. He had a big smile that made me happy.
We fell in love, and when I was 18 and he was 20, we got married. It was a small wedding, my mother made my dress and we had no money, but we had each other. Then David got a dream. He wanted to build a big house for us, to give me the world.
There were no jobs in the village, so he decided to go to America. “I’ll go for only 2 years,” he promised me at the bus station. “I’ll write every week. I’ll never forget you.
You are my wife. ”
I watched the bus drive away and I felt a pain in my chest. That was 10 years ago. For the first year, his letters came.
I read them every night and slept with them under my pillow. Then the letters stopped. A week, a month, a year. I went to the post office every day, but the man just shook his head.
I wrote to him, but my letters came back. I was sure he was sick or hurt. But the people in the village began to whisper. “He found another woman.
He forgot you. You should forget him too, Maya. ”
My mother begged me to marry someone else. But I couldn’t.
I wore my ring every day. I felt in my heart that he was still alive, that he needed me. I couldn’t stay in that village, surrounded by memories, so I moved to the city after 7 years. I worked hard in a small office, saved my money, and went to university at night to learn business.
I changed my clothes, my language, my whole life. But in my heart, I was still Maya, and I still wore my ring on a chain around my neck, hidden under my shirt. Then I got hired as an assistant to the CEO of a big international company. They told me he was strict, that he’d lived in America for a long time.
I wanted to do a good job. On my first day, the door opened and a man walked in. He wore a gray suit and a nice watch. He looked serious, tired.
He looked up from his phone. My heart stopped. It was David. I wanted to scream, to run to him, to say “David, it’s me, Maya.
” But he just looked into my eyes and said, “Who are you? ”
His voice was cold, like I was a stranger. When I whispered my name, it meant nothing to him. “Okay, Maya.
Bring me coffee. Black, no sugar. ”
I locked myself in the bathroom and cried. How could he forget my face?
We grew up together. I made his coffee, but I couldn’t stop myself. I remembered David loved sugar, three spoons in his tea. So I put one spoon in the coffee.
When he tasted it, he paused and looked confused. “Actually, this tastes good,” he said. “It tastes familiar. ”
I felt a small hope.
But he was a hard boss. He worked late every night and shouted sometimes. He was lonely, I saw it. No family photos in his office, no wife, no children.
Just him and his work. One day, I heard him on the phone with a doctor. “My head hurts again. The headaches from the accident.
It’s been 10 years. I know I lost my memory of the time before the accident. I know I can’t remember my childhood. ”
I gasped.
An accident. He didn’t leave me because he was bad. He didn’t find another woman. He lost his memory.
He lost the village, he lost me. I knew the truth, but I was scared to tell him. He was the rich CEO, I was the poor assistant. He would think I was after his money.
So I decided to make him remember, one small thing at a time. I found the yellow flowers from our village, the ones that smell like honey, and put them on his desk. He walked in and stopped. “What is that smell?
” He closed his eyes. “This smell… I know this smell. It makes me feel happy and sad. ”
Another day, a storm knocked out the power and we sat in the dark together.
He told me he hated storms. I told him I loved them because my husband and I used to watch the rain from our porch. “You’re married? ” he asked.
“I was,” I said. “He left a long time ago. ”
“I was never married,” he said. “The doctors told me I was single.
But sometimes… sometimes I feel like I’m missing something. Like I left my heart somewhere. ”
I wanted to cry. “Maybe you did,” I said.
“Tell me about your husband,” he said. “The dark made me brave. “He was kind. He had a big dream.
He promised to come back. ” “Why didn’t he? ” “I think he got lost,” I said. “I think he forgot the way home.
” He was quiet for a long time. “If he is smart, he’ll find his way back. He is a fool to forget you. ”
That night changed things.
He was softer with me after that, and one day he asked me to lunch. “You know, Maya, I feel comfortable with you,” he told me. “I don’t usually like people, but I like you. ”
“Call me David,” he said.
It felt so good to say his name again. “Tell me, where are you from? ” he asked. “A small village, far away.
”
“I have dreams about a village,” he said. “There’s a river and a girl. She has long hair. She’s laughing.
But I can’t see her face. It’s blurry. But I know I loved her. ”
My hand was shaking as I reached into my bag.
I had an old photo, black and white, of us on our wedding day by the river. “David,” I said, “I want to show you something. ”
He looked at the photo for a long time. His face went pale.
His hands began to shake. “Who is this? ” he whispered. “Look closely,” I said.
He looked at the man in the photo, then touched his own face. He looked at the woman, then looked at me. “This is me,” he said. “When I was young.
” Then, with tears in his eyes, “And this… this is you. I am Maya,” I said. “I am your wife. ”
He dropped the photo and put his hands on his head.
“Oh my god. Maya, Maya. ” He said my name like he knew me. “I remember.
The bus, the promise. I promised to come back. Then the accident. I woke up in the hospital and didn’t know who I was.
They told me my name was David, but nobody knew where I came from. I had no ID. ”
He was crying, a big strong man crying in a restaurant. “I forgot you.
I’m so sorry. I left you alone for 10 years. ”
I took his hand. It was warm, like the hand of my David.
“It’s okay. You’re here now. ”
He hugged me so tight. I smelled the expensive soap, but underneath, it was still him.
People stared, but I didn’t care. After 10 years, I held my husband. We didn’t go back to the office. We walked in the park for hours.
He asked a thousand questions. I showed him the ring on the chain around my neck. “Put it on your finger,” he said. It still fit.
He wanted to buy me a big diamond, but I said no. “I want this one. This is the ring you gave me. ”
He smiled, the big happy smile from the past.
We didn’t rush. We dated, we laughed, we cried, we fell in love again. Sometimes he felt guilty about the wasted years, but I told him not to look back. He made me the manager of a department in the company.
“You’re smarter than you know,” he said. We walked into the office holding hands, and the employees were shocked. The boss was smiling. I just told them he was happy.
A year later, we went back to the village. My mother was waiting, and when she saw David, she cried. “My son, you came back. ”
We walked by the river, blue water and green trees, just like before.
“I remember this,” he said. “I remember playing here. ”
He looked at me and said, “Thank you for waiting. Thank you for finding me.
Thank you for loving me when I was a stranger. ”
Now we have a baby boy, and he has David’s smile. We live in the city but visit the village often. Life isn’t easy, we have problems like everyone else.
But when I look at David, I feel lucky. Sometimes I bring him his coffee at home in the morning, and he looks at me and smiles. “Good morning, my love. ” He knows who I am.
He knows I am his wife. So if you are waiting for something, do not give up. The road might be long, but love will find its way home.
