Me Before You
Chapter 8

The sudden sound of knocking on the door stopped Ferdinand's activity focusing on the monitor screen. The man reflexively raised his head, looking towards the door. Without waiting for orders, someone out there went straight into Ferdinand's study. It was Louis Adrian.

"Adrian?" Ferdinand frowned as Adrian approached himself and sat on an empty bench not far from Ferdinand. "What's wrong?" the man took off his glasses and put them on the table.

"I've decided." Adrian's words, making Ferdinand even more confused. His eyebrows frowned when he saw the look of Adrian's face that could not be interpreted. "It's about Joshua, by the way."

"Oh." said Ferdinand. "Why?" Continue the man.

"I've spoken to the other members and I've thought about it carefully." Adrian looks to breathe. "I agree to Joshua's request. But only two days. He's been taking a long time off. Company's revenue declined after he went on hiatus."

Ferdinand smiled hearing that. Finally, Joshua's wish was granted. Ferdinand could imagine how Joshua looked on his face when he heard this news.

"I hope that after he returns you don't burden him directly with work. At least give him some time to relax." Ferdinand said.

Adrian nodded. "After he comes back I will prepare a fan meeting for him" he said. "I checked social media and many of them wanted to see J.Dawn. I can't believe Joshua will have that many fans for his novel."

"It's all out of my interference!" ferdinand's protest, sounds like a joke. Adrian responded with laughter.

"Honestly, after finding out she had insomnia and was threatened with Alzheimer's, I was worried about her health condition. The success he had, almost brought havoc to him. But, I cannot deny that without him the company's income will not run." said Adrian with a look of regret.

"You're right. As friends, we can help him. Although not much." - Ferdinand.

Adrian nodded, agreeing with Ferdinand. "Ah, by the way, do I have to talk to her directly? Or are you going to tell it yourself?" ask Adrian to consider.

Ferdinand pretended to think, putting his forefinger and thumb on the chin. "Hm, looks like you're gonna have to tell him yourself. I was busy editing. Joshua must be sick of hearing my voice." he licked.

Adrian laughed briefly. "alright, fine. I'll call him through Angela." said Adrian.

"Well.the bait." cried Ferdinand.

"Why?"

"Say you'll call your girlfriend." seduced Ferdinand.

"That's better than me having to call them one-on-one."

"It is also true" Ferdinand said. "But why not contact Joshua directly?"

"You forgot? He rarely picks up my phone."

"Ah, right too."

Well, compared to Adrian, Joshua is closer to Ferdinand. So, when something happens, the first person to know about Joshua is Ferdinand. Ferdinand told Adrian. Joshua rarely interacted with Adrian. But their relationship was not as bad as they thought. They were close, just not as close as Joshua was to Ferdinand.

Actually, for the matter this time, Ferdinand was reluctant to tell Adrian about Joshua's problem, because if Adrian knew, maybe Joshua's vacation time would be the same as before. There is no addition of time. Adrian may have thought, it would be better to please the fans in the City, because they have long been waiting for Joshua to appear to the public.

It was fortunate that Ferdinand understood Joshua's feelings. Joshua just wants to make someone happy that he has to be happy.

"So.. You're here to tell me that?" said Ferdinand, who made the look of Adrian's face changed. Not long after, Adrian nodded, confirming Ferdinand's question.

"It's so annoying. Just disturb." murmured Ferdinand.

"It looks like I'm bothering you about being caught making a date with someone." Adrian timpal said guiltlessly.

"Yes, ten.... Hey, you're kidding me! I'm working!" the protest from Ferdinand made Adrian hold back a laugh. The man almost told the truth about asking a date with a girl.

"I know Ferdinand, I know. Felicya Sesya, right? Good luck." Then Adrian got up, approached Ferdinand and patted his friend on the shoulder. While Ferdinand gave a look as if asking 'how do you know?' adrian left Ferdinand's room with a smile.

"Basic stalker!" ferdinand grumbled after Adrian completely walked out of his room.

...-οΟο-...

It had been two days Angela Frances was at Monica's house and all that time Angela accompanied Monica Frances. Enjoy a star-studded night together, relax in the room or in the family room, tell stories about the things they experienced interspersed with jokes and there are still many things they do both. Angela's presence actually makes Monica not lonely. It was seen that the girl smiled a lot, especially sometimes Joshua Spencer appeared in their midst. Monica felt more and more that in this world she had many people who loved her.

Like this time, when Angela, Monica and Joshua gathered in the kitchen of Monica's house while laughing cheerfully. I don't know what they're talking about. As usual, both Monica's parents were in the garden, taking care of their wines and said tomorrow they would go to the city to hand over the wine. That's what Monica heard earlier.

"So when I first met Joshua I called him Mr." Monica said with a laugh, as well as Angela and Joshua who were at the dinner table.

"You serious? Well, Joshua I didn't expect you to be that old to be called Master." Angela's laughter started to blur.

"I didn't even think that a plain girl like Monica would be as fun to joke around with like this" said Joshua, who made Monica stop her laughter and smile broadly.

"Can I repeat again, sir?" monica laughed again.

"Oh, already, here we will not be eating." Lerai Angela while spooning waffles into the mouth.

"By the way, Joshua." Joshua looked up at Monica who hung up her sentence. "I haven't finished reading your book. Sorry if I turned it back for a long time." Said Monica.

Joshua was smiling too. "No problem. You can grab the book." Then the man refocused on the waffles in front of him. "You're laughing like this already makes me relieved." His murmur was small, but it was heard by Monica, as well as Angela.

"Oooooooo!" Angela who was next to Monica was cheering, happy. Though the words were shown to Monica but instead Angela was happy. The girl laughed as she slowly elbowed Monica. "Joshua is worried about you." he muttered as he pointed at Joshua with his chin.

Joshua Spencer looked down in shame. It turned out that his words were heard by Monica, even Angela. But not long after that he smiled thinly, trying to hold his smile so as not to be obvious. But to be covered or not, it seems that Joshua is currently being misbehaved.

"Angela don't do that, pity Joshua." said Monica, who kept Angela shut by hand. But her eyes still teased Monica. "Already, already, let's eat the waffles again."

"Oh yeah Monica, is your head still dizzy?" that's Joshua. The man finally opened his voice after controlling himself so as not to misbehave again. Even Angela who had been holding back a smile, immediately changed her facial expression to serious, by looking at Monica.

"No really. I'm doing fine. As long as there are you I'm safe." replied Monica with a big smile. The girl went back to eating her waffles, without caring for Joshua's worried gaze.

"If there's any story to me or Angela, huh?"

"Of course."

"Joshua you have to be patient. This Monica is still insensitive." Angela chirped guiltlessly. He immediately got a sharp look from Monica, as if asking 'what do you mean?'

While Joshua only laughed shortly looking at the behavior of the two girls in front of him. When viewed, Angela was a lot of help Joshua, especially in introducing him to the figure of Monica. Unexpectedly it turns out Monica Frances is connected to her past. The figure of the girl who had been in his mind was Monica Frances. The world that he initially thought was vast, turned out to be narrow after meeting Monica Frances.

Not long after, Angela's phone on the table shook, revealing Adrian's name on the screen. Oh, his girlfriend called. Inner Joshua.

Angela immediately put the fork on the table and chewed her food quickly. "Wait a minute, yeah!" she said, then the girl moved away from the kitchen and went to the living room. After Angela completely moves away from them, Joshua immediately looks at Monica who turns to notice Angela's departure as well.

"Monica." call Joshua who made Monica look at Joshua too. Now they were just the two at the dining table with eyes staring at each other.

"Yes?"

"You really don't remember me?"

"Hm? Meanin?" Monica slightly scrunched her eyebrows.

"I mean.have we met before or. ah not so."

"You mean maybe we've met somewhere, right?" connect Monica at last. Joshua looked up, watching Monica Frances. "Maybe we used to go to school or meet where we were when we were kids. But I guess that's a small possibility" he said.

"Do you remember?" joshua exclaimed with round eyes.

Monica immediately shook her head. "No. I just heard from my mom that me and my brother went to school in the city."

Joshua's face immediately shriveled again. At first he was so excited when Monica said they were one school. It's hard to introduce the past to Monica Frances. But if he remembers, it'll make Monica's trauma appear. That incident was very gripping. Oh, imagining it makes Joshua cringe.

"So your mom used to tell me about your past?"

"Not really. My mom only told me a little when I knew nothing about myself. But still I don't remember anything."

Joshua just nodded in understanding. It turned out that all this time Miss Frances had not completely covered up Monica's past. Even the middle-aged woman volunteered to tell her son, although she knew that it could cause Monica bad things at times. But if it is covered up it will not be good. There is no smoke if there is no fire, so the depiction.

"Have we ever been to a school before?" monica asked, making Joshua look at the girl again.

"Eitherway. I'm not sure either." Joshua replied hesitantly. "But I've known the same name as you." Said.

Monica stunned. He paused for a moment, then placed the fork on the table and rested his hands. He was very enthusiastic about Joshua's words just now. "really? Then?"

"I only remember a little bit, because I used to move schools."

Hearing that, Monica immediately let out a disappointed sigh. Though he was very curious about the person named 'Monica. It is possible that after hearing the story from Joshua, one by one the pieces of his memory appear. But what happened instead, ah, that's it.

Monica continues to eat her waffles, while Joshua notices Monica. The man was not so sure of his memory. He still needs some more evidence to convince himself that Monica in front of him is the same person as the little girl in his past.

...-οΟο-...

"What do you really want to talk about, Adrian?" Angela began to get upset because of Adrian's conversation that twisted from the topic. The man seemed to ring something, clearly heard from his words that were not careless. At first the man talks about work, then leads to Ferdinand who already has a 'new arm', then he says that he needs Angela now. It was a conversation that was not clear in its direction.

After saying this, Angela could hear, the sound of Adrian's breath at the end. Looks like Adrian has a problem. Think Angela.

"I'd actually like to talk to Joshua, but I'd like to tell you that I miss you, too."

Angela laughed. Geez, sometimes Adrian can be childish like this. Though usually they also rarely meet in the city, because of the busyness of each. Just left for two days, Adrian has said miss, how about he chose to stay with Monica.

"Then I want to stay here so you can keep missing me." Joked the girl.

"You're going to kill me!?" the man who made Angela laugh out loud, to the point of tears. "After you get home, we should get married!"

Angela gave her laugh again. Is that so protective of Adrian? Wow, this is completely out of the man's habit. He usually looks charismatic, authoritative, and assertive, but people don't know how his attitude changes when he meets Angela. The man will turn out to be as sweet and full of surprises as he is now.

"We'll get married if I manage to match Joshua to Monica!" angela's Protest on Adrian.

"Monica?"

"He's my cousin."

"Oh, so her name is Monica."

"The plan is to take him to the city, so I can meet you and Ferdinand. I feel sorry for her, she's an adult but she never goes anywhere" said Angela, who has sympathy for her beloved cousin.

"Why is that?"

"She's amnesiac, and we're afraid that her recollection will traumatize her severely."

"Trauma?"

"He's a bully."

"What!?"

"We think it's better that he forgets his past. But still, I felt sorry for her." - Angela, then the girl continued, "you said there's something to talk to Joshua, right?"

"Ah, that. Yes, I want to talk to him. Are you with him now?"

"It just so happened that we were gathering to eat waffles." Angela said. "He's with Monica right now." continued the girl.

"Oh." he said short. "By the way Joshua was, I gave him more than two days off from the time I gave him."

"Why is that?"

"The company is on crodite. So I need it to do the fan meeting first. It's been a long time since she debuted, she hasn't done that." Adrian said, making Angela sigh.

"Huh, her life is like an artist." murmured Angela, then the girl continued, "in a moment, I'll check into the kitchen first."

The girl kept her phone away from her ear, so she got off the sofa in the living room and went to the kitchen. Angela peeked over the wall for a moment and saw Joshua and Monica focused on enjoying their waffles without making a sound. Angela slightly frowned, what's up with the two of them? Why isn't one of them talking?

Then Angela remembered that her cellphone was still connected to Adrian, she also re-attached her phone to the ear. "Adrian, you want to talk to Joshua?"

"Yes. Has he returned to the inn?"

"No. He's still here, wait a minute." then Angela walks over to Joshua who's busy with her thoughts. From afar it may seem that Joshua was eating, but when viewed up close, the man even played a fork in his hand, as if thinking of something.

Angela didn't take the dizzy, she immediately patted Joshua on the shoulder, making the man jump and looked at Angela with her eyes rounded. "From Adrian." muttered the girl, then Joshua immediately took the phone in Angela's hand and moved away from the place.

After Joshua moved away, Angela sat down next to Monica again and elbowed her cousin's arm slowly. Monica turned her head while furrowing her brows, as if asking, 'what's wrong?'

"You and Joshua why?" ask Angela curiously.

"Why what?" Monica frowned.

"Look at you guys just shut up, no interaction whatsoever."

"I talked for a minute."

"You're not booming over something, are you?"

"Yes, my goodness, Angela!" pissed Monica. "What is this, anyway?"

Angela sneers. "Because you can't come. If there's anything, tell me, okay?"

Monica did not respond to Angela. The girl went back to eating her waffles and tried to think about what Joshua had said. Is there any chance that Monica ever knew Joshua Spencer?

The girl sighed. Why is it so hard to remember the past?

He shook his head, trying to get rid of the worst that would happen if he thought hard.

...---...