"Thank God! That''s wonderful!" Evadne sped her hands together, tears of pure relief brimming in her eyes.


    "Where is Suri?"


    Aviana looked around, utterly perplexed. "I just saw her this afternoon. Where did


    she go?"


    Evadne quickly asked, "How long has she been missing?"


    "I don''t know, maybe two or three hours?"


    Evadne suddenly recalled how strangely Suri had been acting over the past few days. She had been keeping to herself, constantly making secretive phone calls, and looking incredibly on edge. Suspicion began to take root in Evadne''s mind. Before, she had simply assumed Suri was overwhelmed with worry for Emeric. But thinking about it now, it was highly unnatural.


    Emeric was Suri''s entire world. Unless something of absolute, life-altering importance hade up, she never would have left his side.


    What could possibly make her leave the hospital so abruptly without telling a single soul?


    A slow, ominous sense of dread began to creep into Evadne''s heart.


    Just as she pulled out her phone to call Suri, Mr. Larry and two attending physicians came rushing down the hall, their faces beaming with ecstatic joy.


    "Chairman Emeric is awake! He''s awake!"


    The earth-shattering news immediately set the corridor aze with excitement. The Ashbournes cheered, pulling each other into tight hugs. Myra and her daughter Nydia held onto each other, weeping tears of joy.


    "Dad!"


    The Ashbourne children flooded into the hospital room, filling the sterile, antiseptic air with overwhelming happiness.


    Evadne was the first to reach the bedside. She tightly gripped Emeric''s frail, IV- connected hand. Heavy tears slipped down her cheeks, dampening the pristine white sheets.


    "Dad... you''re finally awake! Do you have any idea how terrified we were?"


    "Dad! Can you see us? Dad?" Arnold leaned in close, waving his hand right in front of Emeric''s face.


    Bet, his own eyes red with unshed tears, couldn''t help but chuckle and push Arnold back. "Stop messing around. He''s not blind."


    Arnold grinned widely, scratching his head as he tried to keep the mood light. "Hey, he had a massive stroke! We have to see how well the old man''s brain is functioning. What if he can''t tell the difference between brother number three, four, five, or six?"


    The room erupted into warmughter.


    It had been far too long since any of them had genuinely smiled like this.


    Lying on the bed, Emeric stared


    nkly through pale, half-closed eyelids. His gaze slowly tracked across the beautiful, handsome, and fiercely familiar faces surrounding him. These were the children he had painstakingly raised with his own two hands.


    His slightly unfocused eyes drifted until they finally settled on Evadne''s luminous, delicate face.


    Her petite, moon-like face, those clear, bright eyes, that elegant little nose, and her cherry-red lips...


    "So pretty..."


    Emeric slowly and unsteadily raised a trembling hand. He gently brushed his fingers against Evadne''s soft cheek and murmured, "You look like... someone I know." Evadne''s breath hitched. Panic spiked in her chest. "Dad, what are you saying?"


    "Dad?"


    Emeric blinked weakly. His eyes were utterly vacant and entirely confused. "Child, who are you talking about? Who is your dad? Are you talking about... me?"


    As soon as the words left his mouth, the air in the crowded hospital room froze solid. The silence was deafening.


    "Dad, open your eyes and look closely. This is Evadne! Your favorite!" Cassius stared hard at his father''s wooden expression, his throat goingpletely dry.


    "Dad, what the hell are you doing?"


    Arnold broke out in a cold sweat, his voice pitching high. "Don''t joke around with us! I don''t care if you forget everyone else, but how could you not recognize Evadne? Did your brain short-circuit?!"


    "Don''t panic! He just woke up, he''s probably just disoriented. Don''t pressure him!"


    Evadne''s voice cracked with frantic


    desperation. She clung to her


    father''s hand and forced her pale, frozen face into the brightest, most familia smile she could muster, desperately trying to look like the energetic daughter he knew so well. "Dad, it''s me! It''s Evadne! The one who''s always causing trouble and making you worry, the one who makes you so mad you want to ground her for life!


    Do you... remember now?"