For several seconds, I stood staring at the closed elevator doors.

Theo’s last expression remained stuck in my mind.

“Something like that.”

He hadn’t said we were friends.

But he hadn’t said we weren’t, either.

And the more I tried to put the pieces together, the stronger the feeling became that everyone around me was carefully choosing which parts of my own life I was allowed to know.

I entered my apartment and locked the door.

Two pillows.

Two toothbrushes.

The empty half of the closet.

The spare key Evan had kept.

Everything seemed to be screaming a truth I still couldn’t see.

That night, I barely slept.

At nine the next morning, someone rang the doorbell.

It was Evan.

He was carrying coffee, croissants, and that charming smile that, according to him, should have felt familiar to me.

“I thought you might need breakfast.”

I opened the door only halfway.

“Thanks.”

I took the bag.

He glanced over my shoulder.

“You’re not going to let me in?”

“Not yet.”

His smile disappeared for a fraction of a second.

“Nora, you don’t have to treat me like a stranger.”

“To me, you are one.”

That hurt him.

I saw it.

But almost immediately, he put that relaxed expression back on.

“Right. I forgot.”

Then his eyes dropped to the small card Theo had given me with the repair shop’s address.

Evan froze.

“Where did you get that?”

I looked at the card.

“Theo took me to get my phone repaired yesterday.”

His reaction was immediate.

Evan stopped smiling.

“Theo Vale?”

“Yes.”

“Stay away from him.”

He said it so quickly that it caught me off guard.

“Why?”

“Because he’s an asshole.”

“That’s not a reason.”

“Trust me.”

I gave a small laugh.

“Interesting. Yesterday you told me we were ‘close friends,’ and today you’re already trying to decide who I can talk to.”

Evan’s jaw tightened.

“I’m just trying to protect you.”

“Then tell me from what.”

Silence.

For the first time since I had woken up, Evan seemed to have no prepared answer.

Finally, he muttered,

“Theo and you never got along.”

I remembered the way Theo had said my name.

His strange smile.

That “something like that.”

“He didn’t seem to think so.”

Evan stared at me.

“What did he tell you?”

“Nothing important.”

I lied.

And something inside me told me I had done the right thing.

That afternoon, I went to the repair shop alone.

The technician handed me my phone.

“We got lucky. Almost all the data is still intact.”

My heart started beating faster.

“Photos too?”

“Photos, messages, videos, notes… pretty much everything.”

I turned it on right there.

The screen filled with delayed notifications.

I opened the gallery first.

And my world stopped.

Evan was everywhere.

Evan hugging me at the beach.

Evan asleep on my couch.

Evan kissing my forehead while I held a birthday cake.

The two of us in front of a Christmas tree.

At restaurants.

On trips.

In bed, messy-haired and laughing into the camera.

There were hundreds.

Maybe thousands.

I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“Are you okay?” the technician asked.

I couldn’t answer.

I opened a photo dated eight months earlier.

Evan was standing behind me with his arms around my waist.

I was wearing one of his sweaters.

On my finger was a thin ring I didn’t recognize.

Under the photo was a caption I had written myself.

“Three years of putting up with you. Guess I’ll have to keep you forever now.”

My hands went cold.

Evan had lied.

We hadn’t been friends.

We had lived together.

We had been a couple for years.

Maybe we had even been planning something more.

I walked out of the shop without knowing where I was going.

My phone vibrated.

Evan.

I ignored it.

He called again.

Then a third time.

Finally, a message appeared.

“Nora, we need to talk.”

I blocked him.

I had barely taken ten steps when someone gently caught my arm.

I spun around.

Theo.

“Easy.”

He must have seen my face because he released me immediately.

“You saw the phone.”

It wasn’t a question.

I stared at him.

“You knew.”

Theo stayed silent.

“You knew Evan and I were together.”

“Yes.”

“And you lied to me.”

“I didn’t lie.”

“You said we were neighbors.”

“We are.”

“You knew exactly what I was asking.”

Theo looked away.

For the first time, his cold expression seemed to crack.

“Your doctor recommended that no one force your memories back all at once.”

“Evan isn’t following medical advice. He’s trying to erase three years of my life.”

Theo looked back at me.

That was enough.

“And you know why.”

“Nora…”

“Tell me.”

“I can’t.”

A dry anger rose in my chest.

“Then you’re no different from him.”

I turned away.

Theo spoke behind me.

“Evan and I fought about you two days before the accident.”

I stopped.

Slowly, I turned back.

“What?”

“That’s why I said we were ‘something like’ friends.”

His voice had lost all its lightness.

“Because for a long time, we were.”

“And after that?”

Theo took too long to answer.

“After that, you discovered something.”

“What did I discover?”

“I don’t know everything.”

“Liar.”

Theo ran a hand through his silver hair.

“You called me that night. You were crying. You said you wanted to leave.”

My breathing became shallow.

“Leave where?”

“Leave Evan.”

The noise of the street seemed to disappear.

“Why?”

Theo looked directly at me.

“You wouldn’t tell me over the phone. You asked me to come get you.”

“Did you?”

“Yes.”

“Then what happened?”

His expression changed.

“You never made it to the place where we were supposed to meet.”

A chill ran through me.

“Because I had the accident.”

Theo nodded.

But there was more.

I could see it in his eyes.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Before he could answer, my phone made a sound.

An old backup had just finished restoring.

Among the recovered files was a password-protected folder called:

“IF I FORGET.”

Theo saw it too.

All the color drained from his face.

“Nora…”

“What?”

“Don’t open that here.”

That was exactly why I opened it.

Inside, there was only one audio file.

Date: the night of the accident.

Length: forty-seven seconds.

I pressed play.

My own voice came through the speaker, trembling and uneven.

“If you’re listening to this, something went wrong.”

My knees almost gave out.

Theo went completely still.

Then my recorded voice continued.

“No matter what Evan tells you, don’t trust him.”

A pause.

A shaky breath.

Then came the words that made Theo snatch the phone from my hand.

“Because Evan already knows I discovered who caused the first accident.”