I watched as she jumped and laugh with her hand in mine. She was a beautiful girl and still is. Her smile and laughter makes me smile every single time but behind those laughs and smiles, I cried for her. I felt the sadness she can never seem to feel.

“Eric! Look, pretty flowers!” She exclaimed like a little girl with tiny flowers in her hand.

“Yes, pretty just like my Wendy.” I said as I took a flower and tucked it behind her ear and so she laughed.

With my fingers I caressed her cheek but she laughed and pulled away feeling ticklish.

“Ooo! Ice cream!” She yelled suddenly.

Her attention span was as long as an 8 year old kid. But she isn’t 8 years old and no longer a little girl. I could only smile meekly as she pulled me towards the ice cream vendor. She may act like she was eight but she was strong.

“I want strawberry!” She exclaimed excitedly with her eyes googling the different flavours.

“And, chocolate, ooo!! Mint also!” She went on and on with each flavour she laid eyes on.

“No, you can only choose one flavour!” I tried to stop her before the man would scoop up every single flavour she had just mentioned.

“No! I want more!” She begged.

“Just, one scoop of strawberry please.” I told the man as I fished the pocket of my jeans for some loose bills.

“ERIC!!” She started whining as she cried wanting for more.

“It’s either you get this or none at all.” I said sternly with the ice cream cone in hand.

“Meanie!” She yelled, sticking her tongue out as she grabbed the ice cream and ran off.

I sighed before thanking the ice cream man and hurried after her. I didn’t want her to get lost again. And so I watched her as she enjoyed the ice cream making a mess all over while she enjoyed it.

“Is it that delicious?” I asked her as we sat on a bench.

“Mhm… But if I had chocolate too it would’ve been better.” She commented the sides of the cone covered in melted ice cream.

“Look at you.” I said as I pulled out a clean handkerchief from jacket pocket and wiped her sticky hand as she continued to devour her ice cream with the other hand.

Wendy’s my girlfriend but at that moment right now it seemed like I was more like her babysitter. Wendy used to be a talented and independent girl but 3 years into our relationship everything seemed to start falling apart when she was diagnosed with early dementia. Wendy was just starting out in the fashion industry and the entire thing ruined it for her. She was talented with a great knack for colours and sewing. She knew everything about fashion and was the most fashionable person I knew but now, was all so different. Now, she can barely even button shirts properly without constantly missing the holes and matching colours was the thing of the past. She had put on bright yellow blouses with pink skirts before and mismatching socks was a routine.

“Bubbles!” She screamed right as she was her sticky fingers.

“Stop your hand Wendy.” I sighed as I pulled her hand away from .

“Look, look! Bubbles Eric! Bubbles!” She kept yelling trying to point at where she saw the bubbles but I was busy cleaning off both of her dirty hands.

“Let’s play bubbles! Please, please!!” She kept screaming until she managed to free both of her hands from my grip.

Before I could try to grab her again, she was already running towards the soap bubbles people had blown.

“Wendy!” I called out as I ran after her.

Wendy laughed as she chased the bubbles like a little girl. Wendy had tried her best to slow down the dementia but no matter how hard she tried, it seemed to be coming to her at an unbeatable speed.

- 2 YEARS AGO -

Eric had just returned home from his after school job. He had started living with Wendy when her disease got worse when sometimes she would start forgetting things or she would go into one of her dazing episodes and wouldn’t remember what happened before she dazed off. Wendy stopped attending school but was trying her best to keep herself busy by sewing and designing new clothes. She looked like she was doing well at the time but little did Eric knew how she was failing badly at trying to even sew in a straight line.

“Wendy?” Eric called out as he got into their apartment.

Oddly, the entire living room was dark and the curtains were left open.  He headed for the kitchen but it was empty. Usually at times when he returned home like that day, Wendy would be busy in the kitchen getting dinner ready.

“Wendy?” Eric kept calling as he started heading for their room.

But before he could reach the door, he heard a crashing sound from a different room. It was coming from her workspace.

“Wendy?!” Eric called again worried that she might have fallen and hurt herself.

The door was locked and he could hear her sobbing behind the door.

“Wendy?! Open up! Are you okay?!” Eric kept yelling as he tried his best to force the door open.

But no matter how hard he tried the door was jam shut. Eric hurried into their bedroom and pulled out the bunch of spare keys Wendy had left in his desk drawer in case of emergencies. He didn’t think much and jammed as many keys, as fast as he could until one key unlocks the door. When he finally managed to unlock it, Wendy was already on the floor sobbing hard surrounded by all of her sewing tools. Her sewing machine was turned over in the corner of the room, her various colourful fabrics cut up into tiny pieces and her mannequins disfigured. Even the dress she had been working on for the past month was ripped into pieces.

“Wendy!” Her hurried to her side.

She had cut herself with a cloth scissors and was bleeding and all she did was cry.

“Let’s get you out.” Eric tried to pull her up but she was adamant to move.

“I can’t sew anymore.” She said between sobs and in her hand a piece of cloth was held tightly but slowly she let go of it.

Her bloody hand smeared all over it as she cried into Eric’s chest. Eric noticed the poorly sewn piece of cloth. She barely made three stitches long that were straight. The fabric was also poorly cut with so many rigid edges. It was starting to make him realize that she was suffering. The dementia had gotten the best of her. Eric tried hard to hold in his tears. All he could do at the moment was hold onto her tightly.

“It’s okay. I’m here.” He whispered into her ear as he caressed her hair.

After he managed to console her to get out of the room, she finally stopped crying but she did not display any feelings. As if nothing had just happened in the sewing room. Eric had made her sit on the couch comfortably as he started treating her cut. When he stole glances at her she was dazing off again.

“Done, do you want anything to drink?” Eric asked her.

She only stared into the distance without a word.

“I’ll go make you some hot chocolate.” He said finally as he headed for the kitchen.

When he returned to the living room, she was on the floor crying again with something in her hands.

“What’s wrong?” Eric hurried over to her.

“I worked so hard. Who did this?” She asked with tears as she displayed the dress she had torn to Eric.

His heart immediately dropped when he saw it. She didn’t remember what had happened at all. If he told her what happened she would freak out again. So, Eric took the dress from her hand and hugged her tightly as she cried. He didn’t care that her tears wasn’t the fact that she couldn’t remember what happened but he just wanted to hold her in his arms and comfort her. She has had enough of what happened.

The following weeks, Eric locked off her workspace. Wendy had already stopped visiting her workspace for quite some time. She was dazing off more often and was constantly in bed. She had given up hope on getting any better.

“Wendy honey? Let’s eat dinner.” Eric said as he stood by their bedroom door.

She had her back to him and she was quite.

“Please answer me.” He said pleadingly.

“Go away.” Was all she said.

“I’m not going away Wendy Son.” Somehow it angered him the fact that she was asking him to leave.

“Stop caring already! I can’t even remember what happened 10 minutes ago Eric Nam!” She yelled as she threw her pillow at her.

Tears streamed down her face as she displayed anger. She was angry? He was angry too. She wasn’t the only person upset. She may be upset that she was losing herself but he was upset too. He was losing the person he loved.

“Leave before I stop remembering you too.” She said slowly as if she hadn’t got a single ounce of energy left in her.

“No! I’m not leaving you. Ever!” He yelled back.

“I say leave! I don’t want to forget you. Ever!” She yelled as she started crying harder.

“You may end up forgetting me but I’m never abandoning you.” Eric said as he wiped her tears.

“You shouldn’t be doing this.” Wendy said as she shook her head.

“Even when you start acting like a kid or even when you don’t even remember me, I’ll always love you and I’ll always be here.” Eric explained as he hugged her tightly.

“Eric! Come here!” She yelled calling for him.

“Coming!” Eric answered as he jogged over to her.

She still remembered his name for now but that was all because he constantly reminded her about his name. But he wasn’t sure if she knew he was her boyfriend. Maybe they are just friends or she thinks he is her brother at the moment but Eric didn’t want to worry himself over that. He was just satisfied enough that she can still call for him.

They sat on the grass as they watched the sun set by the river. She was quiet as she stared ahead. Maybe she was having a dazing off again but it’s okay. Her mind may be somewhere else but just for that moment he was glad that she was there with him still.

“Wendy?” He called.

And as if her mind had just returned to her body, she slowly turned to face him. She displayed no feelings on her face again.

“I’m Eric.” He said as he smiled wearily hoping she would remember him.

“Eric.” She repeated as she smiled.

P/S: Apologies for writing in different POV's. I just ended up getting too lazy to edit it. Anyhow, please enjoy!