Roland opened his mouth, but no words came out immediately.
Nikki stood in front of him with the cleaner’s uniform still clutched in her hand.
“Did you know me?” she asked again.
The question was simple, but the silence behind it was not.
Only hours earlier, Nikki had believed her biggest problem with Roland was that he had lied about where he worked.
Now that lie had opened a door to something much larger.
Ward 10.
The same ward where she had spent six months in the hospital.
The same period of her life she could not remember clearly.
The same place connected to the pregnancy that had destroyed her marriage and left her depending on the kindness of a man she had barely known.
Roland finally exhaled.
“I was just assigned to Ward 10 this week,” he said.
Nikki watched his face closely.
“This week?”
“Yes.”
“What about before this week?”
“I was cleaning the reception area.”
Roland spoke quickly now, as though he wanted every word placed between them before Nikki could ask another question.
“At the time you are talking about, I was not working inside Ward 10.
I was at the reception area.
Sincerely, Nikki, I did not know you were there.
I didn’t even know there was somebody like you in that hospital.”
Nikki lowered the uniform slightly, but she did not put it down.
Something in her mind kept resisting his answer.
His face.
She had seen it somewhere.
Maybe it was nothing more than the strange way memory could confuse places and people after months of illness.
Maybe she had walked past him once.
Maybe he had been pushing cleaning supplies through a corridor while she was being moved.
Maybe she had seen him from a distance and forgotten.
But the feeling remained.
“Did you ever enter Ward 10 six months ago?” Nikki asked.
Roland frowned.
“I have answered you.”
“I’m asking something different.”
“No, you are asking me the same thing because you have already decided you don’t believe me.”
“That is not what I said.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Nikki placed the uniform on the bed.
“I’m saying your face looks familiar.”
Roland stared at her.
“I’m saying I was in that ward for six months, and there are things I cannot remember properly.
I am trying to understand what happened to me.”
Her voice began to break.
“I need to know why I came out of that hospital carrying babies when I cannot even tell my own husband who their father is.”
The anger in Roland’s face faded.
For a moment, he looked less defensive and more uncomfortable with the weight of what she had just said.
Nikki wiped her eyes before the tears could fall farther.
“I am not accusing you of anything,” she said.
“I am trying to find somebody who knows something.”
Roland shook his head.
“I don’t.”
“Anything at all?”
“No.”
“You never saw me?”
“No.”
