Zeus II

"Ms. Castañeda got an acquired prosopagnosia and it's apperceptive. It's due to the damage of the right fusiform gyrus of her brain that she got from the severe beating that happened to her last night." Dr. Rivas explained to them after getting the results of the tests they did to Yumi.

"People with Acquired Apperceptive Prosopagnosia are unable to make same-different judgements when they are presented with pictures of different faces. They're also unable to recognize both familiar and unfamiliar faces and are also struggles recognizing facial emotions." Dr. Rivas continued.

Yumi remained silent even after Dr. Rivas explained her condition, letting every thing she heard sink in to her head. Zeus and Stephen on the other hand, wasn't sure if they should be relieved or feel bad now that the chance of Genesis getting recognized by Yumi is zeroed after knowing her situation. Lost on what to do next, their thoughts were interrupted by Yumi's calm and collected voice.

"Is there a cure or treatment for it?"

Dr. Rivas sighed and shake his head. Feeling bad to the girl in front of him. "Unfortunately, there's no cure or treatment for prosopagnosia. But you can learn ways of remembering people. You can jot down clues like color of their hair, the way they clothes, they walk and their voices. That's the only way for you to recognize them."

Yumi sighed in defeat as if she accepted her fate already but what surprised Zeus is the way she smiled after hearing everything. It's so pure and there's a ray of hope on it as if her condition is not so bad after all. As if it's just a certain sickness that will heal through time.

"How come you can still smile like that in your condition?" Zeus asked in curiosity. He thought that if he's in her situation, he might freaked out but she's too calm.

"If I cry, will it change every thing?" She asked with a genuine smile on her face. "I'm okay. At least I'm still alive. I just can't recognize faces, but it doesn't mean that I can't do the things I love to do. I won't die just because I couldn't recognize faces. I've been through a lot of hardships, this is nothing. So I'm okay. I'm okay." She assured them before excusing herself when her phone rings.

Zeus admire her for being so strong and optimistic even after knowing things like that. Wishing he has the same outlook in life so it'll be easier for him to accept things. But having a reputation to protect, he can't be as positive as her. He couldn't just accept the fact that he has someone inside him taking over his life whenever there's a chance and destroying everything he worked for.

"What's your plan now?" Stephen asked after a few minutes of silence.

Zeus shrugged his shoulders and sigh in relief. "Did you do a background check on her?"

"Well yeah but you don't have to be so fixated on her case. As she said, she's fine so let me handle this from here. It's already a good thing for us that she won't recognize you if ever you got switched by your alters. So don't poke your nose to her business further. Remember what Dr. Sy told you earlier, as much as possible stay away from her. She's just a stranger that Genesis happened to help, Zeus. She's not your responsibility." Stephen said that silenced Zeus.

Stephen has a point. That it wasn't really his business to help her further more. But he can't understand why a part of his heart aches for her. A part of him wanted to just hold her hand to make her feel that she's not alone.

Was it mine, or his? He thought that remained unanswered. But at the back of his mind, he felt that he had that kind of urge before, to protect someone but can't tell who as if someone is blocking it not giving access to the past he has forgotten.

---

Mayumi sighed for the nth time after talking to her best friend on the phone and told her to come and pick her up. After hearing her condition she doesn't know if she'll be more relieved or scared on what will happen to her from now on.

Relieved, cause it'll be easier for her now to ignore those unwanted people in her life. And Afraid, cause she might lose the people she cared for. And additional to that is to where she'll go from here.

She can't go home now that she disobeyed his step-brother. For sure Ylac is looking for her now like a madman base on how many missed calls and take messages he got from him, telling her he'll kill her once he got his hands on her. And she's too afraid to go to school cause he might be there waiting for her. Yumi is more afraid being caught by Ylac now rather than being seen by Ezekiel.

You won't recognize them anyway. So what's the point of being afraid. A wry smile formed her lips at the thought.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Trying to remember the faces of the people she knew and smiled. It seems that all she can do now is to recall them on her mind but once she opened her eyes, even if she sees them, they will be a total stranger cause she won't recognize them. Just like how the man standing in front of her now that if not for the clothes he's wearing she won't recognize that it's Zeus.

"Did you call your family or relatives other than your brother?" Yumi shook her head lightly and smiled sadly for the first time.

Realizing that she doesn't have family to tell her troubles with, feels sadder than knowing that she couldn't recognize faces ever again.

"I don't know how to contact my mom and I don't have any other relatives other than my brother. But I'm sure he won't give a damn on my condition so let's exclude him." She answered trying to hide the sadness in her voice but failed.

Mayumi felt lost at the thought of having no one by her side to depend with a lot of her so called friends left after she was branded as a gold digger's daughter when her mom, Luisiana took everything from Ylac's family that caused the latter's dad took suicide and made her kind-loving step-brother turned into a monster. That's why she can't blame him for doing all those stuffs to her. Yumi took every punches, kicks, humiliations that Ylac gave to her in place of her mother. She can't even hate him after learning about her condition. Because deep in her heart, she knew that he wasn't really bad to the roots.

"What's your plan now? Do you have any place you can stay for a while?" Zeus asked after a short moment of silence. But before she could even react, a familiar voice interrupted them by calling her name.

"Yumi!" A brunette woman on her twenties rushed to where they are with a worried look on her face.

Yumi knew that it's her best friend, Marionne because of her voice and the color of her hair but failed to recognize her immediately even though she already saw her before she even called her name.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I've been going back and fort in this area but you didn't even call me when you saw me! And what kind of accident you got into? You almost get me a heart attack when you texted me earlier that you got into an accident!" Marionne said angrily not even giving a damn to the guy next to her and just keep on checking her wounds and bruises. "Damn it! You lied to me, aren't you? This is your son of a bitch step-brother's doing, isn't it? Damn that bastard! Where is he? I'll sue that step-brother of yours and you're not going to say no!" Marionne continued nagging in rage when she saw Yumi's wounds on bruises not only on her face but also all over her body.

Mayumi managed to plastered a honest smile after hearing her best friend nags. She realized that she's not really alone, that in the middle of all the chaos there's her best friend. Having those thoughts her hazel eyes clouded in tears of happiness and hugged her best friend tightly. Marionne is one of those people who stayed with her not giving a damn on what her mother did and always tell her that she and her mother are two different individuals.

Marionne's expression softens as she tap Yumi's back to comfort her. "I told you to live with me and leave that bastard's house if you don't have anywhere to go. I know you're so kind-hearted that you can't leave that bastard Ylac after all the things he did to you but Yumi it's not your fault to begin with. It was your mom who did wrong, and it was Ylac's dad choice to kill himself. Until when are you going to be like this huh?" She said in now soft and calm tone.

Zeus excused himself quietly letting the two women to talk privately. As much as he wanted to stay, he knew that he's not needed there anymore. Even though he feels crap when he heard their conversations, upon knowing her situation, he knew himself that he can't do anything for her. Cause even him, he can't do anything about his situation. That he's as helpless as she is.

She's just a stranger that Genesis happened to help.

Stay away from her, she's mine.

As he leaves the hospital, he remembered Stephen's words and the note Genesis left for him, makes him realize the big difference he has with his alter. And the fact that it was Genesis who saved Yumi that night but it was him who took the credits for it, left a bad taste on his mouth.