Chapter Three

CHARLOTTE STRUGGLEDto keep her face impassive as she saw Sano head back to their table with their drinks. When he had first introduced himself, she hadn"t really cared to pay much attention to his looks. As far as she was concerned, no one would compare to her husband.

But because this time was different...

Hmm.

He didn"t look like Land at all. Her husband was tall, dark, and ruggedly handsome while Sano, albeit also tall and deeply tanned, had features that were somewhat more...patrician. And right now, said features were currently attracting a lot of attention from the opposite sex.

Hmph!

Sano caught her staring, and his lips curved into a grin that had her scowling in return. He kept his gaze on her as he walked, but Charlotte wasn"t letting him fool her just like that. He was acting like having all of the girls in the cafe ogling him meant nothing, but what if it was just an act?

She might have accepted that this was a sign from God, but what that sign exactly meant, she still needed to figure out—-what in the world?

Charlotte sputtered in shock as Sano squeezed himself next to her on the couch instead of taking the seat across. She was about to elbow him away, and as hard as she could, too, when his arm suddenly went around her, and he whispered into her ear, "Remember what we did in Paris?"

Oh my God, not that again.

But it was an effective threat nonetheless, and Charlotte could only tense up as Sano pulled her even closer. He was about the same height as Land, and the same build, and so it felt painfully familiar as Sano"s arms wrapped around her waist.

This was how her husband liked to tease her, too. He had never been the affectionate type, not even with his own sister, whom everyone knew he secretly enjoyed spoiling. But ever since he and Charlotte started dating, he had turned himself into the world"s clingiest husband, and purely for the sake of annoying her to death.

Such memories used to be bittersweet for her to recall, but now...

Sano didn"t seem surprised when she suddenly jerked away, and it was Charlotte who was instead startled when she turned her gaze to his. He was staring at her like he was remembering the exact same thing, staring at her like he was hurting the same way she was hurting, and although she knew it was impossible, knew that it could be nothing but impossible—-

"How?" Charlotte whispered. "How can something like this happen?"

His lips twisted, and this, too, was so, so much like Land that it made her heart race and ache at the same time.

"I think I was three when my parents started taking me to all sorts of doctors. Neurologists. Pediatricians. Psychologists. Psychiatrists. They were genuinely worried about me. They wanted to know why I was so quiet, and why I didn"t seem inclined to play with toys or other kids. But every test they made me take came back fine. There was nothing wrong with me. I was just...odd."

The wealth of emotion in that one word made Charlotte curl her fists. She had the craziest urge to wrap her arms around him, but fear of the unknown held her back. She wanted him to be who she thought he was. But she still needed to hear more.

"I was seven when it first happened. A woman had come to our school, and I just ran to her and hugged her. She was shocked, of course. But she was nice about it, since I was just a kid. I only recently found out that lady was my aunt—-"

Charlotte could feel herself paling. "Are you talking about—-"

"Aunt Thelma."

Oh God.

Thelma was the younger sister of Land"s dad, and the older woman had still been in her late teens when she left the ranches of Texas for the snowy mountains of Niseko upon marrying a Japanese businessman.

"But since I didn"t know that then, it freaked me out. And after that, countless other odd things had followed. I"d be humming a song while I"m doing my homework, and my parents would freak out because as far as they knew, I had never heard any of Debbie Gibson"s songs. When we had our first vacation in America, I insisted on taking them to this shawarma stand in New York, and when they asked me how I knew of it, I didn"t know what to say either."

Charlotte fought to keep her hands from shaking as she slowly reached for her coffee. It probably wasn"t a good idea to take even a sip with the way her heart was already pounding, but she just needed something to do to calm herself.

Everything Sano was telling her was about her. About them. She had been a huge (secret) fan of Debbie Gibson ever since she was a kid, and it was on their first trip to NYC that they had come across the shawarma stand he was talking about.

But for him to remember such things when he was still a kid—-

How could that be possible?

How could Sano "remember" such things that were happening in real time, and she and Landon had still been together?

"By the time I hit my teens, I was the one pushing my parents to find more doctors for me to see. I was tired of questioning my sanity, of feeling like my whole life was this endless chain of déjà vu. Throughout the day, no matter what I did or who I was with, I would feel strangely...incomplete. And when I hit eighteen—-"

Charlotte"s fingers started shaking so badly she was forced to place her cup back down. Sano at eighteen was ten years ago, which was the same year Landon...went away.

"That was when I started dreaming of you."

Charlotte"s breath caught.

"But of course, I didn"t know who you were at that time. And the dreams were hard for me to remember completely every time I woke up. I"d only remember snatches, and they were never enough to help me find you. We never spoke either. It was always like I was watching you from a distance. There were times I"d dream of you as a girl, and you were excitedly opening your bento box for lunch. Other times I"d dream of you as a woman, and you"d be at our front door, just standing there. Crying."

Charlotte stared hard at her barely-drank cup of coffee. She might be crying in his dreams, but she was not going to cry now. You got that, Charlotte? No crying in public!

"It pains me to admit this now, but you turned out to be my tipping point. All the other crazy stuff I could handle, but every time I dreamt of you, it just messed me up. I didn"t even know if you were real or if I had lost my mind. And when none of the doctors could still find anything wrong with me, I was at the end of my tether and I knew I had to make a decision."

Charlotte had a feeling she already knew what that decision was, but even so—-

"I told myself I"d get on with my life, and to stop giving a fuck no matter how much crazy shit happened around me. If there was a person who looked familiar, I"d tell myself I was imagining things and move on. If there was a place that seemed like I had already visited before, I"d avoid it and go somewhere else. And if there was a night that I still dreamt of you, I would..."

His lips tightened, and the sight of it made her own chest tighten as well. There it was, Charlotte thought numbly. She had a feeling his decision would lead to...that. And so it had.

"I"m sorry, Charles."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." And he didn"t. He truly didn"t. Only someone unreasonable would"ve expected Sano to stay faithful to a girl in his dreams, and she was not unreasonable. At the moment.

Sano was looking at her knowingly. "I have a feeling you"ll still make me pay for it."

"Of course not!" But Charlotte also quickly changed the subject, asking, "When did it all start making sense?"

"The first of March."

Charlotte"s head was spinning again. Since that was when Philippe and Cha-Cha had their wedding, could Sano truly be God"s answer to her prayers?

"I didn"t dream of you the night before, but when I woke up that day, it was as if some veil had been lifted, and all of my memories were suddenly there for me to remember. And I remembered everything. All at once. I remembered every little thing about you, about our lives, and that was when I knew I had been Landon all along."

Hearing Sano refer to himself as Landon made Charlotte feel as if her whole world was crashing down on her. She wanted to believe him. She really wanted to, but—-

"You told me you remembered things as a boy," she whispered shakily. "But Landon and I were still together that time. So you weren"t really remembering things, but you were seeing what Landon and I were doing—-"

"I know."

"Then what does that make you?" Charlotte asked unevenly. "His doppelg?nger?"

"I suppose that"s one word for it, but it"s more complex than that. A doppelg?nger typically implies one looking exactly the same as the other, but that"s not true in this case, is it?"

Charlotte shook her head.

"I"ve thought about this a lot," Sano said quietly, "and the only explanation that made sense and felt right to me was that somehow, and for reasons only God would know...a fraction of my soul - of Landon"s soul - went in this body, and that was why I had always felt incomplete my entire life. It was as if my whole life, I was waiting for me to be complete...again. And that was how it felt, when I remembered you. Just like you were my tipping point in the past, you were my catalyst now because... "

A moment later, his eyes started to gleam, and Charlotte knew exactly what he was thinking.

"I know you want to say it, Charles."

Charlotte immediately lifted her chin. "I have no idea what you"re talking about." And she did not. She so did not!

"I know you, Charles. I know you"re dying to say it."

Charlotte was fighting against the urge to squirm.

"This is your chance to say a cheesy line in real life. A chance to turn your life into one of those rom-coms you love watching over and over."

Jerk!

This man was such a jerk, to use her love for rom-coms against her like this.

"Should I say it again, my Charles?"

"No!" Yes, yes, yes oh please!

He cupped her face, and it was all she could do not to swoon.

"When I woke up that day..."

Charlotte was squirming in her efforts to resist—-

"I remembered everything..."

But the temptation was just too much—-

"Because I complete you."

The words had flown out of her mouth all of her own, and Charlotte was all at once mortified. All she could do at that point was wait helplessly for the inevitable, which was for Sano to laugh at her for falling for his trap and for being so cheesy even at her age.

But instead—-

"Exactly, Charles. Exactly. You complete me because—-"

His thumb rubbed over her lips, and Charlotte froze. Land used to do that, too. And every time he would do so, he would say afterwards—-

"I love you."

Oh God.

Sano frowned. "Charles?"

Her throat felt so tight.

"Shit." Sano was suddenly gripping her shoulders. "Breathe, dammit. Breathe, Charles!"

It was only at that point did she realize that she had been holding her breath all that time, and Charlotte"s body sagged as her lips finally parted, and pent-up air whooshed out of her mouth.

"There you go."

Sano"s voice was strained, his expression relieved. He was very much acting like a concerned husband, but could she really let herself believe the impossible?

She watched him leave the table to get her a glass of water, and she saw the way all the other girls in the cafe followed him with their eyes. More and more, she could see now how gorgeous he was, but...

Sano caught her staring at him again, and Charlotte quickly turned away as she felt her cheeks turn red. Sheesh. She couldn"t even remember the last time she had blushed like this. Will you please remember to act your age, Charlotte Carmichaels?

"Drink this."

She muttered her thanks as she accepted the glass of water.

Sano took the glass from her when she finished. "Better?"

"Somewhat."

He frowned. "How are you feeling?"

"Crazy?"

"It will pass."

Charlotte almost choked. "You"re supposed to tell me I"m not."

"If I did that, I"d be lying."

And Land had never lied to her, ever.

"It"s just so hard to make myself believe," Charlotte said jerkily.

"Why should it?" Sano asked with such calmness it almost made her feel like she really was crazy, for even daring to question him. "Didn"t I promise I"d find a way to always be with you?"

Oh God.

"Do you remember, Charles? When I made that promise twenty years ago?"

Charlotte could no longer speak.

"And do you remember what I told you, when you asked me how you would know if it was really me?"

Charlotte didn"t even think.

As soon as she heard Sano speak such words, she was out of the cafe in a flash, her mind and heart in so much turmoil she felt like she was one breath away from having a panic attack. She knew running away from something she felt ill-prepared to handle wasn"t the most mature thing to do, but she couldn"t help it.

Running away was one of her few bad habits in life, and more to the point, it only showed up where Landon - who was supposedly now back in her life as Sano - was concerned. There was just something about him that made her forget all of her common sense, and it pained her to realize that twenty years hadn"t changed anything.

She knew, of course, what Landon had been talking about, and it was precisely because she remembered exactly what he had said that night which made her panic.

You"ll know it"s me...the moment I kiss you.

It was one of the most romantic lines her husband had ever said to her, and for someone who loved the cheesiest lines like she did, it would have been more possible for her to shed the memory of her own name than forget such lovely words. Then and now, Charlotte believed him, and that was why...

I just don"t know what the right thing to do is, God.

Charlotte tried to distract herself by walking even faster, but it was no use. Even though she couldn"t quite make herself admit this out loud, Charlotte knew in her heart that she already believed Sano was both himself and Landon...and had always been so. The idea might seem crazier than time travel and multiverses, but Charlotte would willingly stake her life on it. Sano was Landon. That much was clear to her now. However, it was one thing to believe, and another thing to act on such beliefs.

She had always been the calm and sensible type, but now she felt anxious and torn, and it almost had Charlotte wishing Landon had simply returned to her as a ghost. At least then, her husband would still look himself, and she would never have hesitated to welcome him with open arms. But for Landon to come back in another"s body, and with Charlotte also knowing that same body had been intimate with other women—-

"Found you."

Charlotte jumped in shock as Sano captured her hand from behind, and she found herself suddenly walking by his side.

"I"m sorry, Charles."

The gentleness in his voice made her feel guilty. "I"m sorry, too—-"

"I should"ve known better."

"It"s not your fau—-"

"I should"ve just kissed you straight up so you"d remember how much you love my mouth."

Charlotte automatically elbowed him hard, but this only had him grinning. Jerk!

"Well, technically, it"s not the same mouth, but it is still me, so the result should be no different. You"ll still beg for my kisses—-"

Oh! My! God!

"Will you please shut up?" She tried shoving him away, but it was like shoving off a brick wall.

"Don"t tell me you"ve forgotten all about it."

No, she absolutely had not forgotten a thing, and it was why her face was now burning in embarrassment.

"It was the only thing I looked forward to, every time I had to leave you for a job. I loved how you"d do everything just to keep me from getting out of our bed. One more kiss. Please, Land. One last f—-"

"I remember," she nearly yelled. "I totally remember everything, so can you please shut up?"

"I"d gladly do so, but..." He suddenly stopped walking, and Charlotte"s steps came to an abrupt halt as well. "We"re already here."