Katherine's pov
I was furious seeing my changed face. I was screaming at the top of my lungs and wasn't listening to anyone.
After all, this wasn't a small matter — a person's face is their identity and I had just lost mine.
I started throwing everything around that was within my reach. Seeing my rage, even the nurses were scared to go near me.
But Mrs. Elea Harrington gathered the courage and approached me, but seeing her come closer, I shouted,
"Stay away! Don't try to come near me!"
Mrs. Elea Harrington tried to explain, "Calm down… calm down, sweetheart… We are not your enemies. Please pull yourself together and then we'll explain everything to you."
"Who are you people?? And what do you want from me?? What have you done to me?? Whose face is this???? Who am I??????"
I kept asking one question after another, but since no one answered, I suddenly went quiet.
For a while, the room was filled with silence. Then breaking that silence, Mrs. Elea Harrington got very emotional and said,
"This face… this belongs to our daughter… our Rosie Kate…"
That was all it took for Mrs. Harrington to start crying; she couldn't stop herself.
But hearing that, I had calmed down to some extent, though I still couldn't understand what was happening.
I'm kate too…my loved once called me kate. But this Rosie kate… who is she??? Do I know her??
Seeing me confused, Mr. Harrington, who was holding Mrs. Harrington, went over to me and explained everything to me.
"You don't know her. Rosie… our dearest, our only granddaughter… her name was Rosie Harrington. We call her kate with love And this is her face."
I thought for a moment and then asked,
"But why do I have her face? What happened to her??"
This time, the doctor stepped forward and explained everything to me.
"Look Katherine, don't strain your mind too much… this level of stress isn't good for your health. And about them — these are Mr. and Mrs. Harrington.
They live in Australia. Their granddaughter Rosie was studying here in London. But just three days ago, she passed away in an accident… they had come to London for her… and that's when they found you unconscious on the roadside. Your condition was extremely critical, so they immediately brought you to the hospital. Mr. Harrington didn't want to go to the police without understanding your full situation, so nobody informed the authorities, which made it difficult to trace your family.
Since then, these two have been taking care of you and anxiously waiting for you to regain consciousness."
Hearing the doctor's words, I was calm now. But my questions weren't over. I was just about to ask something when the doctor stopped me and said,
"I know what you want to ask. You want to know why you were given Rosie's face. The reason lies in what happened to you… look, only you know what happened to you… but whatever it was, it was horrific. Half your face was burnt, and there were multiple injuries. Saving you was incredibly difficult and the chances of surviving with that face were very slim…"
Then the doctor took a deep breath and said,
"Now you must have understood clearly why the face transplant was done… and whose face you now have."
After hearing the full explanation from the doctor, I finally understood what had happened to me.
But when the doctor said that half my face was burnt, I was reminded of the incident that occurred three days ago.
Just thinking about it made me shiver, because the wounds weren't just on my body — my heart had also been severely hurt.
Seeing me so terrified, Mrs. Harrington came and sat beside me and gently asked,
"What is it, sweetheart?? What are you thinking about that's scaring you so much??"
Doctor also asked,
"I know that asking this question at this moment might not be right… but today, after so many days, you finally seem stable. I wouldn't have asked this under any other circumstances, but it's important for all of us to know… what exactly happened to you??"
Hearing the doctor's words, I said nothing.
So Mr. Ryle Harrington says,
"Look dear, there's absolutely no need for you to be scared... you can openly share everything with us, your safety is completely my responsibility... You are completely safe right now, no one can harm you here... And whoever did something so wrong with you, I will make sure they get punished for it... but for that, you'll have to tell us everything."
But still, I doesn't say a word and tears start rolling down my cheeks. So Mrs. Elea immediately gets up and says,
"That's enough... No one will ask Katherine any more questions... She needs rest."
Everyone agrees with her.
Mr. Ryle Harrington also said,
"Alright dear, you take rest for now... But can you share your family's number or address with us? So we can contact them and inform them about you... You've been here for three days, they must be really worried."
I suddenly gets scared and shakes my head in denial,
"No... no... there's no need..."
Mrs. Elea was confused,
"But why?? What happened? Who's at your home?"
"N-no one... I'm an orphan."
Mrs. Elea gently strokes her head and says,
"I'm sorry dear, we didn't know... You just rest now... Don't think too much, everything will be fine."
Then Mr. Ryle folds his hands apologetically and says,
"And yes, we had your face reconstructed without asking you first. We're really sorry for that... but we—"
But I paused him,
"No, uncle... please don't apologize... In fact, I want to thank you both for saving my life... and I'm truly sorry for what happened with your granddaughter, Rosie."
Mrs. Elea and Mr. Ryle don't say anything and ask me to rest before leaving the room.
Outside, they speak with the doctor.
Author's pov
Doctor said,
"So, what do you want to do now, Mr. Harrington? The girl hasn't told us anything about herself... not even what happened to her."
So Mr. Ryle said,
"She's extremely scared, she can't even trust us yet... we need to give her some time. Meanwhile, I've got my men looking into her past... We'll find out something very soon."
"But sir, what if this girl really is an orphan?"
So Mrs. Elea wipes her tears and says,
"Then I'll take her home with me... I'll raise her like my own daughter, and love her as much as I loved our Rosie."
The doctor and Mr. Ryle both look at her in shock.
"But ma'am, you can't just take an unknown girl home like that... You don't even know anything about her."
Mr. Ryle also supported doctor,
"Yes Elea, he's right... We can't make such a big decision so quickly."
"Why not, Ryle??? Didn't you see her? Her face reminds me of Rosie again and again... She was our only reason to live... and even God took her away from us. But now, when we've been given another daughter in return, why do you want to reject her??"
"I understand your feelings, but... we need to know who Katherine really is and what happened to her. We can decide anything only after we have all the information... and we also need to ask Katherine if she even wants to live with us."
"Alright, we'll talk to her again when she feels better."
After the doctor leaves, Mr. Ryle makes a call from his phone,
"Hello Dave... I'm sending you a picture of a girl. I need every bit of information about her as soon as possible... It's urgent, alright?"
"Okay sir, I'll get on it right away." Then Mr. Ryle ends the call.
But as soon as Dave sees the photo, he immediately calls back.
"Sir... this girl's face..."
"I know... But this is the only photo we have, her name is Katherine, that's all we know."
Mr. Ryle had sent a photo of Katherine before the face transplant. There was no other image of her left now and her face had changed completely.
"Alright sir, I'll look into it... But..."
"But what?"
"It's just... don't you think her face looks a little bit like Miss Rosie's... Sorry sir, maybe I'm just mistaken since her face was badly burnt."
Mr. Ryle doesn't respond and Dave quietly gets back to his work.
When Mr. Ryle looks at Mrs. Elea, there are tears in her eyes,
"See... Even Dave sees what I've been saying all along. Katherine's real face looked a lot like our Rosie's... Otherwise, why would he mention Rosie while looking at her photo? This can't just be coincidence... It's possible that—"
Mr. Ryle stopped her in between,
"It's possible that it's just a coincidence, nothing more... Please calm down, Elea... I understand how you feel... I miss Rosie terribly too, but we can't just make assumptions."
"But isn't it also possible that Rosie and Katherine are somehow connected... something we don't know yet?"
"How is that possible?? Rosie grew up in front of our eyes. We know every single detail about her." Mr. Ryle is confused.
"But—"
Mr. Ryle was tired now,
"Enough now... no more discussion about this. Not until Dave finds out everything. And please stop overthinking."
Mrs. Elea says nothing and walks away. But neither of them had any peace.
When they first saw Katherine, even for a second, they thought she was Rosie. But soon they realized she wasn't.
Meanwhile, Katherine was sitting on her hospital bed, lost in thoughts.
The nurse asked her twice how she was feeling, but she didn't respond, completely absorbed in her own world.
So the nurse decided not to disturb her and quietly left the room. Katherine began remembering her past.
Flashback,
Katherine's pov
One year ago—
I'm Katherine, 21-year-old lively and cheerful girl, fair-skinned with deep blue eyes...people says my eyes were my most beautiful feature—enough to leave anyone mesmerized.
My father was a businessman, but a few years ago, my parents died in a car accident. Since then, I had been living with my grandfather.
I also had a younger brother, "Ayan." My grandfather took care of both of us. But the trauma of losing our parents hit Ayan really hard—he completely stopped mingling with people. He only spoke to me and grandfather. I was shattered too, but I gathered myself for Ayan's sake.
Ayan's academics were also affected, so I and our grandfather decided to send him to a boarding school. I often visited him with my grandpa and slowly, Ayan started improving in his studies.
I was pursuing my MBA in a college in London City. I wanted to start my own business. Until college, I didn't have many friends, but there I made two close friends—Rachel and Nora. I mostly spent my time with them.
Days passed like that, and I was fully immersed in my studies because for me, that was my everything now.
And then, one day, my Prince Charming entered my life—Kieran.
To be continued...