Ethan Foster almost managed to squeeze out his own tears.

—Was he perhaps one of the rare people tough enough to make himself cry?

【This isn’t a dream?】

Ethan Foster slowly loosened his fingers and gently blew on the reddened brachioradialis of his left hand.

The burning pain and swelling were the brachioradialis silently rebuking its owner’s ruthlessness, cruelty, and unreasonable behavior.

This pain sent feedback to his brain, forcing it to start accepting reality.

【This kind of pain can’t exist in a dream.】

If this isn’t a dream, then what’s going on with me?

Did I really lose my memory?

Ethan Foster looked up at the ceiling and started spacing out.

He stayed dazed like that for over an hour.

During that time, he vaguely heard the sounds of his ‘wife’ busy in the kitchen, and after a long while, heard her leave and lock the door.

Over an hour later, the hunger in his stomach called Ethan Foster back from his daze.

He sat up from the bed.

During that hour, his brain kept running through the process of 【accepting reality, crashing, rebooting, accepting reality】.

Using this almost violent method, Ethan Foster tried hard to steady his mindset, forcing himself to accept the fact that he’d ‘blacked out and jumped three years ahead.’

Ethan Foster wasn’t the type to avoid reality.

By nature, he was positive and optimistic.

When faced with a problem, he’d try to solve it, not get rid of the person who raised it.

The blackout had already happened, so any melodramatic thoughts were pointless.

Complaining about fate or others was meaningless.

—Besides, from the looks of it, his life three years later was pretty good, nothing to complain about.

Now, what he needed to do was, after accepting reality, to look for opportunities to figure out why he’d ‘blacked out’ and find the cause.

If possible, he’d try to recover the memories from those ‘three years.’

In the era of big data, a full three years’ worth of information was incredibly valuable.

In the worst case, if there was no way to recover his memory, he’d have to at least get a general grasp of what happened during those three years, so that the blank wouldn’t affect his future life.

People, after all, have to look forward.

……

Maybe it was because his body was stronger three years later, and his heart had toughened up too, that he could accept things with a bigger heart.

After figuring things out, Ethan Foster got out of bed and, with hands both unfamiliar and accustomed, took clothes from the rack and put them on.

【Since this isn’t a dream, there are some things I have to pay attention to.】 He started thinking about some details.

First, he had to ‘remember’ his wife’s name through some external means.

He absolutely couldn’t slip up on this point.

If a man can’t even remember his own wife’s name, it could be fatal.

Also, what was his job, how did he make money to support his family—he needed to figure all that out.

From now on, he had to provide for his family; living off his wife was not something he’d even consider.

—Maybe it was because, before the blackout, Ethan Foster had thought about the story of 《Ethan Foster的人生》, so all the details and aspects of life he needed to pay attention to started lining up in his mind, forming a checklist.

“If I want to know her name…” Ethan Foster took out his phone and pulled up his long contact list.

Her number and name should be in here, right?

At first glance, opening the contacts, he found his ‘wife’s’ number.

Because at the very top of the list, there were several pinned numbers.

Wife, Dad, Mom…

While brushing his teeth, Ethan Foster rubbed his temples, the buzzing of the electric toothbrush making his skull vibrate in resonance.

Yeah, simple and clear—he recognized his wife’s number at a glance.

But there was no name attached.

“Seriously, couldn’t I have just put my wife’s name here?” Ethan Foster looked at the mirror, troubled.

Men, you really should save your wife’s name in your phone. That way, if you ever lose your memory, you won’t have to worry about forgetting her name.

Never trust your memory too much… a dull pencil is better than a sharp mind.

He kept scrolling through the contacts, seeing many familiar names—college dorm friends, close classmates, and relatives.

There were also some unfamiliar numbers, probably people he’d added during the ‘three years of amnesia.’

Scrolling, Ethan Foster came across a number labeled ‘manga editor Mason Reed’, and when he tapped it, he found that the call frequency between them was quite high.

And most of the calls were from the other party to him.

“……” Ethan Foster’s toothbrushing paused again.

Manga editor?

“Did I become a manga artist after blacking out for three years? But that’s not what I studied in college.” Ethan Foster felt his scalp start to heat up again, as if the steam from boiling brain matter was about to blow the top of his head off.

Granted, most students don’t rely on their college major for a living after graduation… but his major and drawing were worlds apart.

He studied finance…

As for ‘drawing manga,’ he didn’t know the first thing about it—at most, he could doodle a simple cat, dog, or maybe a pig.