Noah’s POV

As I slowly opened my eyes, the harsh hospital lights immediately attacked them.

Seriously, who invented hospital lights? Were they trying to heal patients or interrogate criminals?

Voices echoed around me, muffled and unclear, making my already pounding head hurt even more.

“Noah.”

I turned toward the strangely familiar voice and found a man standing beside my bed.

Tall.

Broad shoulders.

Sharp jawline.

Annoyingly handsome.

Unfortunately… I had absolutely no idea who he was.

“Who are you?” I asked weakly.

The question made him freeze.

A visible frown immediately appeared on his forehead.

“What do you mean, who am I?”

Well, excuse me for not memorizing the face of every attractive stranger on earth.

I squinted at him more carefully.

He looked familiar… very familiar actually. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t place him.

“I’m Noah…” I dragged slowly, waiting for him to introduce himself.

And while waiting, my brain unfortunately decided this was the perfect time to notice how good-looking he was.

Like seriously unfair-looking.

I wondered briefly what his abs looked like under his shirt before mentally slapping myself.

Focus, Noah. You are literally in a hospital bed.

Then he dropped the biggest bomb of the century.

“It’s me. Ethan. Ethan Vale.”

I blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Hold on.

Ethan Vale?

THE Ethan Vale?

No way.

I mean… now that I looked closely, he did resemble Ethan. Same eyes. Same annoying serious expression. But this version looked older. Taller too. More mature.

Which honestly felt illegal.

“If you’re Ethan,” I started carefully, “why do you look like… this?”

His eyebrows furrowed. “Like what?”

“Older,” I said immediately. “And more mature.”

“This is how I’ve always looked.”

I stared at him in disbelief.

“No. People don’t age overnight.”

Wait.

Why was I even arguing with him?

This idiot was the reason I was in the hospital in the first place.

“You know what?” I snapped suddenly. “You’re the reason I’m here! Why would you tell me to meet you after school?”

Ethan’s entire expression changed.

“What do you mean after school?”

“Yes, after school!” I repeated. “You literally texted me saying it was important. Then I got hit by a car because your dramatic ass couldn’t wait until morning.”

Okay… maybe I was being slightly dramatic.

But in my defense, I was currently wearing a hospital gown that exposed my dignity to the public.

Ethan stared at me like I had personally offended his ancestors.

Then his face slowly lost color.

“Noah…” he said carefully. “What year do you think it is?”

I blinked at him.

What kind of stupid question was that?

“2016,” I answered immediately. “Obviously.”

The silence afterward felt wrong.

Heavy.

Uncomfortable.

Ethan looked away first, running a hand through his hair like he was stressed out of his mind.

Before I could question him further, the hospital room door suddenly opened.

A doctor walked in with two nurses following closely behind.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” the doctor said quickly while flipping through a file.

“Unfortunately,” I muttered under my breath.

One of the nurses snorted before pretending to cough.

At least someone here appreciated my suffering.

The doctor stepped closer to my bed.

“Noah, I need you to stay calm while I ask a few questions.”

That sentence alone guaranteed I would not stay calm.

“Why is everyone acting weird?” I asked suspiciously. “And why does Ethan look like he’s about to faint? Did he finally fail a math test?”

Ethan rubbed his face tiredly.

Wow.

Even exhausted he still looked annoyingly handsome.

Life truly had favorites.

The doctor ignored my question completely. Rude.

“How old are you, Noah?”

“Twenty.”

The doctor nodded slowly before exchanging a glance with Ethan.

I didn’t like that glance.

Not one bit.

“And what’s the last thing you remember before the accident?”

“I was on my way to meet Ethan after class because apparently he enjoys ruining my life both academically and physically.”

Silence.

Again.

Honestly, these people needed hobbies.

Then the doctor finally sighed.

“Noah… you were only unconscious for three days.”

“Okay?”

“But based on your responses…” He hesitated briefly. “You appear to have lost approximately ten years of your memory.”

I laughed immediately.

Because obviously that was impossible.

A ridiculous joke.

A terrible joke, honestly.

But nobody else laughed.

Not the doctor.

Not the nurses.

Not Ethan.

And suddenly…

I didn’t feel like laughing anymore.

Noah’s POV

Ten years.

That number still refused to make sense in my head.

It kept echoing like an annoying alarm that wouldn’t stop ringing no matter how many times I told it to shut up.

Ten years meant I should be thirty.

But I didn’t feel thirty.

I still felt like the same guy who once tried to microwave metal just to see if the “warning signs were serious.” (They were.)

The hospital room felt too quiet now. Even the machines beside my bed sounded louder than usual, like they were judging me.

Ethan was still standing near the window.

Not moving.

Not speaking.

Just… there.

Like a problem I didn’t know how to solve anymore.

And honestly? That was worse than him arguing with me.

Because Ethan Vale arguing was normal.

Ethan Vale being silent felt like something had gone very, very wrong.

My head throbbed again, and suddenly memories started pushing through the fog.

Not the present.

The past.

Uninvited.

Back when Ethan and I were kids.

Back when life was simple and my biggest problem was deciding which snack to steal from his lunchbox.

We used to be inseparable.

The kind of inseparable that annoyed teachers and confused adults.

If I got into trouble, Ethan was right there beside me, sighing like I was a full-time job he never applied for.

“You’re going to break your neck one day,” he once told me when I tried to jump off the school wall.

“And you’re going to miss me when I’m gone,” I replied confidently.

He did not miss me when I nearly broke my neck.

But he did carry me to the nurse’s office while complaining the entire way.

That was Ethan.

Always complaining.

Always showing up anyway.

Then high school happened.

And everything started changing.

Ethan got popular first.

Too fast.

Too unfairly.

Suddenly girls who used to ignore both of us started asking for his notes, laughing at his words, acting like he was the main character of life.

Meanwhile, I was still trying to survive exams and accidentally setting off fire alarms in chemistry class.

Then came my first girlfriend in high school.

Lina.

She was sweet at first.

At least I thought she was.

Until she started laughing at Ethan’s jokes more than mine.

I noticed.

Of course I noticed.

I wasn’t blind.

Just emotionally dramatic.

And then it happened again.

And again.

Different girls.

Same pattern.

At some point I started to wonder if Ethan was doing it on purpose.

Like some kind of secret mission titled: “Destroy Noah’s Love Life.”

But the worst part?

He never even acted like he cared.

That made it more annoying.

Because how do you compete with someone who isn’t even trying?

Eventually, friendship started turning into tension.

Then tension turned into silence.

And silence turned into distance.

But no matter how far we drifted, Ethan never fully disappeared.

He still showed up when I didn’t expect him to.

Still looked at me like I mattered more than I wanted to admit.

Which was frustrating.

Because I didn’t know whether to hate him or miss him.

Then came that week.

The week everything broke.

I remembered standing outside school, the sky dull and grey, watching Ethan with my girlfriend again.

Something inside me snapped that day.

Not loudly.

Just quietly.

Like a thread finally giving up.

“You know what?” I had said, forcing a laugh. “Let’s just end this.”

Ethan frowned immediately. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m done,” I said.

The words came out sharper than I expected.

“Don’t call me. Don’t text me. Let’s just… stop.”

For once, Ethan didn’t argue.

He just looked at me.

Really looked at me.

Like he was trying to memorize something he already knew he would lose.

That expression stayed with me longer than I wanted it to.

And I hated that.

Because it meant even when I wanted to be angry at him…

Part of me still noticed how he felt.

I cut him off completely after that.

Ignored every message.

Every call.

Every attempt.

Until that night.

The night everything went wrong.

One message.

Please meet me. We need to talk.

I stared at it for a long time.

I should’ve ignored it.

I really should have.

But something about it felt final.

Like if I didn’t go, I would regret it forever.

So I went.

And that was the last thing I remembered before waking up here… in a hospital bed… being told I had somehow lost ten years of my life.

I swallowed hard, my chest tightening.

Ten years.

Somewhere in those missing years…

Everything changed.

And I had no idea what I had just woken up into.

The memories didn’t stop after that.

They never really do, do they?

They just wait.

Like patient little monsters.

The hospital room felt smaller than before, like the walls had moved closer while I wasn’t looking.

Ethan was still there.

Still quiet.

Still not looking at me directly.

And I hated how loud my thoughts had become.

Ten years.

My brain kept repeating it like a broken record.

I needed air.

Real air.

Not hospital air that smelled like disinfectant and bad life decisions.

“I need to go outside,” I said suddenly.

The doctor had left earlier with strict instructions, something about “rest” and “no stress.”

I had already ignored both emotionally.

Ethan finally turned toward me.

“You shouldn’t—”

“I wasn’t asking,” I interrupted.

A pause.

Then, surprisingly, he didn’t argue.

That alone should’ve scared me.

A few minutes later, I found myself on the rooftop of the hospital.

Fresh air hit my face immediately, cold and sharp, but it felt better than the suffocating room downstairs.

The city stretched out in front of me.

Too big.

Too unfamiliar.

Too… different.

Even the sky looked like it had changed without asking for my permission.

I walked closer to the edge carefully, ignoring the faint dizziness in my head.

“Don’t go too close.”

Ethan’s voice came from behind me.

Of course he followed me.

I sighed. “Are you my bodyguard now or something?”

“If I don’t follow you, you’ll probably fall again,” he replied flatly.

“Wow,” I said, turning slightly. “Still as charming as ever, Ethan Vale.”

He didn’t respond.

Instead, he stepped closer and placed something over my shoulders.

I froze.

A shawl.

Warm.

Soft.

Familiar in a way I couldn’t explain.

I looked down at it, then back at him.

“Did you just… shawl me?”

He raised an eyebrow. “It’s cold.”

“I have a hospital gown on,” I pointed out. “I’ve been cold since I woke up. This feels like selective care.”

He ignored that.

Typical.

We stood there for a moment in silence, the wind brushing past us.

For some reason, Ethan looked… tired.

Not the normal tired.

Something deeper.

Like he hadn’t slept properly in a long time.

I didn’t like that.

It was easier when he was just annoying and perfect.

Not… human.

“So,” I said, breaking the silence. “About the whole ‘I lost ten years of my memory and my life is apparently a disaster’ situation…”

Ethan exhaled slowly.

“Noah…”

There it was again.

That tone.

Like he was walking carefully around something fragile.

I turned to face him fully.

“Just say it,” I said. “Whatever it is, just say it. I’ve already accepted that my life is a glitch at this point.”

A pause.

Then he spoke.

“You and I… are together.”

I blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Then I laughed.

Loudly.

Because that was the most ridiculous thing I had heard all day.

“Together?” I repeated. “Like… friends?”

Ethan shook his head slightly.

“No.”

My smile faded a little.

“Like… coworkers?”

“Noah.”

I frowned. “Don’t ‘Noah’ me. Be specific.”

Another pause.

Then, finally, he said it.

“We’re in a relationship.”

Silence.

For a full five seconds, my brain completely stopped working.

Then it rebooted.

And immediately rejected the update.

“No,” I said simply.

Ethan didn’t react.

I laughed again, more nervously this time. “No, that’s not—no. That’s not possible.”

“Yes, it is,” he said quietly.

I shook my head immediately. “No. No, no, no. I would remember that. I would absolutely remember dating you. That’s not something you just forget like—like a password or a Wi-Fi name.”

“You don’t remember,” he said again, softer this time.

I stepped back slightly.

“Okay,” I said slowly, pointing at him. “Let’s assume, hypothetically, that you are telling the truth. Which you’re not. But let’s pretend.”

He waited.

I narrowed my eyes. “Why would I date you?”

That hit him.

I saw it.

Just for a second.

Something flickered across his face.

Before he masked it again.

“You loved me,” he said.

I laughed.

A sharp, disbelieving sound.

“Okay, now I know you’re lying,” I said. “There is absolutely no universe where I willingly—WILLINGLY—fall in love with Ethan Vale.”

A beat.

Then I added, “No offense.”

“…taken,” he muttered.

I turned away, pacing slightly on the rooftop.

“This doesn’t make sense,” I said. “You bullied me emotionally for years. You stole my girlfriends like it was a sport. You stressed me out academically. You ruined my teenage years. And now you’re telling me I decided to date you? On purpose?”

Ethan didn’t speak.

Which was worse.

Because silence from Ethan Vale always meant something serious.

I stopped pacing.

Slowly turned back.

“Ethan…” I said carefully. “Be honest with me.”

He looked at me.

Finally.

Completely.

And said nothing.

That silence felt heavier than everything else.

My chest tightened again.

“No,” I whispered. “No, I don’t believe you.”

I took another step back.

“This is some kind of joke. A very expensive, hospital-level joke.”

Still no answer.

The wind blew harder across the rooftop.

The shawl on my shoulders shifted slightly.

And suddenly I noticed something.

The way Ethan was looking at me.

Not like an enemy.

Not like a friend.

Something worse.

Something softer.

Something that scared me more than anything else today.

I swallowed.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I said quietly.

“Like what?” he asked.

“Like I belong in your life.”

Silence again.

Then he said the words that made my entire world tilt slightly off balance.

“Because you do.”

My breath caught.

And for the first time since I woke up…

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh.

Or run.

Or ask him to explain everything.

But before I could say anything—

Ethan reached into his pocket.

Pulled out his phone.

And showed me something.

A photo.

My hand.

His hand.

Matching rings.

And a caption underneath:

“3 years together. Still mine.”

My mind went completely blank.

“…what the hell is that?”

Noah’s POV

I barely slept that night.

Not because of the hospital bed.

Not because my head still hurt every five business days.

But because my entire life apparently made no sense anymore.

Every time I closed my eyes, I kept seeing flashes.

Tiny broken pieces of memories that disappeared before I could fully understand them.

Ethan smiling.

Rain.

Warm hands.

A voice calling my name softly.

Then that stupid picture of us with matching rings.

I groaned and pulled the blanket over my face.

This had to be some kind of psychological attack.

Because there was absolutely no way twenty-year-old me would willingly fall in love with Ethan Vale.

The same Ethan Vale who stole three girlfriends and most of my remaining sanity.

Impossible.

And yet…

Every time I looked at him, my chest reacted before my brain did.

Which was deeply annoying.

A knock interrupted my suffering.

Before I could answer, the hospital room door suddenly opened.

“NOAH!”

My mother rushed in dramatically like I had returned from war instead of a three-day coma.

“Oh no,” I whispered weakly.

My father followed behind her looking exhausted, while my older brother casually walked in holding coffee like this was a social visit.

And wow.

He looked old.

Actually old.

I stared at him in horror.

“Jae,” I said slowly, “what happened to your face?”

My brother blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You look thirty-five.”

His eye twitched immediately. “I’m thirty-two.”

I gasped loudly. “THIRTY-TWO?!”

“Oh my God,” my mother muttered while covering her face.

I pointed accusingly at my brother. “When did this happen? Last week you were still annoying and youthful.”

“You lost ten years, idiot,” he deadpanned. “Time continued without your permission.”

Rude.

Very rude.

Still… hearing it from family somehow made everything feel more real.

My mother immediately sat beside my bed and grabbed my face dramatically.

“My baby,” she sighed emotionally.

“Mom, I’m literally twenty—”

“You are thirty.”

“I reject that information.”

Jae snorted loudly.

Traitor.

Dad finally stepped forward, relief obvious in his expression despite how calm he tried to look.

“You scared us,” he said quietly.

The guilt hit unexpectedly.

Because suddenly I realized…

While I had only experienced three missing days…

They had experienced ten years with me.

Ten years I couldn’t remember.

The room became quieter after that.

Too quiet.

I hated emotional silence.

So naturally, I ruined it.

“Okay but seriously,” I said, looking at Jae again. “Why do you dress like somebody’s tired accountant now?”

“Because unlike you, some of us pay taxes.”

“That sounds fake.”

My mother laughed softly despite herself while Jae rolled his eyes.

God.

At least some things hadn’t changed.

Then a thought suddenly hit me.

A very important thought.

I sat up straighter immediately.

“Wait,” I said carefully. “What about piano?”

The room froze.

And immediately—

I knew something was wrong.

My stomach tightened.

I looked between them nervously.

“What?” I asked slowly. “What happened?”

Nobody answered immediately.

Which honestly should become illegal.

Finally, Dad sighed quietly.

“The accident ten years ago…” he began carefully, “it caused damage to your wrist.”

I blinked.

Then looked down at my right hand automatically.

No.

No no no.

“That’s not funny,” I said immediately.

“Nobody’s joking,” Jae answered softly this time.

I stared at my hand harder like disappointment alone could fix reality.

“But I practiced every day,” I whispered. “I was preparing for competitions.”

I remembered that clearly.

Piano wasn’t just a hobby.

It was everything.

Every spare second.

Every late-night practice.

Every dream I had for the future.

I swallowed hard.

“So what happened?”

Dad hesitated before answering.

“You tried rehabilitation for years,” he said carefully. “But your wrist never fully recovered.”

The words felt heavy.

Too heavy.

“No…” I whispered.

“You still play sometimes,” Mom said quickly. “Just not professionally.”

Professionally.

The word hurt more than I expected.

Because all my life, that was the plan.

Noah Kim.

Concert pianist.

Not—

“What do I do now?” I asked quietly.

Another silence.

I hated this family tradition.

Jae finally answered.

“You own a café downtown.”

I stared at him blankly.

“…what?”

“You own a café.”

“A café?”

“Yes.”

I blinked repeatedly.

Out of all possible futures…

That was not one I expected.

“I make coffee now?”

“You own the place,” Jae corrected.

“Still feels disrespectful to my artistic talent.”

“You named half the drinks after songs,” he added.

I paused.

“…actually that sounds like something I’d do.”

Dad smiled slightly for the first time that morning.

“You built it yourself,” he said quietly. “After you stopped performing.”

Something twisted painfully in my chest again.

Because I couldn’t even remember losing my dream.

Did I cry?

Did I break down?

Did Ethan know?

The thought appeared so suddenly that it annoyed me immediately.

Why did my brain keep connecting things back to him?

As if summoned by my emotional instability—

The door opened again later that evening.

And Ethan walked in.

Of course.

Because apparently this man had developed a subscription plan to my suffering.

Mom immediately brightened upon seeing him.

“Ethan.”

My eyes widened instantly.

Wait.

Why did my mother sound so comfortable around him?

Suspicious behavior.

Very suspicious.

Ethan greeted my parents calmly before his eyes landed on me.

And annoyingly—

That look appeared again.

That soft look.

Like I was something fragile.

I frowned immediately.

Stop that.

“You came back,” I muttered.

“You sound disappointed.”

“I am disappointed.”

Jae snorted into his drink.

Coward.

Eventually, my family left after threatening to return tomorrow with homemade soup.

Which honestly felt more dangerous than comforting.

And somehow…

I ended up back on the rooftop again with Ethan.

At this point, the rooftop was basically becoming our emotionally unstable meeting spot.

The evening air was colder tonight.

I crossed my arms tightly while leaning against the railing.

“You could’ve told me,” I said suddenly.

Ethan looked over. “About what?”

“My hand.”

A shadow crossed his face immediately.

“You had enough to process already.”

I laughed bitterly.

“Well surprise. I processed badly.”

He stayed quiet.

Then quietly said, “You worked hard after the accident.”

I looked away.

“I was supposed to become a pianist.”

“You were.”

“Not anymore.”

The words hurt more out loud.

The silence afterward felt painful.

Then frustration suddenly exploded out of me.

“You know what’s crazy?” I snapped. “Everyone keeps talking about my life like it belongs to somebody else!”

Ethan’s expression tightened.

“I can’t remember anything,” I continued angrily. “Apparently I lost my dream, opened a café, dated my enemy, and somehow everyone expects me to just accept it!”

“You don’t have to accept it immediately.”

“Easy for you to say!” I shot back. “You remember everything!”

That hit him harder than I expected.

For a second, he looked genuinely exhausted.

Then quietly—

“I remember enough for both of us.”

The anger in my chest stumbled slightly.

Damn him.

Why did he keep saying emotionally devastating things so casually?

I looked away quickly.

“This is still weird.”

“I know.”

“And I still don’t understand why I dated you.”

That actually made him laugh softly.

A real laugh this time.

Small.

Warm.

Dangerously attractive.

I stared at him suspiciously.

“You’re enjoying this.”

“A little.”

“Evil.”

“You liked me anyway.”

“I clearly had brain damage.”

To my horror, Ethan smiled again.

And something in my chest reacted immediately.

Traitorous organ.

The wind suddenly blew harder, making me shiver slightly.

Before I could complain, Ethan stepped closer.

Too close.

My heartbeat immediately became suspicious.

Then—

He hugged me.

Just like that.

Simple.

Natural.

Like he had done it a thousand times before.

And the second his arms wrapped around me—

Something inside me froze.

Not fear.

Not discomfort.

Something worse.

Familiarity.

Warmth spread through my chest so suddenly it almost hurt.

My body reacted before my thoughts did, instinctively relaxing against him for half a second.

Half a second too long.

Panic hit immediately after.

I pulled away so fast I nearly tripped.

“Nope,” I said quickly.

Ethan blinked once.

“Nope?”

“Absolutely not.”

I pointed at him dramatically while backing away.

“You are emotionally confusing and I don’t trust it.”

For the first time all day—

Ethan genuinely smiled.

And somehow…

That scared me more than anything else.

So naturally—

I ran.