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My Enemy My Husband

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chapter 2

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.