Past and Future


    “It doesn’t matter what you want. From now on, we’re no longer a couple,” Ethan said without a care.


    “Wait! Why are you breaking up with me so suddenly? What happened? What is going on?” I cried out


    in my desperation.


    I couldn’t understand him at all. What brought this on so suddenly? Yesterday, everything was still


    normal. Ethan didn’t reply. It was like he didn’t have anything more to say. However, I had a lot more to


    say.


    “Did I do something wrong?” I asked in confusion.


    Ethan looked at me with nk eyes as if he didn’t know what I was talking about. No words escaped


    his lips, and the room was dead silent save for the sound of the storm raging outside. This wasn’t the


    time for me toze around in bed any longer, so I stood up and approached him.


    “Ethan, please don’t break up with me…” I pleaded as I burst into tears.


    I clutched at his forearm with my hands tightly, afraid that he would turn and leave. I’ll die if he leaves. I


    can’t imagine a life without him. Whenever I imagine a life without Ethan in it, it was like the walls of my


    small world would crack ande tumbling down on top of me. My world would copse, and I would


    be crushed underneath it all.


    Ethan turned and nced down wordlessly at my hands that were on his arm. He cocked his head to


    the side as if in confusion and I wondered what he was seeing and hearing. His hand covered mine


    and slowly, he removed my hands from his arm. While still holding my hands in hisrger one, he


    looked at me. His green eyes were cold and void of emotions, but his voice was gentle and kind when


    he finally spoke.


    “This is all for you, Lisa. Our dream world has to end now,” Ethan told me softly.


    I didn’t understand a word that he said, and I didn’t want to understand it. All I knew was that I couldn’t


    let Ethan leave this room. If he did, he would disappear and nevere back.


    “Ethan! Don’t go…please…” I begged him desperately.


    “One day, you will be Lisa,” Ethan said as if he was speaking to himself.


    More tears streamed down my face as he pulled me gently into his arms. I didn’t understand what he


    meant at all.


    “Ethan…please stay with me…” I cried softly into his chest.


    Suddenly, he let go of me and stepped away. Ethan walked over to the closet and started pulling on


    some clothes.


    “No! Ethan! Don’t go…” I begged over and over again.


    I didn’t know what I could say to make him say. I didn’t even understand why he was breaking up with


    me and it didn’t look like he wanted to talk about it.


    Ethan reached for the door after he was fully dressed and ready to go outside. He didn’t even take an


    umbre even though it’s still pouring outside.


    “Ethan!” I shouted his name loudly.


    I hugged his waist from behind to stop him from leaving. I was crying so much at that point that I found


    it hard to breathe. Deep down, I knew that this would probably be thest time that I’ll get to hold him


    like this, and I wasn’t willing to let go.


    “Please…don’t go…” I whimpered through my sobs.


    Ethan didn’t even turn to look at me. I slid down onto my knees began clutching at his leg to stop him


    from leaving. Not knowing what to say anymore, I just kept repeating the same phrase over and over


    again…


    Is this what they call ‘break up sex’?


    That was the first thought that entered my head the next morning when I woke up sad and alone. I


    spent the whole day crying alone in bed while dialing a number that always failed to connect.


    …


    **Back to the Present**


    Even now when I held Ethan in my arms, I had to admit that I still didn’t fully understand him. What was


    clear was that Ethan knew a side of my father that I never got to know. When he was young, my father


    Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.


    must have taken care of him as the next heir of Silva when he was growing up. I wondered what my


    father was like in those days and what Ethan saw in him. What kind of father was Jack to Ethan?


    To me, my father was a loving and very ordinary man. He was a normal man with amon job, a


    anyone’s attention. Looking back on it now, perhaps he had intentionally chosen to live that way to stay


    under the radar. I couldn’t help but wonder if the father that I knew wasn’t the real him at all.


    “That night that you broke up with me. What happened? Where did you go?” I asked in a hushed


    whisper.


    Ethan pulled himself away from my embrace and looked straight at me.


    “I always thought that Jack’s death was suspicious, so I spent a lot of time investigating. The more I


    looked into it, the further the truth slipped away from me. It wasn’t long before I realized that a greater


    force was trying to keep the truth hidden. When you’re the next heir of Silva, there’s not that many


    greater forces than you. Naturally, I suspected the head of Torex and then my own father, the head of


    Silva,” Ethan said as his face darkened.


    “I guess you discovered the truth,” I said simply.


    “I did. I found the truth and I made my father admit to it. After killing my parents, I came back to see you


    for thest time,” Ethan said and there was a peaceful and resigned look on his face.


    “Why did you decide to leave me?” I asked. Not that it mattered now but I still wanted to know.


    He didn’t leave me just because his father killed my father, right? It didn’t make any sense.


    --To be continued…