There's One Thing I Like About Him

Chapter Three

Trisha

My chest tightened as a wave of panic surged through me. My heart pounded violently, and my hands turned cold and clammy. Without thinking, I grabbed Alexa's arm and bolted, pulling her along with me. We left Markus standing there, his face a mix of shock and confusion. I couldn’t handle it anymore—I was spiraling into a full-blown panic attack.

“Have you lost your mind?” Alexa abruptly stopped running and yanked her arm free from my grip. Anger flashed in her eyes, making me flinch.

“Do you want to die?” she demanded, her voice sharp with concern. “You were having a panic attack, struggling to breathe, and you ran? Where’s your head, Trisha?” Her words cut deep, and I found myself staring at the ground, too ashamed to respond.

“Have you really moved on from him?” she asked, her tone softer now, laced with concern. “It feels like it’s been ages.”

“I thought I had,” I replied, my voice trembling as tears welled up in my eyes. “But why does it feel like it happened just yesterday?” The words tumbled out, heavy with unresolved pain.

“You know what?” I began, my voice barely above a whisper. “I’ve never told anyone this…” I hesitated, trying to find the courage to continue. “Being with him made me happy, but I regret staying in that relationship for three years and eight months. If I hadn’t wasted so much time on him, maybe my life would be different—better, even. It’s been a year, Alexa, but the pain hasn’t faded. I still can’t enjoy life the way I used to. I can’t even talk to other guys without second-guessing everything. The nightmares, the trauma, the countless nights I’ve spent crying, the insecurities—they’re still there. He hurt me so deeply.”

Alexa was silent for a few moments, clearly taken aback by my admission. She was my best friend, and yet I had never shared the full extent of my suffering with her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked softly, her voice thick with emotion. I closed my eyes and took a deep, shaky breath before answering.

“I didn’t want to add to your burdens. Your dad had just passed away, and while I was dealing with a broken heart, you were grieving your father. My problems seemed so insignificant compared to yours,” I explained, my voice breaking.

Alexa pulled me into a tight hug, one filled with warmth and understanding. If there’s one person I never want to lose, it’s my best friend, Alexa. She’s been my rock through everything.

She finally let go, her eyes still full of concern. “Okay, enough with the drama. Let’s head back to the office before Sir Ethan starts looking for us,” she said, trying to lighten the mood with a small smile.

As we walked back to the office, we spotted Ethan crossing the street from the pedestrian lane. Something about him seemed off—his usual confident demeanor was missing. Did he have a fight with his girlfriend?

“Ethan!” I called out, waving, but he didn’t seem to notice me. It was like there was an invisible wall between us. Then I saw that he was wearing earpods, so I lowered my hand, feeling a bit foolish. Who could he be talking to? And why did he look so different from when I saw him in the conference room earlier? An uneasy feeling gnawed at me, one I couldn’t shake.

The light turned green, and Alexa and I were about to cross the street when she suddenly stopped. We both froze as we watched in horror as Ethan’s phone slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. Everything seemed to slow down, as if the world had been put on pause. My hand flew to my mouth in shock, and my feet felt glued to the spot.

When I saw Ethan Clyde lying on the pavement, my world shattered. His body was crumpled on the ground, blood pooling around him—an image so horrifying that I could barely process it. Each drop of blood seemed to tell a story of its own, and time itself seemed to come to a standstill. Fear gripped me so tightly that I couldn’t move. The world around me blurred, and the only thing that felt real was the overwhelming pain in my chest. I sank to the ground, unable to comprehend the reality before me, as everything I knew crumbled in an instant.

“Ethan!” I heard Alexa scream, her voice piercing through the fog in my mind.

“E-Ethan,” I whispered, the name barely escaping my lips. I couldn’t fully grasp what I was seeing. The driver who had hit Ethan didn’t even get out of the car. Instead, they sped away, leaving the scene in a rush.

Alexa rushed back to me, grabbing my hand and helping me to my feet. Together, we ran toward Ethan. Alexa was frantically calling for an ambulance while I knelt beside him, my breath coming in shallow gasps. His chest, once heaving with uneven breaths, was now eerily still. I pressed my fingers to his neck, searching desperately for a pulse. Each second dragged on, my heart pounding louder with every moment that passed. I pulled my hand away, tears streaming down my face as I tried to steady my trembling hands.

“Please, wake up,” I sobbed. “I’ll take the job, just please wake up, Ethan.” I pleaded with him, desperately trying to rouse him, but he remained motionless.

“Ethan, wake up!” I cried out, my voice breaking as my tears fell uncontrollably. You can’t leave me, Ethan. I haven’t even told you how I feel yet. You have to wake up.

“Hello? We have an emergency here. Please send an ambulance. A man has been hit by a car,” I heard Alexa’s voice in the background as she spoke on the phone. “In front of A Tech Group,” she added, her voice trembling.

In the chaos, I noticed my phone buzzing in my pocket. I fumbled to check it, my hands shaking uncontrollably. Ethan had sent me a message just before the accident—one that had never reached me until now. It read: “Hey Trisha, I have something very important to tell you. Can we talk soon?”

The message hit me like a ton of bricks. The weight of Ethan’s unspoken words felt like an additional burden I had to bear. I clutched the phone tightly, tears streaming down my face as I realized how close we had been to a conversation that might have changed everything.

I tried to revive Ethan using the first aid skills I had learned, but he still didn’t respond. The impact must have been severe. I couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Why Ethan? Why did it have to be him? Why couldn’t it have been me instead?

“Trish, the ambulance is on its way,” Alexa said, pulling me out of my despair for a moment. I hadn’t even noticed the crowd that had gathered around us. Several others had been crossing the street with us and were just as shocked as we were to see Ethan lying there, lifeless.

After what felt like an eternity, but was really only fifteen minutes, the ambulance finally arrived. The paramedics carefully lifted Ethan onto a stretcher and hooked him up to oxygen because, miraculously, he still had a pulse.

“Who can come with us?” one of the paramedics asked as they prepared to load Ethan into the ambulance. Without hesitation, I raised my hand and climbed in, tears still streaming down my face. I couldn’t believe I was in the ambulance with Ethan, who was lying unconscious beside me. I asked Alexa to stay behind and call Ethan’s family—they would need to be at the hospital when the doctors started asking questions.