Husband?!
1197 Words
The voice came from behind her.
She turned slowly.
It was Ethan.
Ethan stood by the sink, sleeves rolled up, older but unmistakable. The sharp edges she remembered had softened. There was a wedding band on his hand. A wedding band.
On instinct, Mia looked down.
A matching ring gleamed on her own finger.
Her heart started to pound.
“Are you okay?” Ethan asked, already moving closer. Familiar. Too familiar. “You froze again.”
“Again?” she echoed.
Footsteps thundered down the hallway.
“Mom!” A small boy barreled into her legs, wrapping his arms around her. “Dad said pancakes are almost ready!”
Mia stiffened, hands hovering uselessly in the air.
Dad.
Pancakes.
She looked at the child’s dark hair, Ethan’s eyes staring up at her with complete trust, and felt something close to panic claw up her throat.
“Hey, bud,” Ethan said gently. “Give her space. She’s had a rough morning.”
A rough morning.
Mia backed away, nearly tripping over a backpack by the door. “I—I need a second.”
Ethan frowned. Concern creasing his face in a way that felt undeserved. “You’ve been distant all week. Did something happen at work?”
Work?
Mia shook her head. “No. I mean—yes. I don’t know. This—” She gestured wildly. “This isn’t right.”
Ethan’s expression changed. Careful now. Measured. Like someone used to navigating her moods.
That terrified her more than anger would have.
“Mia,” he said softly, “you’re scaring me.”
She looked around again—the family photos on the wall, the framed wedding picture she couldn’t remember taking, the life that seemed lovingly worn-in.
“Wha- what is this?” she said. “It can’t be.”
Ethan swallowed. “My love, are you alright?.”
Mia looked around and found a calendar, her breath caught. “2030?” Not believing what she’s seeing she search for her phone but the silver charm made her stop.
The charm was still in her hand, glowing faintly.
Then she remembered wishing for things to be better in any way.
And the better is being Ethan Smith’s wife? She thinks. Maybe because of exhaustion or shock Mia fainted on the floor.
Mia woke with the sharp, disorienting certainty that something was wrong.
The room was too warm. Too lived-in. Morning light spilled across furniture she didn’t recognize—She lay still, heart pounding, already afraid to look to her left.
When she did, Ethan was there.
Not the boy she remembered. Not even the man from the small town who still made her bristle with old resentment. This Ethan was older, calmer, his face relaxed in sleep, an arm thrown loosely across the pillow where she lay.
Her stomach twisted.
She pushed herself up slowly. The movement woke him.
“Mia?” His voice was thick with sleep, intimate in a way that made her skin prickle. “You’re up early.”
She stared at him, searching for something—familiarity, affection, even irritation. Anything that might explain why she was here.
There was nothing.
She looked down at her hand.
A wedding ring.
The sight of it made her breath catch—not with emotion, but with disbelief.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, needing distance. The room reflected a life carefully built: framed photos of vacations, candid smiles, a wedding portrait where she stood beside Ethan in white, her expression radiant in a way she did not recognize.
“This doesn’t make sense,” she whispered.
Ethan sat up now, instantly alert. “Hey. What’s wrong?”
She didn’t answer. Her eyes drifted back to the photographs. To the evidence of love she could not feel.
“I don’t love you,” she said suddenly.
The words landed hard in the quiet room.
Ethan went still.
“Mia,” he said slowly, “that’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking.” Her voice trembled—not with grief, but with fear. “I’ve never loved you like this. Not as a man. Not like that.”
His face changed—confusion first, then something like hurt he didn’t know how to place.
“Are you upset?” he said carefully. “You don’t mean that.”
She turned to him. “I do. I look at you and I don’t feel what I’m supposed to feel. I don’t feel… anything.”
Silence stretched between them.
Ethan exhaled, running a hand through his hair. “You loved me. You chose me. We built this together.”
She shook her head. “Then why does it feel like I woke up inside someone else’s decision?”
She stood, backing away as if the room itself were pressing in on her. Her gaze snagged on the silver charm lying on the dresser.
The charm.
Her fingers closed around it. It was warm.
“I wished for things to be better,” she said softly, more to herself than to him. “But better for who?”
Ethan watched her like she was slipping somewhere he couldn’t follow. “This is your life,” he said. “Our life.”
“That’s what scares me,” Mia replied. “If this is my future, then at some point I became someone who loved you. And I don’t recognize her.”
His jaw tightened—not angry, but wounded. “People change.”
“Yes,” she said. “But love doesn’t appear out of nothing.”
She looked at him again—really looked. He was kind. Steady. Everything a future version of herself might want.
And yet her chest remained stubbornly quiet.
“What if this isn’t real?” she asked. “What if this is a mistake? A version of my life I’m not meant to live?”
Ethan swallowed. “Then why are you here?”
Mia had no answer.
The charm pulsed once in her hand, as if reminding her that wishes were never guarantees—only doors.
And she stood in the middle of a future that looked perfect from the outside, wondering if it truly belonged to her, or if she had wandered into someone else’s happiness by accident.
Ethan reached out to hug her. Still confused he push Ethan away. Unfortunately the charm got caught in Ethan’s clothes and it fall to the ground breaking into two pieces.
“No” Mia said and pick up the broken pieces and tried to put it back together “No.no.no.no” the charm no longer glows and warm instead it’s dull and cold
“Mia, it has sharp edges be careful, please.” Ethan pleads and hold Mia’s hands.
“No this can’t be! It’s my only way back!” Mia cries.
“Shh I’ll fix it, love. I’ll fix it okay? Don’t cry anymore” Ethan takes the charm in Mia’s hand and set it aside and give her a hug. “ I’m your Husband, Mia. I’ll fix everything for you…” he whispered and continued to stroke Mia’s head and hugged her tight.
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