Ethan's Pov
"Emma, wait!" I shouted, stumbling as I tried to pull the sheet over myself. Jessy groaned beside me, annoyed. "Oh, come on, Ethan. Let her go. She'll be fine."
"Fine?" I snapped, glaring at her. "Jessy, she just saw us..."
"She knew, Ethan," Jessy interrupted, stretching lazily on the bed. "She has known for the last two days. I told you she saw us kiss in the car."
I grabbed my jeans from the floor. "That's not the point. You didn't see her face."
Jessy sat up, smirking. "You care too much. You're acting like she's innocent. She was already half gone to that rich dick without even listening to you."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it?" Jessy tilted her head, eyes sharp. "You said she'd been distant, always busy, always talking about her patients but never you."
I sighed, rubbing my face. She was twisting things again, and damn it, I was letting her.
"You should go after her," she said flatly. "Gaslight her, like you do best. You're good at that."
My jaw clenched. "Jessy, enough."
She shrugged. "Just saying. You're the one who didn't want to lose her and didn't want to stop sleeping with me, so figure that out."
I threw on my shirt and stormed out before she could say another word and ran after her.
By the time I caught up to Emma, she was outside the house, wiping the tears from her eyes and talking on the phone. She looked broken, really broken.
"Emma!" I called out, walking closer.
She froze, her body stiffening before she slowly turned. The look she gave me could've killed me.
"What the hell do you want?"
"I....just listen, okay?"
"No." Her voice cracked but stayed sharp. "No, Ethan. I'm done listening to your lies."
"Emma, it's not what it looked like."
She laughed bitterly, shaking her head. "Don't.....don't do that."
"I swear," I stepped closer, "Jessy and I…..we were just...."
"Just what?!" she yelled. "You were just inside her!"
People walking by stopped to stare. I reached for her hand, but she yanked it away.
"Emma, please," I said quietly. "You're upset. You're not thinking clearly."
Her eyes widened. "Did you just....did you just say I'm not thinking clearly?"
I tried again, softer. "I mean, you've been stressed, you haven't been sleeping, you've been crying..."
"That's because of you!" she shouted.
I ran a hand through my hair, trying to stay calm. "You're blowing this out of proportion."
She stared at me like she couldn't believe what I'd said. "Out of proportion?"
"Yes," I pressed on. "You're letting your emotions cloud what really happened."
"What really happened," she snapped, "is that I walked in on you screwing my best friend!"
I took a deep breath, lowering my voice. "What you walked in on was a mistake."
She scoffed. "A mistake that lasted how long, Ethan? Weeks? Months?"
"It didn't mean anything."
"It meant enough for you to lie to me every night."
"Emma, come on," I said, my tone shifting. "You and I...we were falling apart already. You stopped touching me, stopped looking at me. I felt like I didn't exist."
"So you decided to exist inside Jessy?" she shot back.
"That's not fair!" I yelled, louder than I intended.
She flinched, and guilt hit me like a punch to the chest. "Emma, I didn't mean....."
"You always yell when you're cornered," she said quietly. "You think it will make me back down."
"I just...." I exhaled. "I made a mistake, okay? I was lonely."
She laughed through her tears. "You had me, Ethan. You just didn't want me anymore."
I tried to take another step forward, but she backed away.
"I still love you," I said, voice breaking slightly. "You know that."
Her expression shifted from hurt, disbelief, and anger, all fighting in her eyes.
"Don't say that," she whispered. "Don't say that after what you did."
"I mean it," I insisted. "You've been under pressure, Emma. All the sessions, your patients, that Damian guy....he's been in your head. He's manipulating you."
Her brows furrowed. "Excuse me?"
"Yeah," I pushed, trying to take control. "You've been spending so much time with him, you can't even see he's messing with your emotions. He is probably turning you against me."
She stared for a long second, silent, then she laughed. She wasn't laughing because she was amused, that laughter, was cold, disbelieving laughter.
"Wow," she said, crossing her arms. "You really just tried to blame him for cheating?"
"I'm not saying it like that....."
"Oh no, please, continue," she interrupted. "Tell me how my client somehow made you unzip your pants and fuck my best friend."
I clenched my fists. "You're twisting it!"
"Me?!" she shouted. "You lied to me for months, Ethan! You made me believe I was crazy every time I felt something was off. You called me paranoid!"
"I was trying to protect you!"
"From what?"
"From the truth!" I yelled, then immediately realized how pathetic that sounded.
She just stared at me, breathing hard, eyes glossy with unshed tears.
"You don't even hear yourself anymore, do you?" she said softly.
"Emma...."
"No," she cut me off, stepping closer this time. "You broke me, Ethan. You made me doubt myself every time I felt you pulling away. You made me think I was the problem and now that I finally see you for what you are, you want to gaslight me again."
I swallowed, my throat dry. "I never meant to hurt you."
"But you did," she whispered. "And the worst part? You don't even understand how."
She turned to leave, but I grabbed her wrist. "Please, Emma, listen...….."
"Don't touch me!" she snapped, pulling free. Her voice was shaking now. "You lost the right to touch me the moment you chose her."
I stood there, speechless, watching her walk away, heels clicking against the pavement like the sound of finality. I wanted to chase after her again, to beg, to fix it somehow, but I knew, deep down, there was nothing left to fix.
Still, I couldn't stop the words from slipping out. "You'll regret this, Emma. You'll see what he's really like."
She didn't even look back. "Maybe I will," she said over her shoulder, "but at least he didn't lie to me." A car stopped in front of her. She opened the door and just like that, she was gone.