introduction

"Have you heard about Ethan?" my friend asked, catching me off guard. Ethan. The title immediately transported me again to a time when life was easier, and love felt like the most effective force in the universe. Ethan used to be my first love, the boy who made my heart race and my world brighter. Memories of late-night talks, shared dreams, and whispered guarantees came flooding

I hadn't heard about Ethan in years. After we parted ways in college, it was once as if our paths were destined never to cross again. I went to the University of the Philippines, diving into my studies and forging a new existence in Manila. Ethan, on a different hand, chose San Carlos University in Cebu, a region that would possibly as properly have been on the other aspect of the world. We tried to preserve in touch at first. However, slowly, life took over, and our as soon as fervent connection dwindled to sporadic messages until it faded completely.

"No, I haven't heard about him," I replied, making an attempt to mask the curiosity and mild unease in my voice. There used to be a pause, a moment the place the previous and present seemed to collide.

"Ethan is getting married to someone he met in college," my friend continued. Her phrases hit me like a tidal wave, leaving me shocked and struggling to locate my footing. Ethan, getting married. The Ethan who once told me he couldn't think about a future except me, who shared goals of a existence together, of a love that would stand the test of time. It felt surreal, almost like a bad dream, hearing that he used to be transferring on with anyone else.

I tried to compose myself, but it felt like my world was spinning out of control. My thinking drifted returned to the moments we had shared, the plans we had made. We had talked about touring the world together, discovering an at ease home, and starting a family. Those desires had been as vivid as ever in my heart. However, now they seemed to belong to some other lifetime.

As I struggled to process this new reality, my friend persevered, talking, oblivious to the turmoil internal me. She shared greater details about Ethan's fiancée, how they had met at some stage in a college event, and how their relationship blossomed over time. I listened, but it was as if her words were far away echoes, muffled via the reminiscences and feelings swirling inside me.

I could not assist but marvel what went wrong. Was it the distance? The extraordinary paths we chose? Or perhaps we were never intended to be together, notwithstanding how deeply we cared for every other. The questions stored coming, each one including to the anguish in my chest.

"Ethan and I had plans too, you know," I in the end managed to say, my voice barely above a whisper. "We dreamed of getting married, of building a life together. But lifestyles had different plans for us, I suppose."

My friend gave me a sympathetic look, but it did little to ease the pain. It used to be tough to accept that anybody I as soon as cherished so deeply was now making new memories, new dreams, with any person else. It felt like a chapter of my lifestyle was once closing, one that I wasn't ready to let go of.

Later that night, as I lay in bed, I could not give up wondering about Ethan. I remembered the way he used to seem to be at me, with so a great deal love and hope in his eyes. I puzzled if he seemed at his fiancée the identical way if he whispered the same candy nothings to her. The thinking used to be nearly too much to bear.

I knew I had to pass on, just as Ethan had. Holding onto the past would not change anything, and it absolutely wouldn't carry returned what we as soon as had. But knowing that did not make it any easier. My coronary heart felt heavy, weighed down by way of the reminiscences and the what-ifs.

As I stared at the ceiling, I made a silent promise to myself. I would cherish the reminiscences of Ethan. However, I would not let them outline my future. There used to be a world of possibilities out there, and I owed it to myself to explore them, to discover my very own happiness, simply as Ethan had observed his.

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