After My Boyfriend and Best Friend Betrayed Me, Regret Haunted Them Nightly Chapter 06
My new position was at the city’s largest top–tier hospital, in a bright, spacious office.
Dr. Nelson, the department head and an old acquaintance of Dr. Schmidt, slapped my shoulder with a laugh on my first day.
“Dr. Schmidt brags about you on video calls constantly, saying you’re the most hardworking student he’s ever had. Welcome back.”
I smiled, pinned my badge onto my white coat, and checked myself in the locker room mirror.
I was noticeably thinner than three years ago, but my eyes remained clear and sharp.
Rehab in Germany had restored ninety percent of my right arm’s function. Although prolonged knife work brought numbness, it was enough for most surgeries.
On my third day, a knock sounded at my door. Preston stood outside, looking completely lost.
“Julissa… you really are here.”
Noticing the personnel passing by in the hallway, I frowned and invited him inside.
He took a seat across from me, his expression complex.
“Julissa, you left so fast in the ER the other day. I have so much I need to say.”
I looked up at him calmly, letting out a scoff. “I’m not interested.”
His face went pale for a split second, but he pressed on anyway.
“That charm… Paige did make it. At first, we were just…”
“I can’t make excuses. Wrong is wrong, and I know how unfair it was to you. But these past three years, not a single second went by without regret.”
He gave a bitter laugh and looked down. As if afraid I’d cut him off, he let it all spill out in one breath.
“My life has been a mess these past three years. Paige… she’s so insecure. She checks my phone every day, asking about every text from colleagues. If I speak two extra words to a female coworker at work, she refuses to eat.”
“She quit her job and made me her entire world. I felt suffocated–like even breathing the wrong way was a crime.”
“I walked on eggshells every single day, terrified that one wrong word would set her off. Back when you and I stood side by side at the operating table, a single glance was all we needed.”
“But with her, it was constant explaining, constant reassuring, constant wiping away tears. One night I woke up and, for a split second, I thought you were still there beside me. I reached out–and then remembered you were gone.”
I ignored him, keeping my head down and writing up the progress notes. Only when he got to that part did I glance up.
“So what? You came here to unload on me? Want me to feel sorry for you? What does any of that have to do with me?”
Preston’s face shifted. A golden boy like him had never been in such a pathetic state. He gritted his teeth, refusing to leave. “Why didn’t I hold onto you on that rooftop that evening?”
I set down my pen, letting out a mocking laugh.
“You like being needed. You like being depended on, having someone whose whole world revolves around you. I couldn’t give you that, so I wasn’t good enough. Once Paige actually gave you everything, you felt suffocated.”
“Preston, you can’t have it both ways.”
I stood up and opened the office door wide. “Leave.”
After my night shift three days later, I bumped into Paige in the parking lot.
She stood by my car, her eyes swollen, looking like an abandoned stray.
“Julissa…” She sobbed uncontrollably, her words broken and staggered.
She said these three years had been exhausting.
She said she dreamed endlessly about my injured right arm.
She said she only learned what constant anxiety meant after being with Preston.
She said she didn’t feel like herself anymore.
She said she truly missed me.
Finally, she raised her face, completely drenched in tears.
“I’m not asking for your forgiveness. I just want you to know you’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I’m sorry.”
The wind blew her hair into a mess. She was still the same, crying just like a child.
A memory came back to me—years ago, when I’d shut myself in my room and cried, it was Paige who found me, , smiling as she took my hand.
She had said, “Crying ruins your face, Julissa. I’ll protect you from now on.”
Yet from that day forward, I never cried in front of anyone again.
I took it upon myself to protect Paige.
I thought of the caramel candy.
I thought of her shuffling into the kitchen to cook me pasta.
I thought of every earnest word she’d said to Preston, and all the small moments we’d shared over the years.
In the end, I let out a quiet sigh and placed a tissue in her palm.
“Paige, life goes on with or without him. You’ll get through this—but only if you choose to.”