It was a typical day for Josh Chen—or at least as typical as it could be given the chaos that always seemed to find him. Now a third-year medical student, he was navigating life with the same determination that had gotten him through college. Despite the drama that constantly swirled around him, life was good. He was doing well academically, and he even had a girlfriend, Emily. It wasn’t the kind of passionate, all-consuming love he’d heard about, but he liked her company, and that was enough. Or so he told himself.

After a grueling day of classes and clinicals, Josh and Emily decided to unwind with a date night at a restaurant that was just fancy enough to feel like a treat. It had been a while since they’d gone out, and he figured it would be a welcome distraction from the relentless pace of his life.

But what Josh wasn’t expecting was to see you there. The moment he walked into the restaurant, his eyes found you—glossy hair catching the soft lighting, expressive eyes that drew him in, and that laugh, the one he’d been aching to hear again for years.

To everyone else, you were just a friend from college. But to Josh, you were the one who had stolen his heart from the moment you’d met. He couldn’t explain why he’d never admitted his feelings. Confidence came naturally to him, but with you, everything was different. You were different. The kind of different that made his throat go dry and sent his body temperature skyrocketing whenever you were near.

If only I had told them. The thought haunted him, playing on a loop in his mind. He often wondered how different his life might have been if he’d confessed his feelings back then. Would he be living the life he’d imagined, or was he destined to chase after what could have been?

Lost in thought, he hadn’t even realized how long he’d been staring until Emily tapped his shoulder, snapping him back to the present just as your eyes met his.