Between shadows and starlight
Between Shadow and Starlight
The rain fell endlessly that night.
The sky roared like it carried the same pain inside as the man driving down the lonely road — Liam Davis.
He didn’t know where he was going. Only that something inside him felt wrong. His heart was heavy, his mind scattered, and every flash of lightning seemed to show him memories that weren’t his.
Then came the crash.
The sound of metal, the smell of smoke… and silence.
When Liam opened his eyes again, he wasn’t sure if he was alive. All he saw was a clean white ceiling, the beeping of machines, and a stranger sitting beside him — tall, calm, wearing an expression that was too gentle for a stranger.
“You’re awake,” the man said softly, relief washing over his face.
“Who are you?” Liam asked, blinking at him in confusion.
The man hesitated for only a second before answering.
“...Your husband.”
Liam almost ripped the IV out of his arm.
“Husband? Excuse me, what kind of bad drama am I in?”
The stranger smiled faintly, as if used to that reaction.
“I’m Ethan M. Chen,” he said. “And yes, we’re married.”
It would’ve been funny if it didn’t sound so insane.
Because Liam knew that name — Ethan Chen, his rival since high school. The man who once argued with him about everything — from who scored higher in math to who was more handsome. The man who drove him crazy just by breathing near him.
There was no way that that guy became his husband.
Yet, every nurse called Ethan “Mr. Chen,” and every photo frame beside his hospital bed told the same unbelievable story — the two of them smiling together, laughing, holding hands like some perfect couple.
The problem was, Liam didn’t remember any of it.
Ethan did. And he remembered everything.
He remembered the fights, the slow friendship that bloomed, the day he realized Liam’s smile meant more than victory. He remembered the confession, the first kiss, the promise to never let go.
And now — he had to start all over again.
But how do you make someone fall in love with you when they’re sure they hate you?
Ethan decided one thing: he would win Liam’s heart again. Even if it meant enduring his sarcastic comments, endless eye-rolls, and complaints about his “rich people manners.”
The villa that once felt like home now turned into a battlefield — breakfast wars, bedroom arguments, and silent moments that neither of them wanted to admit felt too intimate.
Liam insisted he was staying “only until he got his memory back.” Ethan didn’t argue. He simply made sure the guest room air conditioner “mysteriously stopped working” every other night.
Under the same roof, between teasing and tenderness, something began to shift.
Liam’s laughter returned. Ethan’s guarded heart softened.
Sometimes, it wasn’t the past that brought two souls together.
Sometimes, it was the present — messy, loud, full of new beginnings.
And as Liam found himself drawn to Ethan again — in the way he smiled, the way he listened, the way he never gave up — one thought quietly slipped into his mind:
Maybe… love doesn’t need memory to survive.
Maybe it just needs the right person to remind you what it feels like.
Between shadows and starlight, between heartbreak and laughter, their story begins again —
not from hate, not from memory,
but from the moment two hearts dared to find each other once more.
