The Board

When The Soul Want the Speak

“Doctor, tell me, what is happening to her?”

The doctor closed the folder slowly before responding. His serious expression was enough to make Ethan’s heart pound violently.

“She is dehydrated,” he finally said. “Everything indicates that she has gone more than two days without eating or drinking, not even water. Her condition is critical due to her underlying illness.”

Ethan felt the air escape from his lungs.

“But… tell me, doctor,” he insisted, stepping forward. “You understand me… is it serious? Will she survive?”

The man held his gaze for several seconds that felt eternal.

“Mr. Rhodes, at this moment, it is impossible to know. Her body is extremely weakened. For now, the most advisable thing is for you to return home, rest, and come back tomorrow. We will keep her sedated and monitored overnight.”

Ethan furrowed his brow.

“Rest?” he repeated in disbelief.

“Yes. You also need to be in a condition for what is to come,” the doctor added. “Return early tomorrow. Let’s try to stay calm.”

Calm.

That word sank into Ethan’s chest like a cruel mockery. Who could go home calmly leaving their mother unconscious on a stretcher, connected to machines, not knowing if she would wake up?

“Come on, my love,” Amber intervened softly, placing a firm hand on his arm. “What the doctor says is true. You need to rest. Tomorrow we will return together.”

Ethan lowered his gaze. His eyes shone, filled with a pain he no longer knew how to contain. He barely nodded and took Amber’s hand tightly, as if that gesture were the only thing keeping him standing.

He couldn’t even drive. During the ride, silence weighed heavier than any words. He didn’t understand why his mother’s condition was destroying him like this, but he felt something inside him slowly breaking apart.

An hour later, they arrived at the mansion.

Amber went straight to the kitchen with the intention of preparing something hot, something that would make him eat at least a little. When she returned to the living room, she found him sitting in the armchair, a glass of alcohol between his fingers, silent tears sliding down his cheeks.

“Ethan…” she said carefully. “Are you okay?”

He shook his head and lifted his gaze to look directly at her.

“I haven’t felt okay for many days.”

Amber set the plate on the table and sat beside him. She caressed his cheek tenderly, wiping away a tear he had made no attempt to hide.

“Forgive me for being so selfish and not realizing sooner that you… felt like this.”

Ethan clenched his jaw.

“You have your problems too, Amber. We’ve been through too much…” His voice broke. “And now, seeing me like this, helpless, with a pile of lost battles, is causing a pressure in my chest that I don’t even know how to explain.”

She didn’t withdraw her hand.

“It’s okay not to be okay every day, darling,” she said firmly. “You are human. You don’t have to be perfect. You can’t control everything that happens around you either.”

Ethan closed his eyes for a moment.

“Maybe I could have had control,” he replied bitterly. “Maybe I was a damn fool who didn’t realize when my sister destroyed the company and couldn’t even take responsibility. I neglected my mom… I always had a horrible relationship with her. All because I wanted what was best for me, and now… now I regret causing her so much pain.”

“You just said it yourself,” Amber replied softly. “Now you regret it. And that matters. Recognizing it matters. As human beings, we make mistakes, and we can have a second, a third, or all the chances life allows us. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Ethan.”

She spoke from the heart, though inside she was on the verge of breaking. Seeing him like this, vulnerable, without the armor that had always protected him, hurt more than she wanted to admit. Still, she stayed strong; she knew that if she broke along with him, she couldn’t hold him up.

But Ethan’s mind found no rest.

It wasn’t just what was happening now. It was everything that came before. Years of wrong decisions, prolonged silences, omissions that had ended up taking their toll. His mind was a whirlwind of reproaches in which he judged himself without mercy.

And then, like a punch to the stomach, that memory returned.

Emily’s face.

The panic in her eyes.

The exact moment she threw herself out the window with her baby still in her womb.

A child he hadn’t wanted.

A child he had never defended.

That memory had haunted him for four years. He had buried it under millions, reckless sex, and a carefully constructed life to avoid looking back. But now, in front of Amber—so good, so luminous—the guilt became unbearable.

Maybe he wasn’t a good man.

Maybe he was just paying the price.

He lifted his gaze and looked at her with an intensity that made her shiver.

“Amber, darling… you speak as if I were a good man,” he said in a deep voice. “The truth is, I’m not.”

She frowned, bewildered.

“How can you say that?” she replied. “You are a good man. Like any other, you’ve made mistakes. That’s all.”

“They haven’t been small mistakes,” he denied. “I’m not the man you think I am.”

“What do you mean, Ethan?” she asked, her heart racing. “I know you. And if you’re talking about what has happened between us in… in intimacy”—she blushed—“I like what we do.”

Ethan let out a sad smile.

“It’s not about you,” he said. “It’s about me. There are many things you still don’t know… and I think it’s time you did.”

Amber’s heart began to race.

“What do you mean?”

Ethan inhaled deeply. He didn’t know where to start, but he knew he had to. This secret had been pressing on his chest for years, and he could no longer keep it hidden.

“Amber, I…”

The insistent sound of his phone interrupted them.

Unknown number.

He rejected the call. The phone vibrated again.

Amber looked at him with concern.

“Answer it, Ethan,” she urged. “It could be from the hospital.”

He swallowed and took the phone, feeling that, in one way or another, nothing would ever be the same after this night.