The city stretched below under the harsh midday sun, the heat shimmering off rooftops and glass windows. He stood at the edge, the glare of the sun stinging his eyes, but he didn’t care. One step. That’s all it would take. One step, and it would all be over.
What was left to live for? His girlfriend? Gone. His job? Gone. His parents? They wouldn’t even look at him anymore, ashamed of what he had become. His friends? They had moved on without him. If he disappeared today, who would even notice?
He inhaled sharply, closing his eyes as he braced himself for the fall—
“Hey! Stop! What the hell are you doing? Are you insane?”
A voice cut through the stillness. He turned sharply, startled. A younger man stood there, panting, his eyes wide with panic.
“Go away,” he snapped. “You don’t even know me. What does it matter to you?”
“It matters because I’m here,” the young man shot back. “I see you. And I don’t want to watch you jump. Now get down.”
He scoffed, shaking his head. “Just leave me alone.”
The younger man pulled out his phone. “If you don’t step away from that edge right now, I swear I’ll call the police.”
His heart pounded. He clenched his jaw. The last thing he needed was cops showing up, dragging him away like some lunatic. He hesitated, then begrudgingly took a step back. Instantly, the young man rushed forward, grabbing his arm and guiding him farther from the edge.
“Good,” the younger man said, still holding onto him like he might make a run for it. “Now that I’ve ruined your plan, how about you get a cup of coffee with me?”
He snorted. “What?”
The younger man grinned, a bright, disarming smile. “Yeah, come on. One coffee. Humour me.”
He hesitated. Then sighed. “Fine. One coffee.”
As they sat in a quiet café, the younger man—Gus, as he introduced himself—kept up a steady stream of chatter.
“So, are you gonna tell me why you were up there?”
He stared into his cup. “Why does it matter to you so much? Are you a social worker or something?”
Gus shook his head. “Nope. Just a guy who saw another guy about to make a big mistake.”
He scoffed. “Well, congratulations, you saved a life. Now you can sleep better at night.”
Gus took a sip of his coffee, unfazed. “I don’t want to ‘save’ you. I just want to understand.”
A long silence stretched between them before he exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair. “Fine. You wanna know?”
Gus nodded.
He let out a bitter laugh. “Lost my girlfriend of seven years. I kept messing things up, and she finally had enough. The house we were supposed to buy together? That’s gone too. My job? Fired. I was supposed to be saving for a future, but all I’ve got left is enough to keep me afloat for a few months. My parents don’t even want to talk to me. I’m a disappointment to them. And my friends? They’ve moved on. They have careers, marriages, kids—whole lives I’m not a part of anymore.”
He clenched his jaw. “So, tell me, Gus. What exactly am I supposed to be looking forward to?”
Gus was quiet for a moment. Then, he leaned back in his chair and exhaled. “Damn. That’s rough.”
“No shit.”
“I mean it,” Gus said, stirring his coffee absentmindedly. “That’s a lot for anyone. But… you know, it’s not the end.”
He gave Gus a tired look. “Spare me the ‘it gets better’ speech.”
Gus smirked. “I wasn’t gonna say that. I was gonna say, ‘this sucks.’ And I know because I’ve been there.”
That caught him off guard. “What?”
Gus was quiet for a moment. Then, he leaned back in his chair and exhaled. “Well… what if it was all a lie?”
He frowned. “Huh? What do you mean?”
“What if you’re just imagining things? What if you didn’t mess up your relationship, and she’s just waiting for you to call? What if your job firing you wasn’t a loss, but a push toward something better? You admitted yourself that you were stagnant. What if this is the wake-up call you needed?”
He opened his mouth to argue, but Gus kept going. “Your parents—are they ashamed? Or are they just worried and hoping you’ll find your way? And your friends? Have you even told them what you’re going through? Maybe they’re just unaware because you never reached out.”
The words hit like a slap. He pushed back his chair, his face hardening. “I don’t need solutions from a 22-year-old kid who doesn’t even know me.”
He stormed out.
But later, alone in his small rented apartment, Gus’s words echoed in his mind. What if he had exaggerated everything in his frustration? He still couldn’t bring himself to call his girlfriend, but that night, he updated his resume and started applying for jobs.
The next two weeks were filled with interviews and emails. Suddenly, he had a purpose again. One day, walking to an interview, he ran into an old friend.
“Hey, man! Where’ve you been?” his friend grinned. “Haven’t seen you in ages.”
“Nothing much… just been busy. I lost my job recently, so I’ve been looking for a new one.”
His friend’s face fell. “Dude, why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped! We’re friends for a reason. Do you need anything?”
He smiled, touched by the concern. “Nah, I’m good. Just heading to an interview.”
“That’s awesome! I’m coming with you!”
“Huh? You don’t need to. Don’t you have work?”
“Work can wait. Right now, my friend needs support. Let’s go!”
As he walked back to his apartment after lunch, the realization struck him like a bolt of lightning.
What if Gus was right? What if, in his frustration, he had blown everything out of proportion? What if his own despair had clouded his judgment, making problems seem bigger than they were—blinding him to the solutions that had been there all along?
His breath quickened. His heart pounded. Without thinking, he turned around and ran. Ran through the busy streets, past people going about their lives, ignoring the burning in his legs, the racing of his pulse. He didn’t stop until he was standing in front of her door. He knocked frantically. Seconds passed. The longest seconds of his life.
Then the door opened.
His breath caught at the sight of her—her tired, wary eyes, the hesitation in her expression. Before she could speak, the words spilled out. “I’m sorry.” Her lips parted in shock. For a moment, she just stared at him. Then, suddenly, she let out a shaky breath—and before he knew it, tears welled in her eyes.
“You idiot,” she whispered. And then, she was laughing and crying at the same time, covering her face with her hands.
His chest tightened. “I messed up,” he admitted. “I—I let my frustration consume me. I took it all out on you. On us. And you didn’t deserve that.”
She wiped her tears, sniffling. “No, I didn’t.”
He nodded, swallowing hard. “But I need you to know… I never stopped loving you. Not for a second.”
She exhaled shakily, looking up at him. “Then why did you push me away?”
“Because I felt like a failure,” he admitted. “I lost my job. I had no future. I didn’t know how to fix things, so I shut down. But that wasn’t fair to you.”
She searched his face, her gaze softening. “I never wanted to leave you.”
His throat tightened. “I know.”
Silence settled between them—heavy, yet full of unspoken understanding. Finally, he took a deep breath. “I’ve been applying for jobs. I have interviews lined up. I’m trying to fix things. And I don’t expect you to forgive me right away, but… if you’ll have me, I want to make things right.” For a moment, she didn’t move. Then, slowly, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder. “Of course,” she whispered again. “I promised to be with you through better or worse. I’m not going anywhere.”
He let out a shaky laugh, hugging her tightly. They stayed like that for a long time.
The next morning, he took a deep breath and knocked on another door. His parents’. When his mother opened it, her expression flickered between surprise and hesitation. His father appeared behind her, arms crossed, face unreadable. They hadn’t spoken in months. For a second, he wanted to turn back. But then he thought of Gus’s words. "Have you even talked to them?"
So he stayed.
“Can we talk?” he asked.
His mother hesitated, then stepped aside. “Come in.”
Inside, the air was tense. He could feel the weight of unspoken disappointment, the judgment he had imagined over and over.
But then, his father finally spoke. “Why now?”
His stomach twisted, but he met his father’s gaze. “Because I want to know the truth,” he admitted. “I want to know if you’re really ashamed of me… or if I just assumed you were.”
His father’s eyes flickered with something unreadable.
“We were never ashamed of you,” his mother said quietly. “We were worried.”
His breath hitched. “Then why didn’t you say anything?”
His father sighed. “Because we didn’t know how. And because we wanted you to do better. We just… we didn’t know if pushing you would help or hurt you.”
He swallowed hard. “I felt like I was drowning.”
“We know,” his mother whispered. “And we’re sorry we didn’t reach out sooner.”
A heavy silence followed. But for the first time, it wasn’t suffocating. They talked for hours. And by the time he left, he realized something—his parents hadn’t wanted to see him fail. They had wanted to see him rise.
The next day, he found himself outside the same building where everything had almost ended. He wasn’t looking up at the rooftop this time. He was looking around, searching. And then—there he was. Gus. Sitting at the same café. This time, he was the one to approach. He placed two cups of coffee on the table and slid into the chair across from him. “You were right,” he admitted. Gus smirked. “I usually am.” He huffed a laugh. “I’ve been trying to get back on track. With my life. With my girlfriend. My parents. Everything.” He picked up his coffee, staring into it. “It’s not perfect, but I’m trying.” Gus leaned back, nodding in approval. “That’s all that matters.”
For the first time, he didn’t feel like a failure. He felt… hopeful.
The next six months weren’t easy. He failed interviews. Lost opportunities. Faced rejection after rejection. But this time, he didn’t break. Because he had people standing by him. Not as burdens, but as his support. As a reason to keep pushing forward. And then—finally—it happened. He landed a job. A real, stable, well-paying job. A job that allowed him to save again. Save for the future he thought he had lost.
A few months later, he bought a ring. And as he stood in front of his girlfriend—no, his 'fiancée'—watching her eyes light up with love and disbelief, he realized something. His life wasn’t over. It had only just begun.
Then, one day, he went looking for Gus, wanting to ask him to be his best man. He waited at the coffee shop, and finally, Gus arrived.
He slid a cup of coffee across the table. “My treat,” he said with a small grin.
Gus raised an eyebrow but accepted it. “So,” he mused, “what’s next for you?”
He exhaled, leaning back in his chair. “Keep moving forward. One step at a time.”
Gus studied him for a moment, then nodded in approval.
After a beat of silence, he asked, “Why did you help me that day?”
Gus shrugged. “A couple years ago, I was in a bad place too. Different reasons, but the same feeling—like I had nothing left. I know what it’s like to think there’s no way out.”
He frowned slightly, searching Gus’s face for any sign of insincerity. He found none. “So what changed?”
Gus sighed, a small, knowing smile tugging at his lips. “Someone sat down and had coffee with me.”
For the first time, something in his chest eased.
He looked down at his coffee, the steam curling into the air, and thought,
"Maybe… just maybe… I’ll stick around for another cup."
Before he could ask him to be his best-man, the waitress called his coffee order. He turned for just a second.
When he turned back—Gus was gone. His brows furrowed. He looked around the café, scanning every table, every corner. Nothing. A strange unease settled in his stomach. He turned to the waitress. “Did you see where the guy I was sitting with went?”
She blinked. “Who?”
“The guy sitting right here. Gus.”
She gave him a puzzled look. “Sir, you came in alone.”
His breath caught. “No, I—I was just talking to him. Right here.”
But when he turned to the other customers, they only shrugged. No one had seen Gus.
A slow dread crept through his veins. He rushed to the café manager. “Can I check the security footage?” His voice was barely steady.
Minutes later, he watched the screen. There he was—walking in alone. Sitting alone. Talking to… no one. His heart pounded in his chest. This couldn’t be right. Gus 'was real'. He had to be. He stumbled out of the café, his mind racing.
At home, he told his fiancée everything. She listened, eyes filled with quiet concern, until something seemed to click in her mind. She hesitated, then asked, “Wasn’t your nickname Gus in high school?” His stomach dropped. She pulled out an old photo album, flipping through the pages until she landed on a picture of him from years ago. “And… the way you described him. He looks exactly like you did back then.” His pulse roared in his ears as he stared at the photo.
Gus was him.
It had always been him. Memories rushed back—the way Gus had known exactly what to say, the way no one else had acknowledged him, the way he had pushed him forward when no one else could.
It hadn’t been a stranger who saved him that day on the rooftop.
React
