Chapter 2

My fingertips hovered over the screen.

I stared at Ethan’s pinned contact on Snapchat for a long time.

The nickname was her name: Vivian.

But they had broken up five years ago.

Ethan stiffened beside me, then spoke in a low voice:

"She said she had an emergency, so I just lent it to her..."

Clutching the phone, I looked up to meet his eyes.

"What kind of emergency requires you to send exactly $5,200?"

"Don't tell me you forgot what those numbers mean to us, Ethan."

He didn't answer.

I bit my lip, forcing myself to stay calm.

With trembling hands, I tapped on the chat.

There were only simple, brief greetings between them. They barely talked.

But every once in a while, Ethan would send her money.

He even thoughtfully added notes for each holiday.

He had never missed a single one.

It felt like a giant hand was squeezing my heart.

It hurt so much I could barely breathe.

Ethan and I had been together for five years.

He always told me he hated celebrating holidays.

He didn't even bother giving me any sense of romance on our anniversaries.

I thought he was just a simple, unromantic guy, so I never pushed him.

But looking at his consistent holiday wishes and the countless transfers to her...

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

"Ethan, if you never let her go, why did you start dating me?"

He stared at me and denied it firmly.

"No."

"There's really nothing between us anymore."

Such a pathetic lie. I didn't know who he was trying to convince.

I ignored his excuse and asked again, "Then tell me, why did you send her that money?"

Again, he remained silent.

The chat history went back to 2018.

We started dating in August that year.

They had added each other back on Snapchat in September and started talking.

All the romance and effort he never gave me...

Was just their daily routine.

Seeing my silence, he grabbed my hand.

"Elena, you're the one I love now."

"As for her, it's just guilt."

"I messed up when we broke up, and I promised I'd make it up to her by giving her the special treatment she wanted."

I froze.

"All this time... why did you lie to me?"

"I was just afraid you'd overthink things..."

My nails dug into my palms, sending a sharp, stinging pain through me.

"Ethan, if you didn't do anything wrong, why would you worry about me overthinking?"

"What is really going on between you two?"

Even though we were standing face-to-face, he only offered silence.

I let out a self-deprecating laugh, turned around, and walked away.

But Ethan grabbed me from behind.

"She and I are ancient history. Please trust me, okay?"

"You know you're the only one in my heart."

I didn't know, and I didn't want to know anymore.

My eyes burned with tears.

Our highly anticipated New Year’s Eve ended in absolute misery.

My mind was a mess. I didn't know what to do.

I just wanted to get out of there.

But before I could take two steps, my vision began to blur and darken.

Before I could process what was happening,

Everything went black, and I collapsed.

The last thing I heard was Ethan’s panicked voice.

Then, nothing.

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