Chapter 2

The smile on Ethan’s face froze.

He looked at me in disbelief. "What did you say?"

"You know I'm..."

I knew what he wanted to say. He wanted to say he was allergic, right?

But since he was the one who opened his mouth to play savior, he should bear the consequences.

So, I didn't give him a chance to finish.

I smiled at his classmates. "He's a man. Ten glasses shouldn't be a problem, right?"

I didn't know if these classmates truly didn't know about his allergy, or if they had simply forgotten.

No one brought it up.

Hearing my words, though they looked a bit awkward, they quickly chimed in.

"Yeah! Yeah, Valerie is right!"

"Ethan, if you're going to drink for Chloe, you gotta make it count. Drink up!"

Soon, the others started cheering.

They chanted, "Chug! Chug! Chug!"

Ethan was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't drink, but he couldn't back down either.

I sat back down, a mocking smile on my face.

I wanted to see how he was going to get out of this mess.

Before Ethan could figure out an excuse, Chloe started defending him.

"Aren't you being way too cruel?"

Realizing she was talking to me, I raised an eyebrow.

How amusing.

The people who pressured her to drink weren't cruel, but I, the wife of the man trying to save her, was suddenly the cruel one.

Seeing that I remained silent, she grew even more self-righteous.

"As Ethan's wife, you don't even care about his health. Instead, you're joining them to peer pressure him. How can you be so malicious?"

"Ethan is such a good guy. How did he end up marrying someone like you?"

Then, she turned to Ethan with a look of pure pity.

"Ethan, if I were your wife, I would never treat you like this."

"Your taste in women is really terrible!"

Her tone sounded like she was lecturing him, but her face was filled with heartbreaking sympathy.

I remembered how, in the past, whenever my relatives criticized me, Ethan would always stand up and defend me instantly.

But today, he didn't say a single word to defend me.

I didn't know what he was thinking, but I knew his heart was wavering.

We had been married for three years. Saying I wasn't hurt would be a lie.

But the thing I hated most was trying to fix a man.

Making him admit he was wrong, apologize, promise never to do it again, and then fall into a endless cycle of disappointment—that was not my style.

Dating or marriage, if it works, it works. If it doesn't, we move on.

Marriage has conflicts, yes. But I always believed that arguing was a waste of time and energy.

If communication failed, I would simply stop communicating.

Besides, in my eyes, a man who still pined over his "first love" was pathetic.

So, the moment I realized Ethan was wavering, I had already given up on him.

Snapping out of my thoughts, I said calmly, "Since you think I'm so malicious, Chloe, why don't you drink it yourself?"

"Fine! I will!"

She walked over to Ethan, trying to grab the glass from his hand.

I curled my lips in amusement.

There was a glass right in front of her, yet she insisted on taking the one from Ethan's hand. Her intentions were glaringly obvious.

Sure enough, Ethan stopped her.

He looked at me and said, "Valerie, you're a woman too. How can you force another woman to drink?"

"I said I'd drink it for her, and I will."

With that, he threw his head back and downed the glass.

The moment he set it down, I thoughtfully poured him a second glass.

Ethan's face was incredibly pale, but he kept drinking, glass after glass.

When he finished the tenth glass, I finally stopped.

"Alright, now that the drinks are finished, I'll head out first. Enjoy your reunion."