Chapter 4

When I woke up the next morning, the space beside me was cold.

But there was a glass of warm water on the nightstand.

I got out of bed and walked to the kitchen, where I found Ethan busy cooking.

"You're awake! Come, sit down and eat. I made your favorite oatmeal."

I sat at the table, looking at the peeled boiled egg and the steaming bowl of oatmeal.

For a second, it felt like yesterday was just a bad dream.

It felt like he still loved me...

Ethan walked over with a bright smile and pulled a small velvet box from his pocket.

"Chloe, we've been together so long, we don't need cheesy speeches."

He took out a delicate diamond ring and slid it onto my ring finger.

Before yesterday, I had dreamed of this moment a thousand times.

But now, only a bitter ache filled my chest. Tears welled up in my eyes.

Ethan thought I was crying tears of joy. He wrapped his arms around me and whispered, "Chloe, don't cry."

When I was twenty, my father passed away, and my mother fell seriously ill. The sudden tragedy had left me broken, crying myself to sleep every night.

It was Ethan who had run around helping me handle everything, staying by my side.

Every night, he would hold me just like this, patting my back and whispering, "Chloe, don't cry. I'm here. I'll always be here for you."

Those memories wrapped around my heart like thorns, squeezing until I could barely breathe.

Finally, I couldn't help but whisper into his ear:

"Ethan, why did you stop loving me? What does Maya have that I don't? You loved me first..."

"Chloe, what did you say? I didn't catch that."

Suddenly, the phone on the marble table lit up.

Ethan instantly let go of me and grabbed his phone. The screen’s glow illuminated a subtle, happy smile on his face.

We were less than five inches apart.

I saw it clearly.

The contact name of the person texting him was labeled "Babe," with a heart emoji.

Her chat was pinned to the top of his Snapchat, highlighted in grey.

My chat was unpinned, buried at the bottom.

"I need to take care of something. Eat up, okay?"

With that, he took his phone and walked straight into his home office, never looking back.

After a long moment, I looked down at my hand and tried to twist the ring off.

It was a bit too small.

It got stuck on my knuckle, throbbing with pain.

I tried several times but couldn't get it off. Looking at my red, swollen finger, I gave up and slumped over the table, weeping silently.

I didn't stop until a text notification confirmed my flight booking.

I saved the screenshot of the ticket and began packing my bags.

As I walked past his office, I saw Ethan through the crack in the door. He was holding his phone directly to his right ear, looking incredibly focused, as if he didn't want to miss a single syllable of Maya’s voice note.

Once, when I was in a rush, I had sent Ethan a voice note instead of a text.

That was the first time he had ever yelled at me.

"Chloe, you know my hearing is bad! Why are you sending me voice notes? Can you show some respect for my condition?!"

He had ignored me for a whole week after that.

Since then, I never dared send him another voice note.

Yet here he was, playing Maya's voice note over and over again, smiling.