Chapter 5

I received five stitches in the emergency room.

As the needle threaded through my flesh, I didn't make a sound. The nurse told me I had an incredible pain tolerance; I just offered a faint, bitter smile.

Compared to the invisible wounds tearing my chest apart, this physical sting was nothing.

Ethan texted me later that evening.

He didn't ask how I was, nor did he ask why I was on the floor. Instead, he demanded that I come play along in another charade.

He said Scarlett had been severely traumatized by what she heard. He needed me to look her in the eye and tell her Ethan really was Julian, that I had just been talking crazy out of jealousy.

Staring at those cold words on the screen, an icy numbness washed over me. The very last ember of affection in my heart died out.

He didn't care about me at all. That was why he felt comfortable making me wait forever, why he could look past my bleeding body, and why he could brazenly ask me to throw away my remaining dignity just to maintain his lie.

I typed a few words, then deleted them. In the end, I sent nothing.

Suddenly, I remembered that today was our five-year anniversary.

Five years ago, on this exact day, he had asked me out. He stood outside my office building holding a bouquet of roses in the bitter late-November wind, waiting for three hours.

When I finally walked down, his face was pale from the cold, but his smile was blinding. *Nora, will you be my girlfriend?*

Back then, the light in his eyes had been genuine.

Back then, I truly believed we would last forever.

***

On the other side of town, Ethan was in a foul mood.

He had given Nora the silent treatment for six whole days.

Usually, by the third or fourth day of a fight, she would cave. She would send a tentative message asking, *When are you coming home?* But this time, she had stayed completely silent.

No calls, no texts, and her social media was as dead as still water.

"Julian, what are you thinking about?" Scarlett asked, clutching a pillow on the sofa. Her breathing was steady now, her episode seemingly past.

"Nothing," Ethan forced a gentle smile. "Scarlett, what do you want for dinner? I'll have the cook make it."

"I want your glazed ribs."

"Alright."

He walked into the kitchen, setting his phone casually on the counter.

The screen lit up.

He snatched it up almost instantly—

Only to see a generic news notification.

It wasn't Nora.

He set the phone down with an irritated scoff and rinsed the meat.

...What was her deal?

Was she really not going to reach out to him?

She was the one responsible for Scarlett's breakdown at the boutique. He had only asked her to apologize, yet she completely ignored him. What was that supposed to mean? Did she honestly think she was in the right?

The more he thought about it, the more annoyed he became. Once Scarlett fell asleep, he called a few of his buddies to grab drinks at a lounge.

In the VIP booth, someone casually asked what date it was. That was when Ethan suddenly realized: today was Nora's birthday.

The day she had insisted on getting their marriage license.

*No wonder she hasn't reached out,* he thought with a smug smirk. *She's holding out, waiting for me to back down first.*

"Hey Ethan, you still haven't patched things up with Nora?" one of his friends asked.

"She threw an insane jealous fit this time and ended up hurting Scarlett. I'm just letting her sit with it to teach her a lesson."

"Bro, you guys have been together for five years. Don't push her too far. What if she actually walks away?"

Ethan let out an arrogant scoff. "She won't. She can't live without me."

Nora loved him so deeply. How could she ever leave?

This time was no different. In a few days, she would come to her senses on her own.

When that time came, he would buy her a gift, say a few sweet words, and this whole mess would blow over.

"Holy shit!"

A friend sitting next to him suddenly gasped, staring at his phone. "Nora just posted photos of two marriage certificates!"