Chapter 2
On the weekend, Ethan left early in the morning.
I drove behind him, not too far or too close, watching as he walked into a flower shop. He carefully selected a bouquet of roses, chatting and gesturing with the florist.
It was a beautiful bouquet of roses, fresh and glistening with water droplets.
I smiled. As I kept smiling, tears started to fall without me realizing it.
Honestly, I love flowers too.
I once said that love should begin with a bouquet of flowers, but Ethan scoffed and told me flowers were impractical and a waste of money.
How I longed for the day he’d walk up to me, holding a bouquet and smiling, saying, “Here, I knew you’d like these.”
But now, he was holding a carefully
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wrapped bouquet, meant for another
woman.
Turns out, he knew how to buy flowers and pick them out so meticulously, just not for
- me.
Even though I knew deep down what the final outcome would be.
I knew how humiliating it would be.
But I stubbornly wanted to see it with my
own eyes.
I was still holding onto a tiny shred of hope.
Ethan walked into a Western restaurant. As soon as he stepped in, the girl bounced over to him, wrapping her arm around his and happily taking the flowers.
Ethan gently brushed a stray lock of hair from her forehead.
The two walked into the restaurant, leaning close, looking like the perfect couple.
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Watching their backs, my nose began to sting again.
I sat in the car silently, watching them through the window as they ate.
Thankfully, the mirror was clear, and I could see every bit of their affectionate
moment.
Ethan, who had been so short–tempered with me lately. He had yelled at me so many times, and now he was speaking softly to someone else.
When I saw Ethan, like a magician, pull a necklace from his bag, the girl’s smile grew even bigger as she walked over to him. She playfully asked him to put it on her.
I closed my eyes. I couldn’t watch anymore.
He was putting in so much effort.
So much that I couldn’t even feel jealous anymore.
I leaned back in my seat, and suddenly, my phone rang.
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“I won’t be coming home ton
ike
Nathan out for dinner,” he said. In the background, I could hear a playful voice.
I didn’t respond, but I couldn’t stop the sting in my nose.
Suddenly, Ethan looked up, directly at me.
His voice turned cold immediately, the smile vanishing from his face.
“You’re following me?
“Chloe, have you forgotten everything I’ve told you? Can’t you stop being so paranoid?”
I gave a quiet “hmm” and rolled up the window.
Seeing that I didn’t say anything, Ethan’s tone softened a little.
“Just go home. Luna and I are here to discuss work. Don’t overthink it.”
“What kind of work requires bringing flowers?
You won’t even bother making up a decent
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lie. You’re just so dismissive of me.”
“Ding.”
I looked at the private message, and my expression slowly changed.
[Chloe, I know who you are. The one who’s unloved is the real third wheel. Just go take care of Nathan and stop interrupting our date.]
[Oh, did you see it? He gave me a new gift.. It’s Bvlgari, you know.]
I could almost picture her smug expression.
How pleased with herself she must have been.
I quickly looked up, and Luna was deliberately showing off the gift box through the window, grinning boldly.
It was Bvlgari.
After searching all over the house for the Bvlgari necklace Ethan had given me, I
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finally opened the cabinet, clinging to a shred of hope. But it was completely empty. I let out a bitter laugh, gripping the empty shelf.
How could he?!
How could he give my anniversary gift to the woman he’s seeing on the side?!
Back then, he had tossed the beautifully wrapped box on the table and carelessly said to me, “A client gave it to me. You lucked out.”
I’d been so happy, jumping up from the couch, not even noticing his tone. I admired the necklace from every angle, thrilled beyond belief.
He didn’t understand why I was so happy.
It was the first gift he had ever given me, and the only one.
I cherished it so much that I didn’t even want to wear it.
But now, even that doesn’t belong to me
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anymore.
My childhood friend called. Her voice was uneasy, trembling as she spoke, “Chloe, can you… handle this?”
I had asked her to look into this for me, and she did. She probed his friends for information, and now she had the answers.
“Tell me.
“I can handle it.”
I listened in silence.
It turned out that his coworkers had known all along. They had all been making excuses for Ethan, trying to downplay the whole thing.
One of them had said on the phone, “Chloe, all men are like this. You just have to be more understanding…”
He didn’t even finish before my friend. snapped at him.
“Chloe, I’m on your side.”
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My friend said firmly.
I listened as she told me that Ethan often
met Luna at the coffee shop downstairs during his lunch breaks.
He even took time off work to go on vacation with her to Manville.
Tears slid down my collar as I tilted my head back. I was unable to hold back the bitterness any longer.
Manville.
I had mentioned so many times that I wanted to go, and now Ethan had actually gone, but not with me.
They had kept me in the dark, all of them lying to me together.
What a united front they had.
They preserved their friendships, and the only one left hurt was me, someone they didn’t even care about.
I took a deep breath and sincerely thanked
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her for helping me.
I opened Luna’s social media page and saw that she had criticized the meals I made,
pointing out flaws, even though she had eaten every bite.
Over three hundred videos, over three hundred meals.
No wonder Ethan’s taste had suddenly changed, asking me to add more chili to lunch.
No wonder he’d started giving me detailed
menus.
It was all because she liked it.
