Chapter 2

He didn’t give me any time to prepare. He simply dumped those words on me, and they exploded beside my ears, leaving them ringing.

“What about before? When you used to treat me so well?” I still couldn’t help asking.

“Because you’re Lily’s friend.”

By the time Lily returned with the doctor, I was alone in the room. I had thrown a fit and chased Ethan out, and the only person who came back with Lily was the doctor.

Chloe had left with Ethan.

I had only met Chloe three times.

The first time was at a bar. I hadn’t seen Ethan in a long time and wanted to sneak over to take a look at him. I had disguised myself from head to toe and hidden in a corner. Chloe had been sitting obediently beside him.

The second time was last night, when I was kissing Ethan on his bed while she watched from outside the door.

The third time was just now, when she had stood behind Ethan.

If I were him, I would choose Chloe too. She was beautiful and obedient. She wasn’t like me, always going against Ethan. If he told me not to do something, I insisted on doing it. If he told me to stay away, I ignored him anyway.

What was I even talking about, choosing?

I had never been one of Ethan’s options.

“Doctor, please check her.” Lily urged the doctor to examine me.

I caught her hand.

“Lily, I’m fine now.”

The doctor spoke from the side.

“You don’t get to decide that. I do.”

After a series of examinations, the doctor concluded, “She’s fine. Get plenty of rest, avoid strenuous exercise for a while, and you can go home.”

Lily finally let out a breath of relief.

After the doctor left, she leaned closer to me.

“You were pretending, weren’t you? You scared me to death.”

“Yeah.”

“Then why did you stop?”

“I couldn’t fool him.”

I knew I couldn’t fool Ethan. I just didn’t know how to face him after what happened last night.

“Now tell me about your heroic feat!”

Heroic was a bit of a stretch. Thinking about it now, the whole thing was ridiculous.

Lily had brought me the news that Ethan was sick. In exchange for buying her dinner at a hot-pot restaurant, I had gotten his house key.

I wanted to take advantage of his weakened state and create the image of an adorable domestic goddess.

I made it into Ethan’s house without a hitch.

I prepared some cold medicine and slipped into his bedroom.

I stood beside his bed, wanting to wake him. But the medicine was too hot, and I figured I should let him sleep a little longer.

Ethan was handsome, with sharp, well-defined features. I liked his high, straight nose the most.

I swear, all I wanted to do was see if he was really asleep.

I reached out and poked his cheek. It was soft, unlike the usual Ethan, who was always so polite and distant. This version of him seemed much more alive.

I couldn’t stop myself from leaning closer, wanting to kiss his cheek.

“Ava, don’t you dare.”

Since Ethan had put it that way, I really wanted to test exactly where his limits were.

I climbed onto his bed and leaned down to kiss his lips, but he dodged me.

We remained locked in that awkward position.

The bedroom door was open. I vaguely heard the lock turning.

“Ethan…”