In the seventh year of my relationship with Ethan Shaw, his long-dead first love “came back to life.” He reunited with her and spent every day by her side. The once arrogant Ethan would now bend down to tie her shoelaces when no one was looking, and his eyes would turn red with concern when she pricked her finger. At that moment, I knew my relationship with Ethan had come to an end. I boarded a plane to leave, but that flight crashed later that night, with no survivors among the hundred-plus passengers. When Ethan heard the news, he went mad, holding my clothes and crying day and night with regret. But what he didn’t know was that I never got on that plane. I had just finished showering when I received a text from Ethan’s best friend. “Sis, Ethan’s had a bit too much to drink. Could you come pick him up?” The location was a bar they frequented. Ethan had taken me there before, but I didn’t like such noisy environments, so more often than not, I just went to pick up a drunk Ethan. I replied, “Sure, I’ll be right there.” I quickly changed and headed out. At the bar, someone led me to the VIP room on the top floor. The decor was luxurious, and only the rich and powerful could access the top floor. The door to the room was slightly ajar, but instead of the expected noise, it was eerily quiet inside. Suspicious, I pushed the door open. Suddenly, there was a “pop,” and confetti rained down from above. Soft music filled the air, and the floor was covered with heart-shaped candles. I looked up to see Ethan standing not far away, holding a bouquet of red roses and gazing at me lovingly. “Natalie, will you marry me?” He walked towards me, one step at a time, then knelt on one knee. He took out a ring from his pocket and held it up to me. The friends in the room started to cheer, chanting in unison, “Say yes! Say yes!” My eyes welled up with tears. I had imagined this scene countless times. Him in a suit, holding roses, walking towards me, proposing in front of our friends, with their blessings. We had walked this path for seven whole years. “I wi-” Before I could finish saying “I will,” this romantic atmosphere was shattered by the sound of breaking bottles. The room was dimly lit, and we heard a waiter frantically apologizing. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to.” “What kind of clumsy waiter did they hire? Just fire them already,” someone grumbled, scaring the waiter so much that they fell to their knees. “Please don’t fire me. I’m sorry. How much was the wine? I’ll pay for it. Please don’t report this to the manager.” Not wanting to be too hard on the waiter, I quickly said, “It’s okay, you don’t need to pay. You can go now.” But they didn’t move, just kept crying on their knees. After a while, it started to get annoying. The commotion soon reached the manager’s ears. He didn’t dare delay and came running, knowing he couldn’t afford to offend the VIP guests. “I’m terribly sorry, gentlemen. It’s our fault. All the drinks in the room tonight are on the house.” The manager was very polite, bowing and apologizing as soon as he entered. We were all easy-going and not short on money, so a few bottles of wine weren’t worth making a big fuss over. But some of Ethan’s friends loved to play around. They opened a bottle of beer and put it on the table, smirking at the waiter. “Drink this whole bottle, and we’ll let it go. In fact, I’ll even give you a thousand bucks.” The female waiter was about to refuse when the manager scolded her, “Lily, drink up and apologize to these gentlemen.” “What did you say her name was?” Ethan, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up coldly. His voice was trembling slightly. Someone turned on the lights, and everyone gasped. Because the waiter’s face was identical to Ethan’s “deceased” first love.
“Lily? You’re Lily? Are you human or ghost?” someone who knew Lily exclaimed. I didn’t know Lily, but I had heard about her history with Ethan. While everyone was still questioning whether Lily was real or not, Ethan suddenly pushed me aside and rushed over to her. It happened so suddenly that I lost my balance and fell to the ground, my palm landing directly on some broken glass. Blood immediately started flowing. “Is it really you, Lily? How are you here?” Ethan’s eyes were red as he held Lily tightly in his arms, completely ignoring me on the side, injured. The pain in my heart was far more lethal than the pain in my hand. “Bro, your girlfriend is still here,” the guy who had been joking earlier reminded Ethan quietly. To everyone’s surprise, Ethan then picked up the bottle of beer from the table and smashed it over the guy’s head without hesitation. “Get your medical expenses from Shaw Corp. As for our previous business deal, consider it void.” His eyes were filled with coldness. Though he didn’t spell it out, everyone present could hear the warning in his tone. The man had just been giving Lily a hard time, and Ethan was making an example of him, showing that even after seven years, Lily’s place in his heart remained unshakeable. No one in the room dared to speak, and no one came to help me up. Lily had been kneeling where there was broken glass too, and now her knees were bleeding. Without a word, Ethan took off his jacket and draped it over Lily’s shoulders. Then, in front of everyone, he put his arm around her waist and picked her up. Lily curled up in his arms, her slender body shaking with sobs, evoking sympathy from those around. This intimate scene was like a knife twisting in my eyes. He left in a hurry, only giving me a calm glance and saying flatly, “Lily’s hurt. You can go home by yourself.”
After getting bandaged at the hospital, I returned home and sat on the sofa until three in the morning before Ethan finally came back, with Lily in tow. He carried Lily straight upstairs, completely ignoring me on the sofa. “Ethan, put me down. Your wife is still here,” Lily reminded him softly, and only then did Ethan pause and look over. “Your knee just got bandaged. Don’t move around,” Ethan patiently coaxed Lily, and afraid of upsetting her, he added, “We’re not married yet. She’s not my wife.” He distanced himself from me completely, his indifferent expression as if he had never known me. The romantic proposal scene from yesterday seemed like a dream I had. I looked up at the two of them. They looked like a loving couple, while I was the intruder, out of place. Suppressing the pain in my heart, I smiled softly and said, “Ethan, I accepted your proposal yesterday.” Ethan’s body stiffened, and he looked troubled. Before, he had been afraid I wouldn’t accept his proposal. Now, he was afraid that I had accepted it. He didn’t answer me immediately. Instead, he lowered his gaze and gently comforted Lily in his arms, “Be good. I’ll take you to your room to rest first. I’ll handle things here.” Throughout all this, he never once looked at me, either out of guilt or disgust. I think he must have been disgusted with me. Ethan wouldn’t feel guilty; he would only blame my existence for interfering with his freedom with Lily. After a while, Ethan finally came down from upstairs and sat across from me. We once had countless intimate moments, but now it felt like an entire galaxy separated us. “What’s the deal with Lily?” I asked. “Natalie, let’s not rush into the wedding,” he said softly. I knew why, but I still asked, “Because of her? Are you planning to marry her?” “Lily’s not in a good emotional state. I’m afraid of upsetting her. She’s suffered a lot these years, and I want to make it up to her.” Although I already had the answer in my heart, hearing Ethan say it out loud still made my heart clench painfully. Tears welled up uncontrollably. I’m not the cool, calm protagonist from a novel. I’m just an ordinary person who cries and becomes hysterical when faced with betrayal from the one I love. “Ethan, why are you doing this to me? You feel sorry for her, but do you feel sorry for me? We’ve been together for seven years! The wedding invitations have already been sent out, and now you want to postpone our marriage for her? Should I step down and give the bride’s position to her?” “Natalie! Keep your voice down. Lily is still sleeping. This has nothing to do with her! It’s me who wants to make amends!” Ethan pinched the bridge of his nose, looking extremely impatient. My emotions exploded, and I raised my hand to slap Ethan. But before my hand could land, a small figure rushed forward and stood in front of Ethan. I couldn’t stop in time, and that slap landed hard on Lily’s face. I had put all my strength into that slap. It made Lily cry, and it also shattered the years of love between Ethan and me.
“Slap!” Almost instantly, Ethan raised his hand and slapped me hard. The taste of blood spread in my mouth, and the ringing in my ears momentarily drowned out Ethan’s curses. I only saw him protectively shielding Lily behind him. “Natalie, have you gone mad? How could you become like this? You’re acting like a shrew!” I heard this sentence clearly. I stood there, stunned, holding my face and staring at the man before me. This man, who once protected me like a precious treasure and wouldn’t let even a hair on my head be harmed, had now hit me for Lily’s sake. He drove me to madness, silently watched me go mad, and then stood on his high horse to accuse me of being a shrew. But he forgot that it was once my goodness and innocence that had attracted him. “It’s my fault. It’s my appearance that caused discord between you. Ms. Chen, if you have any grievances, take them out on me. It has nothing to do with Ethan. He’s a good person. I shouldn’t have appeared,” Lily cried in Ethan’s arms, repeatedly apologizing to me. She was naturally pure-looking, and even after all these years, her crying face still looked pitiful and heart-wrenching. “Don’t cry, Lily. It’s not your fault,” Ethan gently kissed away the tears at the corners of her eyes, patiently comforting her. “No, it’s my fault. Ethan, I shouldn’t have survived. It would have been better if I had died seven years ago.” The incident from seven years ago had always been a painful memory for Ethan. He shook his head and held Lily tightly in his arms. “Natalie, you should move out for now. Lily can’t take any more shocks,” Ethan said to me seriously after comforting Lily. His eyes were filled with countless emotions, but love wasn’t one of them. “Ethan, let’s break up,” I sighed lightly. I thought Ethan would try to stop me, but when I said those words, he visibly relaxed, his whole demeanor becoming more at ease. “As you wish. Don’t regret it later.”
I moved out of Ethan’s place that very day. Ironically, after seven years, everything I could take with me fit into a single suitcase. As compensation, Ethan gave me a villa in the East District. I didn’t refuse, but I didn’t move in either. Instead, I immediately put it up for sale. That area was prime real estate, and the house attracted many potential buyers as soon as it was listed. In the end, it sold for over a million dollars. With that money, I rented an apartment in a remote neighborhood far from the city center. On the first day I moved in, I installed a hidden camera at the entrance. I knew it would come in handy someday. Since I left Ethan, he and Lily have been constantly trending on social media, either caught kissing on the streets late at night or showing affection in public. Even I, the ex-girlfriend, was dug up by netizens. Some sympathized with me for wasting seven years, some mocked me for being a homewrecker, and others envied me for getting a huge breakup settlement that would set me up for life. But the buzz came and went quickly, and it didn’t affect me much either way. Ethan called me a few times in between, but I put my phone on silent and deliberately didn’t answer. I didn’t expect him to show up at my doorstep. The door was being knocked so hard it seemed like it might break. I irritably opened it to find Ethan standing there with a dark expression. “Natalie, you’re getting bolder. You sold the villa to live in this dump?” “We’ve broken up. Where I live is none of your business, is it?” These days, I’ve slowly come to accept the fact that I’m not loved, and facing Ethan, though there’s still pain inside, I’ve become much calmer. “If I hadn’t gone to the East District to look for you, I wouldn’t have known you sold the house the day we broke up! Natalie, have I ever let you want for money in all our time together?” He specially came to find me, it seems there’s something important. “Is there something you need? If not, please leave. This dump is too small to accommodate your majesty.” I made a move to close the door, but Ethan stopped it with his hand. “Next week, I’m planning to hold a press conference to announce my engagement to Lily. But I hope you can be there to make a statement that we broke up due to incompatibility, and it has nothing to do with Lily.” I couldn’t help but laugh, and as I laughed, tears started to flow uncontrollably. He made me feel like a joke. Asking me to make a statement to justify their relationship, did he hit his head, or did I? “Ethan, I really want to know, in these seven years, did you ever love me at all?” If there was even a moment of love, he wouldn’t keep stabbing my heart like this over and over again. Ethan was silent for a long time. Finally, he looked at me apologetically, “Natalie, I tried. I just couldn’t fall in love with you.”
In the end, I didn’t go to the press conference. That day, all major platforms were live streaming the event. Ethan appeared on screen in a suit, holding Lily’s hand. In the time since I last saw her, Lily had transformed completely, looking exquisite and beautiful in a haute couture dress. A handsome man and a beautiful woman, plus the first love storyline, moved everyone present with their touching love story. I turned off the TV and threw on a jacket, planning to go downstairs for something to eat. Although where I lived wasn’t as upscale, there was a street food alley right downstairs, full of local flavor. I ate and drank my fill before leisurely heading home. The facilities in my neighborhood were old, and the street lights usually flickered. Today, they had given up working altogether. I’m quite afraid of the dark, so I quickened my pace. Just as I reached the entrance of my building, a dark figure blocked my way. I shone my flashlight on him – it was Ethan’s good friend, the one who had his head smashed at the bar that day. “I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, Natalie,” he said. The wound on his head hadn’t healed yet, looking particularly horrifying in the darkness. I took a few steps back. “How did you know I was here? What do you want?” I didn’t have much interaction with the people around Ethan. They were wary of him, so they usually just called me “sis” for show when we met. Only this man would let his gaze linger on me unscrupulously. He smiled lecherously, approaching me step by step. “Of course someone told me your address. Sis, oh no, Natalie, I’ve always liked you. Now that you’ve broken up with Ethan, why don’t you be with me? I don’t mind picking up his used goods.” My stomach churned, and I almost threw up everything I had eaten earlier. “I’m sorry, but I think I’m going to be sick. Could you please stay away from me?” Instead of backing off, he came closer, even reaching out to touch my face.
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