5
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 1, 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.
回
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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 ther
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.”
