In the seventh year of our relationship, I found Ethan’s finsta. Every single post was a diary of his romantic life. 【My girl wore a pink sweater today. So cute! I just wanted to hold her and kiss her to death!】 【Sang my new song for her, and she actually praised me! I’m over the moon! Bursting with happiness!】 【Bought her a pink diamond. The way she smiled, oh my god. Yes, yes, yes! I’ll buy my baby whatever she wants!】 【Second day of the tour. Missing my girl so much. No motivation without her. My sweet, soft girl.】 The comment section was full of people gaggling over the romance. 【Omg, Ethan looks so badass and aloof on the outside, but he’s low-key whipped privately.】 【Lol, some people act like they don’t care about their girl in public, but inside they’re thinking: I am her loyal dog!】 A friend forwarded the post to me, teasing. "Wow, you guys are living a romance novel privately, huh?" I slowly scrolled through every single message he had posted. After a long moment, I replied to my friend. 【I don’t own a pink sweater.】 Chapter 1 Actually, I had worn one once. During those years I was chasing Ethan, I heard from somewhere that he liked the "soft girl" aesthetic. I never liked pink. But that one time, I deliberately wore a pink sweater and ran across campus in the dead of winter to bring him lunch. To look pretty, I hadn't worn a coat. I was pale from the cold. Ethan came out of the practice room half an hour late. He lazily looked me up and down, from head to toe. He crossed his arms and let out a snicker. "Maya Thorne, you look like a pink pig." Amidst the burst of laughter from the people around him, I fled. I never wore pink again after that day. On my phone, my friend’s messages arrived, an awkward attempt to smooth things over. 【Maya, don't overthink it.】 【Maybe he hated it exteriorly but loved it interiorly.】 【We all know what Ethan is like.】 True. Back in college, Ethan was famous for being a jerk with an attitude. As my roommate put it, "He’s a total ten, but it’s a shame he’s not mute." Almost every girl who tried to pursue him was brutally shut down. Only I was different. He criticized my outfits, he criticized my home-cooked meals, and he criticized me for clinging to him all day long. Yet, during college parties, he would still call out to me with a cold face as I sat in the corner. "Hey, come sit over here." Later, he became a superstar. At his first arena concert, with ten thousand people watching. He sang an entire love song while looking directly in my direction. Then the camera panned to me. The young man looked exquisite and serious. "I’d like to introduce everyone." "The leading lady of my life." The spotlights were so bright I could barely open my eyes. I only remember that amidst the deafening screams, he was smiling at me. As soon as he got off stage, his manager chewed him out. "Do you even want your fans? Do you want a career?" He leaned against the wall, smiling carelessly. "You don't understand. My girl is high-maintenance and sensitive. If I don’t make it clear publicly, there will be hell to pay later." Ethan’s career did stall for a few years because of that. It didn't pick up again until last year when his new song won a major award. However, the person presenting the award to him was a junior colleague who used to be far less successful than him. That guy had broken up with his girlfriend of ten years for his career and then soared to stardom. So, a reporter asked Ethan if he regretted that public disclosure years ago. "I don't regret it." Ethan showed the necklace on his collarbone to the camera. It was a birthday gift I had bought him after working as a food delivery driver for five months. He had once said this necklace was more precious than any trophy. But… In his latest mirror selfie, where his face was hidden. The necklace around his neck had been replaced with a Hello Kitty cartoon pendant. He had once said such things were too effeminate and childish. Yet now. He was practically bouncing with joy online. 【Bought matching couple necklaces with my girl!】 2 I sat in the living room all night. Scrolling through his finsta over and over. He said the desserts she made were delicious. But the cake I spent an entire morning baking for him, he had only glanced at before throwing it into the trash right in front of my face. He praised her for being lively, outgoing, and good at socializing. But when I barely spoke two sentences to someone else, he would sneer, "Feeling the need to show off again?" He meticulously prepared gifts for her—for the first day they met, the first week, the first month. The man who usually had no patience would sit at a crafting table for an entire day. 【I’m so happy just thinking about my girl getting this gift! Her eyes will light up, she's too cute!】 And today was my thirtieth birthday. Ethan didn't even come home. I waited for him until midnight, then couldn't help but call him. It took a long time before he picked up. The music over there was deafening, a mix of men's and women's laughter clashing together. "I told you I’m busy, stop annoying me!" "Huh? Your birthday is today?" "...I forgot." I remained silent, clicking open his finsta. Ten minutes ago, he had posted: 【I don’t want to go home.】 3 Ethan didn't get home until almost dawn. The sound of the door opening echoed. The smell of alcohol mixed with heavy perfume rushed over me. Then I saw him leaning against the doorframe. He was typing on his phone. Noticing the light in the living room, he glanced at me, then looked back down at his phone. "Still awake?" "Yeah." Ethan gave an indifferent "Oh," still looking down at his screen. I don't know what the person on the other end said, but he involuntarily let out a helpless smile. I just sat on the sofa, quietly watching him. After probably three to five minutes, Ethan realized I hadn't left yet. He put away his phone, rubbed his nose, frowned, and looked up at me. "Still not going to sleep?" "I..." "Good timing, actually." He interrupted me, sitting down right beside me, issuing a natural command. "Go make me a cup of tea." To protect Ethan’s voice, I had specifically learned to make many types of herbal wellness teas. Ethan always said they tasted terrible, but he would frown and drink them anyway. Except for this time. I brought the tea over. He took a sip, turned around, and poured the entire cup into a planter. "Tsk. You’re getting worse and worse at this." The burn on my finger where the hot water had splashed throbbed with stinging pain. I kept my head down and didn't speak. I thought again about the words I had seen on his finsta. 【My girl burned dinner today, but I ate every single bite!】 I suddenly felt that all of this was a bit pointless. "I'm going to the bedroom." "Hey!" Ethan called out to me from behind. I turned around. A palm-sized box was thrown at my chest. I instinctively winced from the impact. He frowned with a bit of annoyance, then turned his head away. "Happy birthday." Inside the box was a matching cartoon pendant to his. A stupid-looking plush bear was grinning widely. 4 "See? I told you the person on the finsta was you." My friend came to see me the next day. She saw the pendant and comforted me with absolute certainty. "Ethan is just like that—harsh mouth, soft heart." "If he really didn’t like you, how could he stay with you for all these years?" "Look at his performance a couple of days ago. Because he was worried you'd be upset, he kept an ocean of space between him and his female co-performer." "And look at the staff around him. Is there even a single woman?" "People outside say he’s a sexist. His manager told him to hire a few women to calm the public outrage, and he absolutely refused to do it." "You, sweetie, are just overthinking it." I couldn't say anything to refute her. But a woman's intuition always told me something was wrong. Like how a childish, exaggerated cartoon pendant hung against silk pajamas. It looked completely out of place no matter how you looked at it. My friend sighed, looking at me. "How about this? You check up on him right now." "That’s probably not a good idea." I refused almost instinctively. Ethan absolutely despised me checking up on him. I had made a few calls when I was worried before. Every single time, it ended in a massive screaming match. He said I didn't trust him, that I was disrupting his work. Once, he had even smashed a glass in front of a room full of people, screaming that I was a lunatic. "Maya Thorne! Can you just get out!" "It’s not like that anymore." My friend held her phone up to my face. On the screen was a finsta post from Ethan. 【My girl is checking up on me again!】 【She’s such a little idiot, she has zero faith in how much I love her.】 【But I really love how she gets all worked up over me.】 【Praying that my girl checks up on me every single day.】 The comment section was full of "I’m dying of cuteness" emojis. I hesitated for a moment, but in the end, I took the phone and dialed Ethan’s number. It rang once and was picked up. Ethan’s tone wasn't exactly warm, but hearing me ask what he was doing, he didn't hang up on the spot. "Playing tennis with my assistant." The sound of a tennis ball hitting the court came through the phone line. Ethan loved sports. He always made time to play two or three days a week. His assistant, Leo, was someone I knew. A college kid who had recently graduated, good family background, straight. I gave a slightly embarrassed "Oh." I heard Ethan’s sneer on the other end. "Worried again?" "Why don't you come down and see for yourself?" I quickly declined. "No, that’s okay." I wasn't good at sports, and Ethan didn't play fair when it came to tennis. I had been brutally slammed by his shots on the court a few times. So I wasn't willing to go put myself through that. Ethan let out a cold laugh over the phone. "By the way, I’m going on a business trip tonight. I won’t be home." I showed my concern almost instinctively. "Is Leo going with you?" Ethan hesitated for a second. "Then tell Leo to pay attention. Your throat needs that tea you drink..." "Alright, alright." "I’m playing tennis now." Ethan got impatient before I could finish and hung up the phone. My friend looked at me with an amused expression. "You reassured now?" "Even if Ethan were to actually cheat, he wouldn't do it with Leo, right?" I smiled embarrassedly, but my heart always felt like something wasn't right. I attributed this to worry about Ethan’s trip. After all, Master Ethan was always focused on his art and ignored mundane daily tasks. All the housework fell to me. I washed his underwear and socks. I made him three meals a day. During the toughest times, I worked two part-time jobs and came home to clean up the takeout boxes he had left on the dining table. My friends all joked that I was practically being his mother. But when you love someone, it’s inevitable that you have to give a bit more. I wrote a long list of things to keep in mind and sent it to Leo. Thinking he was busy playing tennis with Ethan, I specifically added a sentence. "No rush, you can look at this after you finish playing." However, Leo called me back the very next second. "Hey, Maya." "Didn't Ethan tell you?" "I resigned two years ago." 5 Ethan had never told me about this. On the contrary, he frequently mentioned his assistant to me. A tie clip appeared in the jewelry box. A gift from the assistant. Pictures of beautiful meals posted on social media. Eaten with the assistant. Movie tickets found in his pocket. Watched with the assistant. He was even out all night, claiming… "I have to work overtime with my assistant." "Don't disturb me." So even if I had a high fever in the middle of the night, shivering and on the verge of fainting, I wouldn’t dare send a single message to him. What was he doing at that time? When I rushed to the tennis court, only Ethan was there. He looked shocked to see me at first, then immediately knit his brows in annoyance. "What are you doing here? Got paranoiac again? Maya Thorne, can you go one day without..." "Where is Leo?" Ethan’s words came to a dead halt. He clearly hadn't expected me to ask this and muttered a few evasive words, stammering. "Changing clothes..." I didn’t say another word and headed straight for the locker room. "Maya Thorne!" Ethan violently grabbed my wrist. "What the hell is wrong with you now!" His collar was pulled open slightly by the movement. The love bite on his collarbone was intimate and searingly obvious. I was almost screaming as I struggled. "Let go of me!" The staff around us started looking in our direction. Ethan’s face grew even darker. He gripped my wrist with a death grip, dragging me outside. "I told you they're changing clothes!" "If you want to make a scene, wait until we get home!" The long-term suspicion and insecurity finally boiled over. I crouched on the ground like a madwoman as he dragged me. "I don't believe you! I don't believe you!" "Let me see them!" Someone recognized Ethan’s identity and started pulling out their phones. "Security!" Ethan roared. People ran over and grabbed my shoulders. I screamed and struggled. The people around me were pointing and whispering. The world was a chaotic mess. Then everything fell quiet, cut through by a soft voice. "Ethan?"
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