After my confession to my childhood friend failed, I started an online romance. Every day, I flirted with my online boyfriend by sending faceless body pictures and calling him "hubby." One night, I was flirting with him again. My online boyfriend replied instantly: [I can't take it anymore. I want to f--k you right now.] The next second, there was a frantic knocking at my door. As soon as I opened it, my childhood friend stood there. He pinned me against the wall and kissed me. 1 It was 3:00 AM, and I couldn't sleep... Time to flirt with my online boyfriend. I got out of bed, took off my pajamas, and put on the new belly chain I just bought. In the mirror, my waist curved inward, forming a captivating silhouette. The silver chain hung low on my hips, its metallic gleam dancing against my pale skin. I took a picture in the mirror, cropped out my face, and sent it to my online boyfriend. [Hubby~ Look at this pretty thing I got.] He replied almost instantly. [Trying to seduce me in the middle of the night again?] I licked my lips and typed back with a wicked smile. [I'll help you touch it] He immediately started a video call. Camera off. I kept my camera off my face too, pointing the lens directly at my waist. ... An hour later, the call ended. I lay in bed, savoring the moment. It all started after high school graduation, when I confessed to my childhood best friend, Ethan Hayes. He rejected me, saying he was straight and only saw me as a friend. I was heartbroken, so I downloaded a multiplayer game to distract myself. But my skills were terrible, and my teammates constantly yelled at me over the mic. I wasn't about to take it, so I yelled right back, conveniently venting all the frustration I had from Ethan's rejection. After I finished screaming at them, the quiet carry on our team, username "G", sent me a private message: "I'll carry you." After playing together for a while, I slowly became interested in him. Every day in the game, I'd constantly praise him: "Wow, you're amazing!" Eventually, I started pestering him for his Instagram or Snapchat. After he rejected me for the fourth time, I stopped bothering him and started finding other guys to carry me in games. That made him panic, and he finally gave me his snap. But he must have given me a brand-new alt account, because there was absolutely nothing on it. At first, G was incredibly cold to me. If I didn't text him, he would never initiate a conversation. And whenever we did talk, it was always me asking a question and him giving a one-word answer. I was about ready to give up on him. Until one night, I was wide awake and bored. A wicked idea flashed through my mind. Out of nowhere, I sent him a faceless picture of my body. He replied almost instantly, sending three question marks. The corners of my mouth curled up. [Do you like it?] The screen showed "Typing..." for a long time. But after waiting forever, he still hadn't replied. I raised an eyebrow. [If you don't answer, that means you don't like it.] [Whatever. Since you don't like it, I'll just send it to someone else.] He panicked. [I like it.] [Don't you dare send it to anyone else.] I felt like I had finally figured out how to handle him. I gave a smug little head bob. 2 Under my guidance, G started initiating conversations with me every single day. He called me "baby" constantly and learned how to talk dirty. Every now and then, he'd send me gym selfies. Even though he didn't show his face, my intuition told me he was definitely handsome. Not only that, but he was incredibly generous. He frequently sent me money or bought me in-game gifts. Even though my family was well-off, my parents believed kids shouldn't be spoiled with cash, so they didn't give me any allowance and made me earn my own money. G was simply the perfect online boyfriend! Then, today happened. The chef was busy in the kitchen. Seeing him prepare a massive feast, I quickly asked my mom: "Are we having guests?" My mom, cracking sunflower seeds, replied casually: "Your dad brought home a box of fresh crabs yesterday, so I invited Ethan and his mom over for dinner." I froze slightly. Even though Ethan's house was literally right next door to ours, I had been avoiding him ever since he rejected my confession. Even when mutual friends invited us both out, if Ethan was going, I wouldn't go. I hadn't seen Ethan in a whole month. Just then, the doorbell rang. I went to open it. The moment the door opened, Ethan's handsome, refined face appeared right in front of me. I instinctively took a step back, putting distance between us. Mrs. Hayes looked at me for a moment, then at Ethan. "What is going on with you two?" "Weren't you guys super close before?" Neither of us said a word. At the dinner table. Ethan sat next to me, but I deliberately scooted over, putting as much space between us as possible. It felt like there was an entire galaxy separating us. Ethan frowned at me, but I chose to ignore him. During the meal, Ethan put a piece of ribs on my plate. Growing up together, he was used to taking care of me. It was exactly because of things like this that I mistakenly thought he liked me. Turns out, I was just delusional. Right in front of him, I picked up the rib and fed it to our dog, Buster. He froze, a flash of anger appearing in his dark eyes. 3 After dinner, I sat on the living room sofa, pulled out my phone, and started texting G. [Just finished dinner, but I'm still so hungry.] G replied instantly. [What else do you want to eat? I'll order delivery for you.] I smirked and typed back. [I want to eat you.] Beside me, Ethan suddenly spat out the water he had just taken a sip of. I looked at him in confusion. He hurriedly grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth, shooting me a very strange look. Me: "?" Psycho. What did I even do to him? I ignored him and went back to chatting with G. [Honestly, I kind of want an orange right now.] [But I hate peeling oranges. It gets my hands sticky and it's so annoying.] In the past, Ethan was always the one who peeled them for me. I brought up meeting in person again. [When are we finally going to meet in person?] [I really want to see you so badly.] [If we meet, will you peel oranges for me?] The chat screen showed "Typing..." again. But he took forever to reply. Just as I expected. Every time I brought up meeting, G would hesitate. I waited a bit longer. He sent me a transfer for $500 first. Then he replied. [Baby, let's talk about this later, okay?] I didn't push it. I figured I might be rushing things. After all, we had only known each other for less than a month. Take it slow. Ethan put his phone down, reached out, and grabbed an orange, starting to peel it. His fingers were pale and slender. He looked good even just peeling an orange. I was mesmerized for a second. It wasn't until he handed the peeled orange to me that I snapped out of it. But I didn't take it. I rejected it coldly. "I don't eat oranges peeled by you." An emotion I couldn't decipher flashed through Ethan's eyes. "I already peeled it for you. Just eat it." My temper flared instantly. Who gave him the right to order me around? I angrily swatted his hand away. The orange fell to the floor. 4 The atmosphere between us dropped to freezing point. I got up and went straight to my room. In my room, I vented to G. [My childhood friend is so annoying.] [He's a clueless, boundary-less jerk.] [He rejected my confession, but now he's acting all fake and trying to be nice to me.] After sending that, I got worried G might get jealous, so I added: [Me liking him is totally in the past. I don't like him at all anymore.] [Since I met you, you're the only one in my heart.] [Love you~] G didn't reply. Suddenly, Ethan pushed my door open and walked in. His face was dark: "Chloe, can you please stop acting like this?" Acting like what? Rejecting the orange he peeled? I looked up at him and said seriously, "Ethan, you need to stop acting like this!" "I have a boyfriend now. Please keep your distance from me." "Otherwise, my boyfriend will get jealous." Ethan let out a bitter laugh. But he seemed to think of something, swallowed whatever he was about to say, turned around, and left. I locked my door, lay on my bed, and checked to see if G had replied. After a long time, G finally answered. [Mhm.] Just "Mhm"? He's brushing me off with one word? I frowned and typed back angrily. [Your tone is so cold. Do you not want to talk to me?] [Fine, I'll go find someone else to talk to.] He immediately panicked. [No.] [Baby, don't be mad.] [It's my fault, okay?] He sent me five consecutive $100 transfers. [Are you still mad, baby?] I pouted. [Don't you think my childhood friend has a screw loose?] [I hate him so much.] He was silent for a moment. [Yeah, he has a screw loose. Don't be mad at him, baby.] I was satisfied and went back to oversharing with G. [I just laid all my cards on the table with my friend. I told him I have a boyfriend and told him to stay away from me...] 5 It was the weekend. Our friend Matt invited me to a karaoke place to hang out. Since he was a mutual friend of both me and Ethan, I asked: "Is Ethan going? If he's going, I'm not." Only after Matt assured me Ethan wasn't coming did I agree to go. But when I got to the karaoke room, Ethan was sitting right there on the sofa. I glared at Matt. He definitely set this up! Matt played dumb and dragged me inside. If I insisted on leaving now, it would just make me look petty. Having no other choice, I sat as far away from Ethan as possible, pulled out my phone, and started chatting with G. [I miss you. Send me some abs pics, I want to see.] Ethan, who was sitting far away, glanced down at his phone, then looked up and stared at me meaningfully. I felt so confused. What are you looking at?! But I didn't want to engage with him, so I went back to harassing G. [Are you there?] [Why aren't you replying?] [Do you not love me anymore?] [Reply to me now.] G replied. [Baby, I'm out at a party with friends right now.] [I'll take some for you when I get home.] I refused. [No, I want to see them right now.] [You can just go to the bathroom and take a pic!] [Hurry up, I wanna see.] [Hubby~ please.] I pulled out my ultimate weapon. [If you don't take one for me, I'll go find someone else to take one for me.] Sure enough, G replied instantly. [Don't you dare!] [I'm going to take one for you right now.] I smiled in satisfaction. Ethan suddenly stood up. He walked past me and headed toward the bathroom. Not long after, a fresh picture of some very nice abs came through. Sharply defined abs—you could tell he worked out constantly. I admired them for a while, then started teasing him. [I want to touch your abs.] [I want to lick your abs.] [I want to...] Just then, a friend sitting nearby suddenly spoke up. "Hey Ethan, who are you texting?" "You're blushing so hard." "Is it a girlfriend?" I looked up and realized Ethan had returned at some point. He frantically locked his phone screen and immediately denied it: "Just a normal friend." But his bright red earlobes completely exposed him. I had never seen Ethan look like this before. Did he actually get a girlfriend? Not my business anyway. I lowered my head and went back to teasing G. 6 At the karaoke place, someone suggested playing a game. Truth or Dare. My luck was terrible; I kept losing. But I always chose Truth. Eventually, everyone thought Truth was too boring. They demanded I had to choose Dare. When I lost yet again from rolling the dice, I drew a Dare card. My luck was absolute trash. The card said I had to hug someone for thirty seconds. Everyone unanimously assumed I would choose Ethan, since we were the closest. They started cheering and hyping up me and Ethan. Ethan sat in his seat, his face expressionless, watching me quietly while spinning his phone in his right hand. But my eyes swept past Ethan and landed on Matt, who was sitting next to him. "Matt, I choose you." Ethan stopped spinning his phone. His face visibly darkened. Matt didn't dare move. I called his name again. "Hurry up!" Matt looked at me, then looked at Ethan. Finally, he chugged an entire beer himself. "I'll take the penalty drink for Chloe. Skip, skip!" Ethan glanced at me, stood up, and left. I felt like the vibe was dead anyway, so I left early too. When I got home, I continued chatting with G. [I'm home.] [Is your party over yet?] [Do you want to play a game together tonight?] G replied. [Can we play tomorrow?] I sensed that G was in a bad mood and asked, [What's wrong?] [Who made you mad?] G was silent for a moment. [I'm fine.] 7 On my birthday, G was the very first person to wish me a happy birthday. In the past, that person was always Ethan. Thinking about that made my chest feel a little tight, but the feeling passed quickly. I invited a lot of friends, but I specifically didn't invite Ethan. Halfway through my birthday party, I took out my phone to message G. [I really wish you could be here for my birthday party.] [The cake you ordered for me is so delicious.] [But I don't dare eat too much, I'm afraid of gaining weight.] G replied instantly. [Baby, you're not fat. Eat as much as you want.] The doorbell rang. I happily went to open the door, only to see Ethan standing there. My smile vanished instantly. "I didn't invite you." Ethan completely ignored what I said and handed me a gift. "Your birthday present." I didn't take it. Ethan didn't care; he just walked right in holding the gift. By the time I walked over to him, he was already sitting on the sofa, looking up at me. "Did you forget to invite me?" "Don't be so careless next time." Me: "?" I couldn't be bothered to argue with him. I turned and walked away. Finding a quiet corner, I started texting G again. [My childhood friend just showed up.] [He's so annoying. Just seeing him ruined my mood.] G replied. [Baby, why do you hate him so much?] [He just wanted to come celebrate your birthday.] I replied immediately. [But I don't want to see him.] Ethan's back looked lonely. He was shrouded in shadow, looking incredibly depressed. After the party ended and all my friends had left, Ethan was still there. He sat on the sofa, his eyes following me as I moved around. I looked at him. "Are you still not leaving?" He looked at me. "You used to love the gifts I gave you. Aren't you even going to open it?" I said impatiently, "When are you leaving?" "Chloe, I..." He hesitated, looking at me with such a lonely expression. I frowned. "If you're not going to leave, fine. I don't care. I'm going upstairs to chat with my boyfriend." Staring at my back as I walked upstairs, Ethan couldn't look away for a long time. It wasn't until I completely disappeared from his sight that a wave of deep regret washed over him. 8 Mrs. Hayes invited my family to vacation at their beach house. My mom asked if I wanted to go. Even though I really wanted to go, I didn't want to see Ethan. I lied and said I had other plans and declined. Hearing my refusal, Mrs. Hayes said regretfully, "Our Ethan can't make it this year either because he has things to do. I really miss the times our families used to spend summer vacations together. With neither of you kids coming, it won't be lively at all." When I heard Ethan wasn't going, I quickly said, "Mrs. Hayes, I'll go!" Sun, sand, and the ocean—here I come! Before leaving, I sent G a message. [Hehe, I'm going to the beach.] [The new swimsuit I bought is super cute~] [I'll take pictures for you later.] At the beach. I changed into my swimsuit and lay on a beach chair, trying to apply sunscreen to myself. But it's impossible to reach your own back. While I was struggling to apply it, a hand took the sunscreen from me and started rubbing it on my back. I turned around in surprise and saw it was Ethan. I was shocked: "Why are you here?" "Didn't you say you had things to do?" Ethan raised an eyebrow. "Someone was constantly tempting me to come. So I pushed my other plans." I wasn't listening to him. Because my attention was drawn to something else. Ethan was applying the sunscreen very meticulously. Every time his hand glided over my skin, a tingling sensation swept through my entire body. When his hand reached my waist, I distinctly felt him apply more pressure. That strange sensation made my mind wander. I snapped back to reality, immediately pushed Ethan away, and snatched the sunscreen back. "I don't need your help!" He looked at me, a very faint smile playing on his lips. That afternoon, I lay on my beach chair, and Ethan lay on the chair right next to mine. Since this was technically his family's property, I couldn't exactly kick him out. But I didn't talk to him. I just kept my head down, chatting with G. First, I sent G a few pictures of the beach. [It's pretty here, right?] G replied instantly. [Pretty.] The corners of my mouth curled up. [Wait for me.] I glanced back at Ethan. He was also looking down at his phone. Seeing me look at him, he looked up and smiled. I rolled my eyes, quietly walked further away, took out my phone, and started taking selfies. I originally wanted to include my face, but to keep a little mystery for the day we finally met in person, I only took pictures of my lips. I gently bit my full, rosy lower lip. After sending the photo to G, I asked him: [Is the ocean prettier, or am I prettier?] [You.] I walked back to my beach chair, satisfied. I was a little thirsty, so I grabbed a bottle of water next to me and tilted my head back, drinking it in big gulps. I didn't notice Ethan next to me. His gaze moved down, lingering on my lips, and he swallowed hard. 9 I fell asleep on the beach chair. I've always been a deep sleeper. I slept all the way until the sun went down. When I woke up, my lips felt a little swollen and sore. I reached up and touched them. They felt a bit swollen. Just then, Ethan stood up. "Let's go. Time to go back and eat." I didn't think much of it and got up to head back to the villa. When we walked into the living room, Mrs. Hayes came over. "Chloe, why are your lips swollen?" As Mrs. Hayes spoke, she narrowed her eyes and glanced at Ethan standing behind me. Ethan: "I'm going upstairs to change." I touched my lips again and said, "I might just be having an allergic reaction. I had spicy hotpot last night." After dinner, Mrs. Hayes pulled me aside to chat for a bit. Then I went upstairs to rest. My room was right next to Ethan's. In my room, I lay on the bed for a while, then went to the bathroom to take a shower. I suddenly remembered I still hadn't sent G a picture of me in my swimsuit. I pulled a swimsuit out of my suitcase. It was one I'd never actually wear outside; I bought it specifically to show G. In the bathroom, after I took the picture in the mirror, I sent it straight to G. But before G could reply, there was a sudden knock on my door. I panicked, quickly took off the swimsuit, threw on some pajamas, and went to open the door. When I opened it, Ethan was standing there. He seemed to be in a hurry. "The bathroom in my room is broken. I need to use yours." I stepped aside to let him in. He went straight to the bathroom. I sat on the bed and waited. He was in there for half an hour. I grew impatient and yelled toward the bathroom, "Did you fall into the toilet?!" Ethan's voice was hoarse, and it sounded like he was desperately trying to suppress something. "I need to wait a little longer." Another half hour passed. It suddenly hit me—my swimsuit was still hanging in the bathroom! If he saw it... My face instantly turned bright red. I knocked on the door. "Ethan! Are you done yet?!" Ethan opened the door. His cheeks were a little flushed. He gave me a look and quickly walked away. I rushed inside. The swimsuit I had hung up was gone! I looked everywhere but couldn't find it. A thought crossed my mind. I knocked on Ethan's door. Afraid Mrs. Hayes or my mom would hear, I lowered my voice. "Ethan! Did you steal my swimsuit?!"
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