My best friend had been desperately in love with a man for six whole years. She always told me he was her first love, the only one she could never let go of. During one of her many drunk crying fits, I wiped away her tears and said, "If you still love him, go get him back." She pushed me away. "Chloe, you don't understand." I didn't. Not until the night before my wedding. I was in a horrific car accident. I miscarried, and our baby was gone. The very next day, my best friend sent me a Snapchat: [Help me. He came back for me. I’m in so much pain.] Ignoring the tearing ache in my abdomen, I drove five hours through a blinding blizzard to her apartment. Standing under her building, I watched her sink into a man’s embrace. Serena’s familiar, choked voice echoed through the snowy air: "Ethan, I hate you! I was the one who dumped you six years ago. Why did you have to come back?!" At that exact moment, the blood in my veins turned colder than the snow around me. Because Ethan was the man I was supposed to marry tomorrow.
I couldn't believe my eyes. Just hours ago, Ethan was standing by my hospital bed, gently wiping the tears from my eyes. "Chloe, let me go home and make you some chicken soup, okay?" He had kissed the corner of my mouth, promising he’d be right back. So, this had to be a mistake. It was just someone who looked like him from behind. I hid behind a frozen utility pole, my fingers trembling as I sent Ethan a text: [Babe, where are you?] A minute passed. No reply. He had never made me wait for a reply before. Under the dim streetlamp, Serena tried to push him away. "Get away from me!" The yellow light illuminated his profile—his sharp nose, and the faint scar right between his brows. The scar he got from fighting to protect me. It really was Ethan. I gripped my phone so hard my knuckles turned white. Ethan’s voice was freezing, completely unrecognizable. "Serena, stop flattering yourself." "You want me to leave? Who was the one clinging to me and crying that she was scared just now? Six years have passed, and I’m still the first person you call when you’re in trouble. Is this all the dignity you have?" Serena looked up, her eyes incredibly red. "I'm flattering myself?" "Then why are you here? Ethan, why did you leave your fiancé, who just had a miscarriage, to run to me?!" She laughed bitterly, tears smearing her makeup. "Are you happy now seeing me like this? Do you feel vindicated? You think I’m finally getting my karma, don’t you?!" Ethan’s face tensed for a second. He didn't answer. Serena wiped her face and turned to leave. Ethan grabbed her wrist. "Let go." He didn't. "Ethan, I said let go!" With a sudden pull, he dragged her back into his chest. She struggled, hitting his chest and kicking his shins, but he didn't budge. "I didn't mean it that way," he muttered softly. Finally, she lost her strength. She buried her face in his chest, her shoulders shaking violently. "Do you think I wanted to call you?" "Ethan, when that stalker blocked my way tonight, you were the only one I could think of. You used to hate seeing me suffer even a little bit." "Do you really think I've had a great life these past six years without you?" He looked down, resting his chin on top of her head. "Serena, if you hadn't left back then... in my plans, we would have had a child by now." "But why... why did it have to be now?" The world around me fell dead silent. The icy wind crawled down my collar, numbing my limbs. My phone screen stayed dark. Ethan's reply never came.
I slumped against the pole, completely drained of strength. My heart felt like it was being squeezed by a pair of rusty pliers. So, Serena’s unforgettable first love was Ethan. The mysterious ex she always brought up whenever she got wasted. She used to brag about how much he loved her. How he clumsily wrote her a love letter every single day, how he set off a city-wide firework display for her, and how he gave up an Ivy League offer just to stay with her. I once asked her, "Then why did you break up?" She had slumped over the bar counter, her eyes bloodshot. "Because I was sick of being poor. I took a five-million-dollar check from his snobbish mother and ran. He literally knelt in the pouring rain for two days, begging me to stay, but I didn't care." "Love doesn't pay the bills. I'm just a selfish, terrible person." When I first introduced them, they acted like they couldn't stand each other. They barely even made eye contact. After that, they never attended the same parties. I never could have guessed they shared such a passionate, toxic past. I was seventeen when I met Ethan. My teenage years weren't filled with high school crushes or worries about grades. They were defined by Harold, my abusive stepfather, slamming on my bedroom door every night. That night, Harold was drunk and trying to break my door down. I jumped out of the first-floor window and ran. I ended up in a shady diner, sitting in a corner booth, shivering with my knees pulled to my chest. "You shouldn't be here." I looked up. Ethan was standing there, looking down at my oversized hoodie and tear-stained face. I stared at the mature, handsome college guy and whispered, "Why shouldn't I be? Why are you here then?" He slid into the booth and pushed a cup of warm water toward me. "I got dumped," he said dryly. "She promised forever, then threw me away like trash." We talked for hours. After that night, meeting at that diner every Wednesday became our unspoken rule. The night Harold finally broke my door lock, Ethan was the one who kicked the front door open. He threw his jacket over my shoulders and pinned Harold to the floor, punching him until his own knuckles were bloody. Everyone in my family told me to stay quiet. He was my stepfather, after all. My biological dad even threatened me, saying if I called the police, he would cut me off completely. But Ethan told me, "Don't be scared. I've got you." He hired a lawyer for me and put Harold behind bars. He moved me into his apartment and made sure I could focus on my college exams. That was the first time in my life I realized someone could actually protect me. During my freshman year, I gathered my courage and asked him, "Ethan, could you try loving me?" He froze. After a long pause, he asked, "What if one day, you find someone more important to you?" I stood on my tip-toes and kissed him. "You are the most important." We got together, and he treated me like a princess. Whatever I didn't know, he taught me patiently. Whatever I hadn't experienced, he took me to see. He used to say, "Chloe, you don't have to feel insecure. What you don't know, I'll teach you slowly." Knowing I had nightmares, he called me every night to read me to sleep. Knowing I loved donuts, he would drive across the city just to get my favorite glaze. I thought no one in the world could ever love me more. I thought we would be happy forever. But now... He was standing right there, leaving me behind while I was still recovering from a miscarriage. Holding my best friend in his arms. He had taught me so much. How to solve math problems, how to protect myself, how to never trust strangers easily. But he never taught me what to do when I found out his heart belonged to someone else.
My mind was a chaotic mess. Images of him making soup for me clashed with him holding Serena. His promise of "I'll be right back" clashed with his sigh of "Why did it have to be now?" I clutched my phone. I wanted to give our six years one last chance. Just in case. What if he was just trying to get closure? What if he was still the Ethan who risked everything for me? I dialed his number. On the third ring, he answered. "Chloe? What's wrong?" I opened my mouth, but my throat was so dry it burned. "Ethan. Where are you?" There was a second of silence on the other end. "A work emergency came up, and I had to leave in a rush. I had the housekeeper make some soup and send it to your room. Make sure you drink it, okay?" I stared at the man ten yards away. He held his phone to his ear, his back to me, his shoulders covered in white snow. "I can't drink it without you here." His voice softened. "Be good. I'll be back as soon as I finish this. How is your body feeling? Does it still hurt?" "Chloe, once I'm done with this busy week, I'll take you on a trip. Didn't you always want to go to Miami? We can stay there for a few days. I'll make it up to you." While he said those sweet words, Serena looked up from his chest, her eyes red. He reached out and gently brushed the snow off her hair. "Ethan," I called out. "Yeah?" "Where... where exactly is this business trip?" Serena pulled away from him, limping as she tried to walk. He immediately reached out to grab her, his voice turning anxious on the phone. "Chloe, I have to go, something urgent just came up. I'll call you later, okay?" Before the screen went dark, I saw him grab Serena's wrist again. She looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. "You're sweet-talking her on the phone while holding onto me?" "How can you do both at the same time?" Exactly, Ethan. How can you tell me you love me on the phone, and then turn around to embrace her? Serena pushed him away and kept limping forward. He chased after her and swept her up into his arms. "Your ankle is hurt. I'm taking you to the hospital." She gasped, then started struggling. "Ethan, put me down!" He didn't speak, just carried her toward his SUV. "You're holding me while wearing her ring! It's a constant reminder that you're marrying someone else!" "How do you expect me to accept your kindness like this?!" He stopped. He looked down at his hand. On the day he proposed, he had knelt on one knee, holding that ring with a trembling hand. "Chloe." "I will only propose once in my life, and I will only love this one person." Under the sunset at Lake Tahoe, his sincerity had completely melted me. I had said yes. When he slipped the ring onto my finger, his eyes were wet. "Once it's on, you're never allowed to take it off." "No matter what happens, don't take it off." That was the first time I had ever seen him cry. And he had never taken his off either. Until now. He bent his head, bit the ring with his teeth, and pulled it off his finger. "Stop fighting me, okay?" he whispered to Serena. She went completely still, letting him place her into the passenger seat. I stood frozen, unable to take a single step. As the SUV slowly rolled out of the driveway, it passed right by me. I was only two yards away from him. If he had just turned his head. He would have seen his fiancé, who had just lost their baby, standing behind a frozen pole in the freezing snow, shivering violently as she watched him. He would have seen the tears on my face, my frozen hands, and my phone with the text message he never replied to. But he never looked. I looked down at my own hand. The ring was still there. The exact same platinum band. The exact same initials engraved inside. Ethan. Over these past six years, was I just a replacement? A shadow you used to fill the void she left behind? Did you ever actually love me?
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "NovelMaster" app ? search for "458477", and watch the full series ✨! #NovelMaster