For this trip, Ethan Harper bought tickets for three people again. Besides us, there was also his "bro" Chloe Lynn. Seeing my face darken, Ethan Harper smoothly threw out that same old line: "Don’t get the wrong idea." "I’ve known Chloe for so many years, and if anything was going to happen, it would’ve happened a long time ago." That line again. When Chloe moved into the apartment upstairs, Ethan Harper said the same thing, and as a result, he went to her place to play games every day and disappeared for hours. "You don’t play games anyway." "It’s not like I’m supposed to have zero time for myself just because I’m dating you." He even wanted to bring Chloe along for our anniversary. "We’re all friends, so I can’t just leave her home alone as a single girl, right?" Even when I was choosing a wedding dress, he insisted on dragging Chloe along. "Didn’t you say I have straight-guy taste?" "Chloe’s a girl, so let her help you choose." I turned my head and looked at Ethan Harper, who was still chatting with Chloe on his phone with great enthusiasm. My heart sank lower and lower. "Ethan Harper, either you keep your distance from Chloe, or we break up." "You choose." 1. Ethan Harper finally stopped typing and frowned at me. "Stop making a scene here." "I’ve known Chloe for seven or eight years, and if something was going to happen, it would’ve happened already, so why would it wait until now?" That line again! I couldn’t take it anymore, and with red eyes, I pressed Ethan Harper for an answer. "Ethan Harper, I want you to choose." Ethan Harper looked at me as tears fell from my eyes, then pursed his lips impatiently. He was just about to speak when his phone rang. Chloe’s laughing voice came from the other end. "Hurry up and come play." "We’re all waiting for you!" Ethan Harper immediately got up, wedging the phone against his shoulder as he changed shoes, and casually brushed me off. "Stop crying, and we’ll talk about it when I get back." "I’m going to hang out with my friends for a while." The door slammed shut with a bang. I froze in place, watching Ethan Harper disappear, and my tears fell straight down. It was so familiar. It seemed like every time Chloe appeared, Ethan Harper would always leave me behind. He couldn’t remember the dates of my period, but he remembered to stay with Chloe all night when she had cramps. He complained that I took too long shopping, but he could spend an entire day with Chloe picking out keyboards in a newly opened store. He called me delicate, but he remembered to bring Chloe a sun umbrella when he went out. ... Words can lie, but actions don’t. Belatedly, I realized that Ethan Harper had actually already made his choice. I was the one who hadn’t caught on. I wiped my tears messily and sent a message to the pinned avatar on my phone. [Let’s break up.] Then I put down my phone, went into the bedroom to pack my things, and prepared to move out. I had just zipped my suitcase shut when Ethan Harper rushed down from upstairs. A gaming headset was still hanging around his neck, and his face was full of irritation at being interrupted. "Sophia Miller, I really don’t get it." "It’s just one extra person on a trip." "She’s not even getting in your way, so what exactly are you mad about?" "Can you stop being so controlling?" I zipped up my suitcase, stood up, and looked at Ethan Harper. "Ethan Harper, you’re dating me, not Chloe." "Can you stop bringing her into everything?" "Dates, movies, and now even our trip—you have to bring her too." "Have you ever considered how I feel as your girlfriend?" Ethan Harper gave a mocking laugh, and every word was full of dissatisfaction. "I’m still doing it for you!" "One minute, you say I have straight-guy taste and take bad photos." "The next, you say I don’t give you emotional support when we go shopping." "So now I found a girl to keep you company, and that’s still not okay?" "It’s not like I’m supposed to lose all normal social life after I start dating you, right?" Just as the two of us were arguing fiercely, Chloe came over. She grabbed my hand as I was about to leave, her eyes slightly red as she tried to smooth things over. "Sophia, Ethan." "Stop fighting, you two." "At the end of the day, this is all my fault." "I just saw that I’d never been to that place either, so I thought I’d tag along and have fun with you guys." "I won’t go anymore, so you two go have fun." "Don’t let me make things unpleasant between you two." I ignored Chloe. I pushed away the hand she used to stop me, lifted the suitcase handle, and tried to leave. But even though I hadn’t used much force, Chloe suddenly fell to the floor, clutching her knee and crying out in pain. I instinctively turned around to help her. Smack! Ethan Harper suddenly slapped the back of my hand away, and he used so much force that I sucked in a breath from the pain. "Stay away, because I’m not indulging your temper." As he spoke, Ethan Harper crouched down to help Chloe and looked up to glare at me. "If you want to leave, then leave!" "I just don’t understand." "Does dating you mean I can’t even have friends?" "Didn’t you want me to choose?" "Then I choose Chloe!" 2. Ethan Harper’s glare was fierce, like I was his enemy. I opened my mouth, but I was already too disappointed to say anything. So I simply turned around and dragged my suitcase away. Behind me, I could still vaguely hear Chloe’s tearful voice. "Ethan, don’t worry about me!" "It’s fine if it hurts a little." "Hurry and go get Sophia back." "You two are about to get married!" Ethan Harper gave a cold snort. "I’m not chasing her!" "If she wants to make trouble, then let her." "I really can’t stand her spoiled-princess temper anymore!" "If I don’t teach her a lesson now, what will happen after we get married?" I listened in silence. I thought of the sweet words Ethan Harper had said when he first pursued me. "I just like spoiling you." "To me, your temper is just like a kitten acting cute." People really do change. My tears fell harder, and I quickened my pace as I left. Later that night, Ethan’s mother called me. "Sophia, did you and Ethan have a fight?" "I heard you even moved out of the house you were supposed to live in after the wedding." "You two are about to get married, so what can’t be discussed properly?" I took a deep breath and corrected Ethan’s mother. "Auntie, we didn’t have a fight." "We broke up." "We’re about to get married, but if he still thinks about hanging out with another woman every day, then there’s no need for this marriage." "You should know very well what’s going on with Chloe." "Ethan Harper and I really are impossible now." Ethan’s mother understood, but she only let out a long sigh. "I know that Chloe, and I don’t like her either." "Ethan really has no sense of boundaries." "I’ll talk to him properly and make him apologize to you." "Please forgive him just this once." I didn’t pick up that line of conversation. I only asked Ethan’s mother one question in return. "Auntie, do you still remember how many times Ethan Harper and I have reached this point because of Chloe?" The other side was left speechless by my question. So I answered it for Ethan’s mother myself. "The ninth time." "I’m tired, and I don’t have the energy to fight anymore." Actually, the worst time we fought before, Ethan Harper and Chloe cut ties completely. Ethan Harper blamed me. Every time we had an argument, he would glare at me like he did today and viciously demand: "I already cut Chloe off for you, so what else do you want from me?" I had nothing to say. So I agreed to let him make up with Chloe. But what happened in the end? They only got worse. I didn’t say anything more and hung up on Ethan’s mother. At dawn, Ethan Harper sent me a message. [Chloe refunded her ticket, so are you satisfied now?] Seeing that I still didn’t reply, he sent another message half an hour later. [My mom already lectured me.] [I know I was wrong, so come home.] "We’ll go on the trip tomorrow." I still didn’t reply, and instead, I blocked Ethan Harper. Early the next morning, Ethan Harper knocked hard on my door. When I opened the door, Ethan Harper’s gloomy face appeared, and his voice was pressed down with anger. "You blocked me?" I nodded. "Yes, because we’ve already broken up." "Don’t come bother me again." Ethan Harper hadn’t expected me to be so straightforward. He helplessly suppressed his anger and coaxed me gently for a few lines. "Sophia, I already know I was wrong." "Don’t be mad at me anymore." He leaned forward and tried to reach out to pull me. "Come on, wasn’t Miami the place you always wanted to go?" "Hurry and pack your things, or we’ll miss the flight." "I promise you, this time it’ll just be the two of us." But as soon as he finished speaking, Chloe’s crisp voice came from downstairs. "Ethan, we’re going to miss the flight!" "Hurry and get Sophia to come with us!" 3. Ethan Harper’s hand froze in midair. I also followed the sound and looked down. At the villa entrance, Chloe was sitting in the passenger seat, smiling up at me. She waved at me smugly and provocatively, then shouted: "Sophia, hurry up." "Otherwise, it’ll just be Ethan and me going on the trip!" I withdrew my gaze and looked at Ethan Harper just like that. He explained to me awkwardly: "Refunding the ticket would cost hundreds in fees, so it would be too wasteful." "Chloe and I talked it over, and in the end, we didn’t refund it." "But don’t worry." "This time, her hotel and itinerary are completely separate." "She definitely won’t bother us." I tugged at the corner of my mouth, finding it beyond absurd. "Ethan Harper, do you even believe what you’re saying?" "Last time we went to Europe, you said the same thing." "But as soon as we landed, didn’t Chloe say either her original hotel had no rooms and insist on squeezing into our suite, or that she was scared and unsafe alone and had to follow us everywhere?" "And last time in Iceland, she said she didn’t bring enough warm clothes, so you gave her my down jacket and let me freeze..." "Enough!" Ethan Harper couldn’t listen anymore and shouted at me in anger from embarrassment. "Do you think being so passive-aggressive is fun?" "I already apologized to you, and I saved your ticket, so what else do you want?" "Are you planning to force me to cut Chloe off again and revolve around you every day before you’ll be happy?" As he spoke, Ethan Harper simply withdrew the hand he had planned to use to hold mine. He looked at me coldly. "I’ll ask you one last time." "Are you going or not?" "No." After saying that, I directly shut the door. Ethan Harper’s furious voice came from outside the door. "Fine, fine, fine!" "If you’re not going, I’ll go with Chloe." "Sophia Miller, don’t regret it!" The sound of footsteps gradually faded. Listening to it, I couldn’t even feel angry anymore and only felt relieved. For several days in a row, almost everything on Ins was Chloe’s updates whenever I opened it. She posted one nine-photo grid after another of herself and Ethan Harper. The two of them smiled brightly at the camera with intimate expressions, like a couple deeply in love. Some mutual friends we both knew also kindly reminded her in the comments. [Ethan is about to get married.] [Chloe, isn’t it kind of inappropriate for you to drag him out on a trip?] Chloe replied with a snickering sticker, and every word was full of smugness. [Ethan insisted that I go.] [He said things have been too suffocating at home lately, and it’s more relaxing to hang out with me.] [We asked Sophia too, but she was the one who didn’t want to come.] [She’s still having a fight with Ethan.] I knew Chloe had posted this deliberately for me to see. I glanced at it coldly, then swiped past it. We had already broken up, so what was there to care about? By the fourth day, probably because there had been no movement from me, Ethan Harper finally couldn’t hold back anymore. He couldn’t resist using Chloe’s phone to send me a voice message. The attached picture was of a pretty bracelet. [Sophia, are you still mad at me?] [I know I was wrong.] [Even while I was out having fun this time, I was thinking about you.] [Look, I brought you a bracelet.] [Pretty, right?] I didn’t reply. A moment later, Chloe sent me another voice message. This time, it was her own voice, and her tone carried deliberate showing off. "Sophia, Ethan really cares about you." "He was originally thinking of buying one for me." "The sales associate said there was a discount if he bought two, so he immediately thought of buying one for you too." "It’s just that mine is a little more expensive, and yours is the cheap one." "Don’t mind it." I had the speaker on. Noah Carter, who was sitting across from me, heard some of it and frowned. "Is that your friend?" "That’s a really disrespectful way to talk to someone." I smiled indifferently and blocked Chloe too. "No." "She’s just... my ex-boyfriend’s unofficial side chick?" "Something like that." "Sorry for wasting your time, so I’ll pay for this meal." "You’ve probably noticed." "I just broke up, so I’m not really ready to start another relationship so soon." "I only agreed to come sit down because my mom has been pushing me too hard these past few days." As I spoke, I got ready to take out my phone and pay. Noah Carter pressed my hand down. "I already paid." "It’s fine, because I have plenty of time to waste slowly." "When it comes to getting a wife, everyone relies on their own ability." "After all, the wife is right here, so whoever has the ability gets to marry her." 4. The night Ethan Harper and Chloe came back from their trip was the class reunion we had agreed on long ago. When I arrived, the private room was buzzing with conversation. I heard someone ask Ethan Harper: "Ethan, when exactly are you and Sophia having the wedding banquet?" "We’re all getting impatient waiting!" Ethan Harper tapped the gift box in his hand and replied carelessly: "Let’s wait a little longer." "Sophia has been fighting with me lately." "It’s just because Chloe and I are close, and she got jealous." "She hasn’t even been seeing me lately." "Look, didn’t I bring a little gift to coax her?" A more sensible classmate reminded Ethan Harper with a few words. "Ethan, if you ask me, you’re about to get married." "You really should settle down and keep some distance from other women." Sure enough, it was exactly as I had guessed. Ethan Harper immediately shot back the next second: "Why are you so sensitive too?" "I’ve known Chloe for seven or eight years." "We’re seriously just buddies, and if something was going to happen, it would’ve happened a long time ago." Chloe immediately echoed him too, her voice sweet and coquettish. "Exactly, Ethan and I are totally innocent." "We could share a blanket and still just chat all night." "Don’t talk nonsense, okay?" "When Sophia gets here later, you all have to help us say some nice things and tell her to stop making trouble." The private room burst into noisy laughter again. I pushed open the door. The laughter stopped abruptly, and for a moment, there was dead silence. Ethan Harper hurriedly stood up and offered the gift box to me like a treasure, saying: "I’m sorry, Sophia." "In front of our old classmates, I’ll apologize to you properly." "I wasn’t careful with my words that day and made you angry." "This is a little gift for you." "Chloe and I really are just good friends." "Can you stop being mad?" Chloe, who was beside him, also stood up. Today, she had deliberately worn a round-necked top, and around her neck was the necklace Ethan Harper had bought for her. It was bright and obvious, like a provocation. "Sophia, just forgive Ethan." "If you keep making a fuss, then Ethan and I will have no choice but to cut ties." "You shouldn’t be the kind of person who won’t let Ethan have even one good friend after he starts dating, right?" The two of them worked together perfectly, as if they had suffered some enormous grievance and were humoring me. I only found it absurd, and my brows tightened deeply. Looking at the two of them, I asked in genuine confusion: "Why are you two telling me all this?" "I’ve already said it many times." "Ethan Harper and I have already broken up." "And now, I already have a boyfriend." As soon as I finished speaking, the door of the private room was pushed open by Noah Carter. He naturally walked to my side, stretched out his long arm, and firmly wrapped it around my shoulders. Then he smiled and said: "Sorry, I was late because of parking." "Let me introduce myself." "I’m Noah Carter, Sophia’s boyfriend."
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