Chapter 1

The girl my lawyer boyfriend once defended, Chloe, put a thumbtack in my shoe, leaving me bleeding profusely.

My boyfriend apologized for her again.

The doctor was disinfecting and injecting me.

The needle went in deep, making me sob uncontrollably.

"Ethan, how many times have you apologized to me because of Chloe?"

He looked dazed, meeting my reddened eyes.

I told him, "Fifty-one."

On average, once a week.

This has been going on since he took Chloe's case, during our eighth year together.

It was spent enduring his endless apologies.

My voice still trembled at the end, but I wiped away my tears.

"Ethan, I've had enough."

"I'm tired. Aren't you tired of it too?"

"I'm sorry."

He was silent for a long time, and still, that was all he said.

I let go of his hand.

I hated needles.

For years, whenever I had an injection, it was our ritual for him to offer his hand for me to squeeze tight.

"Ethan, I'm sick of hearing 'I'm sorry.'"

He lowered his gaze, watching me struggle to even walk.

"I'll make Chloe come and apologize too."

"Sarah, I promise, this will be the last time something like this happens."

When I saw Chloe, she was already sobbing.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to."

"The thumbtacks spilled, and I didn't notice one fell into your shoe."

Ethan didn't need my reaction; he already believed her.

"Sarah, the security camera footage isn't very clear. You can't just assume she did it."

It was the same as every other time he'd defended Chloe.

"Let's just drop this."

My wound was still seeping blood. "Ethan, you apologize for her, and you're just going to let it go for my sake."

"You're really good at handling things, aren't you?"

Catching the sarcasm in my voice, Ethan's brow furrowed abruptly, and his voice involuntarily rose.

"She already said it was an accident, so what more do you want?"

"What kind of apology or compensation would satisfy you? I'll take care of it."

He loosened his tie, looking at me as if I were some kind of cold-blooded monster.

"Chloe's still young. She's not as bad as you think."

"You're years older than her, why are you being so petty?"

His chest heaved.

In the past, at this point, I'd be too exhausted to argue, intimidated by his aggression, and the matter would be dropped.

But now, I looked at Chloe, who had arrived home before Ethan and me, busying herself in the kitchen.

I didn't want to pretend nothing had happened anymore.

Hearing the door, Chloe peeked out from the kitchen.

"Sarah, I figured you hadn't eaten yet, so I came back early to cook. Consider it my apology."

"I'm a great cook, you know."

"Whenever you were away on business, I'd come over and cook for Ethan."

Chloe's fingerprint was in our digital lock.

She was wearing slippers identical to Ethan's.

She was wearing my pajamas.

She was rummaging through the kitchen with familiar ease.

And she kept saying, "I'm always here."

After returning from my business trip and going straight to the hospital, I finally started noticing all these traces in our home.

"Ethan, she came here often while I was away?"

He pursed his lips.

"She's taking a break from school and said she was bored at home, so she offered to cook for me."

"She's just being kind; it doesn't concern you."

My eyes, swollen and aching from crying, made my sensitive nerves still throb.

"It does concern me."

Of the fifty-one apologies Ethan had given me,

some were for Chloe breaking my necklace that was in his car.

Some were for the many times he ditched me to go find Chloe.

Some were for Chloe crashing my dates with Ethan and insisting on joining us.

Some were for Chloe tripping me and spilling hot soup on me, causing me injuries multiple times.

I pointed at Chloe and said coldly,

"Pay my medical bills. Not just for this, but for all the previous incidents..."

I calculated a total.

Ethan's jaw tightened beside me.

I continued,

"And take off those clothes. They're mine..."