Chapter 4

Ethan Blake said he would make it up to me with a gift.

I said I wanted that tie clip.

When I found it in Ethan Blake’s suit pocket, the crack in my heart seemed to be stitched with two sutures.

But I did not wait until Ethan Blake gave it to me.

The second time I saw it was on Noah Hayes’s social media account.

He wrote, “People will always stand higher (with a work reward attached).”

The cotton thread and flesh were torn open together, and my chest kept bleeding.

Something I had never gotten was something he could obtain effortlessly.

He did not even need to ask.

Dazed, I went downstairs, and I actually missed a step and rolled down the stairs.

Sharp pain shot straight into my brain, and the lower part of my right leg was already broken.

The pain left my mind blank, and cold sweat seeped from my forehead.

My phone had flown far away, and I dragged my broken leg as I crawled toward it with everything I had.

“Ugh.” I squeezed my eyes shut, clenched my hand tightly into a fist, and my nails sank into my flesh.

Another wave of pain hit, and I tried to use that pain to distract myself from the pain in my leg.

My phone was already broken, and I could only dial the number of my emergency contact.

It was Ethan Blake’s.

I called again and again, and the pain in my leg became clearer and clearer.

But after he answered, he only hurriedly said he was very busy at a business dinner, then hung up.

I was too desperate, and tears smashed onto the floor without warning.

Back in college, I had only sprained my ankle, and Ethan Blake anxiously told me to stand still while he left his school competition early and ran across three campuses to carry me to the hospital.

At that time, I looked at his sweat and felt so heartbroken.

But he said my affairs were the most important things.

Not anymore.

I called 911 through the smart home system, and only then was I saved.

Fortunately, it was only a fracture, and after the surgery, I was pushed into the inpatient ward to recover.

But I never expected to run into Ethan Blake here.

He was holding a thermos and turned into the hospital room at the far end.

The nurses’ quiet gossip drifted into my ears.

“He really is such a good man. His boyfriend had a fever and needed IV fluids, and he stayed by his side for three days without leaving him for a second.”

“Mr. Hayes is just lucky.”