Chapter 3

What Ethan loved most was buying me clothes and jewelry.

I used to think it was proof of how much he cherished and loved me.

Now, looking at this roomful of clothing and accessories that completely clashed with my own style, I could see that every single piece would look absolutely perfect on Vivian.

It made me look like the intruder who'd stolen someone else's nest.

I didn't want to question anything anymore, but Ethan grabbed my hand with a dark expression, his tone urgent:

"Why would you suddenly start packing for no reason? Answer me!"

I turned my face away, not wanting to respond, when I saw Vivian reaching for my music box.

"Don't touch it!"

CRASH! The music box fell heavily to the floor, the lid and the little figurines scattering everywhere, shards covering the ground.

"Ah... I'm so sorry, Miss Grey, I didn't mean to... Ethan, my hand... it hurts so much..."

Vivian clutched the scratch on her palm and started crying.

Ethan ran over to check her wound. The next second, he stomped his foot down hard on the music box remains, his face black with anger.

He glared at me viciously:

"It's just a broken decoration! Did you really need to deliberately scare people like that, Luna!?"

"Hurry up and throw this pile of garbage away. I don't want to see it in my house again!"

After saying this, Ethan ground his foot harder on the remains, then picked up Vivian and left without looking back.

Tears splashed onto the music box wreckage. The shards cut my fingers, but I couldn't feel any pain.

When I was sixteen, my parents were getting divorced.

Not knowing what to do, I ran to my best friend Claire Rivers' house. She wasn't there, but I ran into Ethan, who'd just come back from playing ball with friends.

"Luna, you're Claire's friend, right? Why are you crying? Tell me what's wrong."

Eyes red, I tried to leave, but Ethan grabbed me, frowning as he chased away the friends who wanted him to game with them.

He told me to wait, then ran out alone in the rain to buy the best desserts and cakes in the entire city, piling them all in front of me.

He ruffled my hair to comfort me, then mysteriously pulled out a music box from behind his back. It played a gentle melody, with little figurines of a hero and princess slowly spinning in circles on top.

"Luna, don't be afraid."

"No matter how others treat you in the future, I'll protect you for the rest of my life. Let this music box be my promise."

The way teenage boys comfort people is always pure and direct, but in that moment of helplessness, it made me fall completely for him.

From that day until today, I'd loved Ethan Rivers for a full ten years.

I still remembered the promise he made. But the person who made that promise had long since forgotten it completely.

Cradling the remains in my palms, I took one last look before throwing them in the trash.

If that's how it was, then I didn't want the promise or Ethan anymore. Never again.

Ethan didn't come back until the next morning.

After shipping my luggage home, I went to the office to print my resignation letter, preparing to hand it in to Ethan's office.

On the way, Ethan sent me a message.

[Baby, I spoke too harshly yesterday. I ended up sleeping at the office after working late last night, just woke up. I'll head home soon.]

I looked up at Ethan's empty office in front of me and placed the resignation letter on his desk.

I didn't reply, just exited the chat and unpinned him from the top of my messages.

A red notification appeared in my contacts - Vivian had added me.

The moment I accepted, a message from her popped up.

[Ethan, when you get back from the convenience store, remember to buy a few more boxes of condoms! You were so intense last night... you used up everything we had at home!]

Followed by several blushing emojis.

Right at the two-minute mark, Vivian deleted the message.

[OMG I'm so sorry Miss Grey... I sent that to the wrong person... You didn't see anything, did you?]

My heart ached, but I was too tired to play along with her act. Still, I instinctively opened her Instagram.

Photos and posts unfolded before me like a movie.

Turns out Vivian had been back for a month.

During that month, Ethan had taken every spare moment to travel with her to various places.

Looking back at the dates, I realized these were all trips Ethan had claimed he was assigning to other employees so I wouldn't be overworked.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, Mount Fuji in Tokyo...

All places I'd begged Ethan to take me to.

He'd always held me and coaxed me, saying yes, yes, as soon as work wasn't so busy, he'd take me.

I waited eight years and never saw the day when he'd have free time.

Vivian had only been back one month, and suddenly he wasn't busy anymore.

At each location, Ethan cooperated with Vivian to take many photos.

But during all these years with Ethan, I'd never been allowed to point my camera at him.

"If my sister finds out I stole her best friend away, she'd probably kill me."

"Luna, you're my secretary after all. Office romances attract gossip - I don't want you to get hurt."

But when you truly love someone, how can you possibly hide it?

I was too slow to realize - Ethan had kept our relationship shrouded in secrecy for eight years. I should have understood long ago that he simply didn't love me!

I was about to exit the app when I saw a new photo pop up on Vivian's profile.

The background showed a bed. Vivian wore a skimpy camisole, her slender fingers trailing across the man's firm, muscular abs.

Tears finally spilled out uncontrollably, landing right on Vivian's caption.

[Last night's beautiful memory. He said the imitation is just an imitation - it could never compare to even half the flavor of me, the original.]