Chapter 1

Thanksgiving.

My boyfriend Ethan Sinclair was taking me home to meet his parents, but he'd insisted on booking the latest Amtrak long-distance train.

I was so exhausted during the ride that I leaned against my seat and fell asleep.

When I woke up, the seat beside me was empty. Ethan was nowhere to be found, and I couldn't reach him.

I stared at the word "Savannah" on the display screen in the carriage and rushed to find a conductor, asking how many stops were left until Washington.

"Washington? That stop passed a long time ago. The next one is the last stop."

She looked at me, confused. "I remember there was a man sitting next to you. Your boyfriend? He didn't wake you?"

My heart sank.

Half an hour later, I stood alone in an unfamiliar terminal station, looking around blankly.

Ethan, who had just had his phone off, finally called me.

"Chloe was in a car accident. I had to rush back to New York to be with her. I forgot to wake you."

"Just head to my parents' house and wait for me there."

Chloe Whitman. Again. His childhood sweetheart.

Every single time, the moment anything happened with Chloe, I was the one left behind.

I didn't respond to his request. I took a deep breath and said to him:

"You don't really need me in Washington anymore, do you?"

A love that always put me second to Chloe was a love I no longer wanted.

......

The words had barely left my mouth when an explosion erupted not far away.

A shockwave slammed into me, throwing my entire body to the ground.

In the last second before I lost consciousness, I could still hear Chloe's voice on the other end of the phone, cooing at him. Ethan hadn't heard a single sound from my side.

By the time I woke up in the hospital, two days had passed.

A nurse noticed my eyes opening and hurried to get the doctor.

After the examination, the doctor looked at me with visible relief.

"God bless you. You were unconscious for two full days."

He placed a medical document on the bedside table. "Once you're feeling more alert, please sign this acknowledgment form."

The nurse beside him shifted awkwardly before adding.

"We used your phone to contact your emergency contact, but Mr. Sinclair hung up on us. Then he turned off his phone."

I nodded. My throat was so dry it hurt to speak.

"I understand. Thank you."

After they left, I slowly sat up and reached for my phone.

Two full days.

Ethan hadn't made a single call or sent a single message.

I opened Instagram and saw the post Chloe had put up two days ago.

"Ethan has the most beautiful hands. Watching him peel an apple for me is pure bliss."

The photo showed my boyfriend with his head bowed, carefully peeling an apple.

Ethan had never liked sticky fruit. He hated getting juice on his hands.

Even when I'd been hospitalized with appendicitis and asked for some fruit, he'd simply sat beside me and refused.

"Just hold off. I don't like touching these."

But when Chloe made the exact same request, he didn't refuse her at all.

I kept scrolling.

A mutual friend had left a comment: "Isn't Ethan supposed to be in Washington with Ivy these past two days?"

Chloe's reply carried the same suggestive tone.

"My mom called him and told him I was in a car accident. I honestly didn't expect he'd just..."

Just abandon me.

I knew what she was going to say. A sharp pain surged through my chest.

He'd been forced to choose between us too many times. Every single time, it ended with me being the one left behind.

Just then, my mom's call popped up on the screen.

"Ivy! You finally picked up! Your dad and I have been worried sick these past two days."

"Your phone wasn't going through, and we don't even have Ethan's number!"

I fought back the urge to cry.

"I'm fine, Mom. I'll be there soon."

She breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, hesitant and uncertain.

"Ivy, could you give us Ethan's phone number? That way if something like this ever happens again, your dad and I..."

My grip tightened around the phone. Tears streamed down my face.

It wasn't that I didn't want to give my parents Ethan's number. It was that Ethan wouldn't let me.

Everyone knew I was the one who'd chased him relentlessly. So when we first got together, he'd set his rules.

"I don't interact with your family. And please don't give out my contact information."

I'd felt wronged.

But I'd forced myself to agree to all of it.

Now, seeing Chloe casually mention that her mother had contacted Ethan, and hearing my own mom's tentative request.

Five years of love and patience I'd given him seemed to evaporate in that single moment.

"Mom."

"You don't need his number. And from now on, this kind of thing won't happen again."

I hung up.

I reached over for the document, signed my name, and checked myself out of the hospital.

The next day, I went back to New York and took my parents for a checkup. I was terrified that two days of anxiety over my accident might have affected their health.

But in the outpatient lobby, I ran into the man who was holding Chloe's arm.

Ethan saw me and looked stunned.

"Ivy? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at my parents' house?"

I gave him a bitter smile.

It wasn't just him who didn't care about me. Even his parents hadn't bothered to wonder why I'd never shown up.

"I didn't go."

His face darkened. He didn't even acknowledge my parents standing right beside me.

He frowned and scolded me.

"Are you throwing a tantrum?"

"Ivy, how old are you? I already explained it was because Chloe was in a car accident. What's with that look?"

Then he took Chloe's hand and left.

I stood in the middle of the lobby. People around me stared.

My parents sighed. "Ivy, are you really going to marry him?"

I watched Ethan's back as he walked away, shielding Chloe.

My voice was laced with scorn.

"Not anymore. I heard back about the Fulbright scholarship I applied for. I got it."

"I'm going abroad to study. I'm leaving him."