Chapter 2

At this moment, did it even matter who the blind date was?

I just wanted answers for the past eight years.

I couldn't have spent eight years grieving over a man who was still alive.

Searing pain shot through my palms. My throat choked up as I shouted at Ethan.

"Ethan, tell me—why did you lie to me?"

"Do you know what these eight years have been like for me?"

"What happened that night? Tell me!"

Ethan took a deep breath and glanced at the woman beside him.

Then he stood and walked up to me, his gaze settling on my face.

"I had no choice."

"That car accident—I planned it."

One phrase—"I had no choice"—to justify his enormous lie.

One phrase—"I couldn't help it"—to turn my past eight years into a joke.

I laughed coldly and raised my hand, slapping Ethan hard across the face.

"Ethan, you know that's not the explanation I want!"

"This slap is for those eight wasted years."

Then I raised my hand again and struck the same spot.

"This slap is for the apology you owe me for lying."

My palm burned with pain. Blood began seeping from my burn wounds.

Ethan's eyes turned cold. He casually wiped the blood from his lip.

His fists clenched slightly.

"That's enough, Stella. I told you—I had no choice."

"You always said a man needs to take responsibility. So when Ivy got pregnant, I chose to step up. I couldn't let the child be born without a father. I couldn't let people think Ivy was some irresponsible woman."

"What I did was just fulfilling a man's duty."

"Are you satisfied with that explanation?"

"But you cheated on me! How can you talk about cheating like it's something honorable?"

"You couldn't bear to hurt another woman, but you could let me live like a ghost for eight years and make me feel guilty for the rest of my life."

"Ethan, is this what you call responsibility?"

I laughed and staggered backward, remembering that the day after Ethan left, I discovered I was pregnant.

I'd wanted to die, but the baby's arrival gave me a reason to keep dragging myself through life.

I never imagined that the belief I'd clung to so desperately would end like this.

Ivy, sitting nearby, walked over to Ethan with concern.

Her delicate hand gently touched his face.

Then she looked at me with an expression full of guilt.

"I'm sorry, Stella. We didn't mean to hide this from you."

"But now Ethan and I are married and we have a child. About the past... could you maybe—"

I stared at her seductive face.

"Not hold it against us? Not pursue it?"

"Ivy, if you were in my position, what would you do? If I told you to be generous, could you actually do it?"

"It's only because you're not the one who got hurt."

With that, I threw the wedding ring I'd been clutching into a nearby trash can.

I turned, opened the door, and walked straight out.

So this was how my eight years with Ethan ended—with a period.

All that devotion and guilt finally turned to ash in this moment.

Noah caught up with me, holding gauze and iodine.

No one had expected today to turn out this way.

As Noah cleaned my hands, he spoke.

"I didn't know you and Ethan had that kind of history."

"I'm sorry I didn't warn you they'd be here."

I couldn't bring myself to smile, staring at the raw red flesh on my palms.

"Noah, we can be friends."

His hand paused mid-motion. He looked at me intently.

"Stella, I don't mind your past."

"Don't shut me out just yet."