Chapter 1

Ethan’s expression froze, and his face turned pale in an instant.

“Ava, listen to me explain…”

Before he could get the words out, his phone rang.

Lately, someone had been calling him at this exact time every day.

Thinking about it now, it probably had nothing to do with work.

Without even lifting my head, I said, “Put it on speaker.”

The ringtone went on for a full half minute.

Finally, he swiped to answer and turned on speakerphone.

“Ethan, I made roast chicken today. When are you coming over?”

Ethan broke out in a cold sweat, and even his lips were trembling slightly.

In the end, he said hoarsely, “I’m not coming.”

Then he hung up in a panic.

That woman was Ethan’s ex-girlfriend of ten years, Chloe Bennett.

I couldn’t help letting out a scoff.

“After all this going in circles, it’s still her.”

I picked up the car keys on the table and walked toward the door on my own.

“Come on. Let’s go have roast chicken.”

After a twenty-minute drive, we finally arrived downstairs at what was supposed to be our marital home.

The house had only been renovated last month.

I was someone who cared about rituals and timing.

I had even planned to move into the new house only after Ethan and I got our marriage license.

The bed in the new house had been specially custom-made by someone I found, and it cost over sixty thousand dollars.

I had never even lain on it once, yet another woman had slept in it first.

A sick feeling spread through my chest.

I really wanted to throw up.

“Ava… Chloe just got laid off, and then her landlord scammed her out of money. She really had nowhere to go, so she came crying to me. We were all old classmates… I only let her stay here temporarily…”

During the few minutes we waited for the elevator, he kept explaining to me.

But I couldn’t be bothered to listen.

The moment the door opened, even though I had already mentally prepared myself, my heart still hurt.

I had been too busy with work lately, and Ethan had said the newly renovated house had formaldehyde and was bad for my health.

So I had never come to check on the new house at all.

When I looked at it again, I no longer recognized my own home.

The sofa was covered with a pink slipcover.

Yellow and white roses and baby’s breath were arranged on the table.

The kitchen was fully stocked with cookware.

Beef soup was still stewing in the pot, bubbling and steaming.

It felt as if a giant hand had clenched around my throat.

I could barely breathe.

“Woof, woof… woof!”

A little Pomeranian suddenly ran out of the bedroom.

Chloe followed behind it.

The woman and the dog looked more like the owners of this home than I did.

I was so furious I almost laughed.

Chloe twisted her fingers awkwardly.

“Ava, I really had no other choice. Once I find a place, I’ll move out.”

Before I could explode, Ethan exploded first.

“Chloe Bennett, I’ve already done more than enough for you.”

“I’ll give you two more days at most! If you still can’t find a job, go back to your hometown and stop disturbing my life!”

He strode into the living room, grabbed the sofa cover and all the flowers on the table, and threw them straight into the trash.

“This is Ava’s and my home. I let you stay because I pitied you, so don’t push your luck!”

Chloe burst into tears because of his words.

She picked up the little dog, looking completely helpless.

“Ethan… please don’t be so harsh, okay?”

“Don’t call me Ethan. Do you think you deserve to?”

Ethan seemed extremely angry.

Anyone who didn’t know better would think Chloe had moved in without his permission.

He pointed at the roast chicken and beef soup on the dining table and said, “I didn’t want to eat any of this in the first place! You insisted on making it!”

The next second, he actually flipped the table over.

Chloe flinched as the hot oily soup splashed onto her.

Blisters immediately rose on her wrist.

Tears streamed down her face silently.

She looked at Ethan mournfully and asked, “Do you really not want to eat the food I made?”

“Or are you just afraid of Ava and saying the opposite of what you really mean?”

“Every time you came over, you were starving. Ava made things hard for you and wouldn’t even let you eat your fill. You insisted on torturing yourself, and I felt sorry for you, yet you bully me like this…”

She cried even harder.

“Back then, Ryan and I really had nothing going on. We were just drunk. I loved you so much, so how could I have betrayed you?”

“Shut up!”

A flash of intense pain crossed Ethan’s face.

Oh, right, I had almost forgotten that they hadn’t broken up because their feelings faded.

They had broken up because Ethan believed Chloe had cheated on him.