Chapter 6

The company threw a celebration party.

I did not go.

I bought a bunch of drinks and wanted to drown everything out.

I wanted to forget all of it, even just for a night.

But I did not get that either.

Even in my dreams, Ethan was there.

We started with nothing. Sharing a tiny apartment, splitting a single bread roll, wrapped up in one blanket to stay warm.

He had cheered me on completely when I wanted to go to grad school. He had sworn he would work hard and earn enough so I could focus on studying without worrying about a thing.

Then Autumn came back, and everything changed.

Just because they had grown up together? Because she was his childhood friend?

But Autumn had gone abroad in high school. The time she had actually spent by his side was only five years. Ethan and I had been together for seven.

Time was not the excuse.

The truth was simple. Ethan never loved me.

I fell into a heavy, painful sleep.

And woke up to my phone buzzing.

The moment I opened my eyes, I realized I had been crying in my sleep.

I wiped my face and stared at the screen.

The name trending on social media was mine.

There was a photo taken yesterday. Me and Ethan, confronting each other outside the building.

"Shameless. Going after someone else's man in broad daylight."

"She is literally Autumn's editor. Who knows what she has been doing behind the scenes to sabotage her."

"I just feel for Autumn. She makes the money, and this woman stabs her in the back."

I blinked.

Going after someone else's man. Me?

That was almost funny.

I was about to head to the office to deal with it, but before I even made it downstairs, I heard shouting outside.

A group of angry fans had gathered at the building entrance.

"Homewrecker, get down here! You want to steal someone's man and hide from it?"

I sighed.

I knew I could not fight a crowd by myself, so I messaged Ethan.

"Are not you going to clear this up?"

I watched the typing indicator appear, then disappear. Nothing came through.

Then a rock came flying through my window and shattered the glass.

I rushed over to look and came face to face with the crowd below.

"There she is! Get her!"

I had no time to move. Objects started hitting me.

Rotten eggs. Stones. Broken glass.

One piece caught me directly across the cheek.

Blood started running down my face, and the panic hit all at once.

"Ethan, I am begging you, please. You are the only one who can stop this."

Finally, his message came through.

It knocked the last of my hope clean out of me.

"Fans have surrounded Autumn's studio. I need to go get her."

"You will be okay on your own, right?"

I was not okay.

I woke up in the hospital with a long scar running down my cheek.

If the police had not arrived when they did, that crowd might have killed me.

I picked up my phone.

Seven full days. Not a single message from Ethan.

"Are you ready to explain yourself now?"

I typed it out, feeling nothing.

Ethan replied instantly.

"There is nothing to explain right now. The buzz is at its peak and the manga just hit number one."

"Just hang in there a little longer, Ava."

I actually laughed reading that.

I had watched Ethan put Autumn first for years.

I had been patient long enough. I was done.

I changed my flight to the earliest available and did not wait for any follow-up appointments.

On the plane, I typed everything out as fast as I could.

The second I had a signal, I posted it.

If he was not going to clear my name, I would do it myself.

An hour later, my phone started going crazy.

"Ava, have you lost your mind?"