“We are both married to other people, it should be over for us. The woman I love is Claire and I
can’t hurt her anymore.”
Hearing Ethan talk about his feelings made Ava lose her mind, and she started yelling.
“No! Ethan, the person you love is me! You’ve always loved me for the past decade, right?” “How could you have fallen for Claire, you only pity her! Claire doesn’t even love you, do you even know who she loves? You’re just feeling this way because she left you, you’ll get over it.”
Ava held on to Ethan again.
This was the first time Ethan had seen Ava this
way. He frowned and didn’t understand.
Did Ava love him?
Then why did she choose to marry someone else?
All these years, he had been chasing Ava, and Ava was used to being his first priority.
But now, Ethan couldn’t understand Ava at all.
His phone buzzed, his assistant had sent two
videos.
<
Ethan clicked on the videos, which were from
the hallway in the hospital and the studio.
When the videos ended, Ethan’s heart had sunk.
into his stomach.
He turned to look at the frantic Ava, his voice
cold and empty.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”
Ethan had never imagined that his kind and
innocent Ava could do something so cruel.
She had hurt his wife and killed his child.
He stared at Ava, as if he had just met her for
the first time.
Ava panicked and started crying.
The hot tears fell on Ethan’s cold hand.
“No! I didn’t do anything, these videos are fake!
It was Claire, she’s trying to blame me. She’s
jealous of my relationship with you! I’m certain
that Claire is trying to cause trouble between
us…”
“Enough!” Ethan’s forehead was throbbing, he
was unable to contain his anger.
“You still try to make Claire look bad? She
would never do such a thing! Ava, I’m so
<
disappointed in you!”
Ava turned to look at Ethan with shock, her
face still wet from tears. She smirked and said, “Ethan, you don’t believe me? You say you love
me, but all you do is protect Claire, it is her that
you love!”
Her eyes then narrowed with hate.
“But Claire already knows the truth. All of it.
How you hurt her father, and never let her have
kids, how you’ve been so good to me! You think
she’ll ever forgive you?”
“Ethan, you’re pathetic. You have always been
in love with Claire, but you didn’t know it. It’s
too late, she will never come back.”
Ethan’s vision turned red, he reached over to
hold the woman’s throat and his hand started
to close, his anger was taking over.
His voice was low and strained.
“Claire will never leave me. She loves me too
much to leave. As long as I kill you for the baby,
she’ll be back.”
Seeing the hate in his eyes, Ava got scared. She
struggled and pounded against the man.
く
She started to suffocate.
“Mr. Ethan!” his assistant ran in to pull Ethan
off of her, but he wouldn’t budge.
“If you kill her, you will never see her again!”
Ethan suddenly stopped, his eyes started to clear.
“Send her to the police.”
Air rushed back to Ava’s lungs, she coughed and wheezed.
“No…you can’t do this to me…Ethan, you love me, you promised to always protect me…” Ethan waved his hand and security guards
pulled the struggling Ava out of the room. The living room fell silent, “Have you had any updates about Ms. Claire yet?”
Ethan received a negative answer, so he
headed upstairs to our bedroom and buried his head under the covers, trying to smell my scent. He carefully pulled my hair that was left on the
bed and put it against his heart.
A single teardrop slid down his face.
“Claire, where are you?”
Ethan laid on my pillow, as if he was back in
<
one of our nights together.
I would be snuggled in his arms, and my eyes
were always filled with love.
Ethan sat up and he gasped for air. It felt like a
weight had settled on his chest, he was unable
to breathe.
He ran out of the mansion.
Staying in the mansion that was full of my
presence, was like putting salt on his open
wound, he couldn’t take it anymore.
Ethan sat down at the entrance, like his soul
had left his body.
Then it started to rain, and he collapsed,
unconscious.
On the other side of the world, I was walking
towards the top of the mountain.
Sweat rolled off me, and when I looked up at
the mountain peak, a satisfying smile spread
across my face.
The sky was blue, and there were white clouds
on top, and below my feet was the majestic
world.
I opened my arms, to feel this beautiful sight. I
<
was finally at peace.
My dad always wanted to travel the world, but
he never had the chance. Now it was my turn to
do it for him.
I had always wanted to travel abroad, but Ethan
always claimed he had an emergency to tend
- to.
I never got a chance to travel all the past five
years.
The only view I ever had was him.
But now he was gone from my eyes, and all I
saw was the great outdoors and all the
beautiful sights the world had to offer.
I wanted to live a life for myself and my father.
I pulled out my camera and took a picture of
what was in front of me and uploaded it to the
internet, to share it with everyone.
“Mr. Ethan! We found Ms. Claire, a netizen said
that she was seen at the top of a mountain in Country A!”
Ethan took the tablet that his assistant passed
over and a picture of me appeared, his heart
raced.
く
He scrolled through the photos, every picture
was a masterpiece.
Ethan stared at the picture of the cliff and was
silent.
He must have been thinking of his promises to
travel the world together, or maybe it was
because he saw that I had changed.
“Book a flight to Country A, and watch over Ms.
Claire.”
Ten hours later, Ethan arrived at my hotel. He
stood in front of my room and reached out his
hand, but was too afraid to knock.
In the end, he sat down at my door and waited.
The next morning, the housekeeping lady, told
him that the guest had checked out a long time
ago but never cancelled the reservation.
Ethan’s heart grew cold, and he stumbled out
of the hotel.
He ran, thinking I might have left.
He finally reached the park and his feet
stopped.
I was by the fountain, feeding the pigeons, my
camera hung around my neck, glistening in the
<
sun.
I was laughing and dancing with the pigeons. I
had a smile he hadn’t seen in a while, and I
seemed free and radiant. He almost didn’t dare
get close.
Ethan’s face softened.
He was happy for this version of me, but it
didn’t mean he had given up on me.
He hesitated for a long time before he sat down
on the bench, but on the other side.
His voice sounded raw and sad.
“Claire, I’m sorry. For what I did to you, I was
such an idiot. I always thought all I had was
guilt, but when you left, I realized that I am in
love with you, Claire, I love you so much. I can’t
imagine a future without you, how am I
supposed to live?”
“I’m so sorry, so sorry about everything. What I
did, I can never make up for it. So Claire, let me
stay by your side, as my punishment, let me
make it up to you, I’ll give you everything
including my life.”
“I want to stay by your side, like the past years.
く
O)AY ‘,y yAUAL Oདང(, Hད、,
post your
I will do what I promised your dad. Let me stay
by your side, please?”
The pigeons cooed as they flew in circles, and there were kids playing in the background.
I turned to look at Ethan, my voice calm. “Ethan, you are not worthy to stay by my side. You don’t belong to me, you belong to Ava. Didn’t you already write up your will? I have spent these past five years living in your lies. When I learned the truth, I hated myself, for falling in love with the person that had ruined everything.”
Looking at the man I had known for twenty years, and had slept beside for five years, I suddenly felt nothing but a sense of apathy. Maybe in life, there would always be someone like that, someone that you love so deeply but also hurts you so deeply.
I stood up, and looked down at him, I had a
smile of relief, but it didn’t touch my eyes.
“Ethan, I will never forgive you.”
The sun was shining bright, but Ethan felt cold,
a miserable smile showed on his face.
<
“Claire, but I love you so much.”
His voice was soft, but it didn’t reach my ears.
I pulled up my camera, and took a picture of the
smiling crowd.
The only exception, was the man sitting on the
bench with his head in his hands.
“Ma’am, could you help us take a picture?”
A five year old boy asked while pulling at my
sleeve, beside him was a girl, placing a flower
crown on his head.
“Of course.” I smiled and took a picture.
They had the most beautiful smile.
Like twenty years ago, when I was five, and
Ethan had put a grass bracelet on my arm,
promising to always protect me.
When he was young, his eyes had nothing but
genuine care for me.
But the person who ended up hurting me was
the same person.
I felt warmth on my back, and familiar breath on
my ear.
Ethan had wrapped me in his arms, tightly, like
he was afraid I would disappear if he ever let
- go.
His voice was choked with sadness.
“Claire, don’t you see? That’s how we used to
- be. Please give me another chance, let me
make it up to you in my next life, whatever you
want I will get for you. Please let me stay by
your side…”
A hot tear fell on my cold hand.
It stung.
I sighed.
“Ethan, all I want is for you to disappear from
my sight.”
I pushed him away and walked away,
disappearing into the forest.
I didn’t know how long he sat there before I
heard him say.
“I understand, Claire.”
A month later I was at a beach side café,
enjoying the breeze, while drinking my coffee.
The chatter from the tourists caught my
attention.
“Did you hear, the CEO of the Ethan Group has
turned himself in! He said he used underhanded
<
tactics to ruin his father in–law’s company, that
he deceived his wife and killed his unborn baby.
What a monster! The woman that married him
is too pitiful, I feel so bad for her.”
I stopped mid–sip and looked down at my
phone. The news feed had a picture of Ethan, in
jail.
His eyes were grey and empty, there was no
expression as he was being interrogated.
“Ms. Claire, your package.”
I took the package and opened it. Inside were
two documents.
A divorce agreement with Ethan’s signature at
the bottom.
And an asset transfer agreement, where Ethan
gave all his assets, including the property and
stocks, without any conditions.
Finally, a note, with familiar handwriting.
“Claire, please don’t reject this. I promise, I will
never appear in front of you.”
“I hope you can be free, happy and healthy.”
I chuckled, he finally understood what I wanted.
I tore up the note, like I was tearing away my
two documents.
A divorce agreement with Ethan’s signature at
the bottom.
And an asset transfer agreement, where Ethan
gave all his assets, including the property and stocks, without any conditions.
Finally, a note, with familiar handwriting.
“Claire, please don’t reject this. I promise, I will never appear in front of you.”
“I hope you can be free, happy and healthy.”
I chuckled, he finally understood what I wanted. I tore up the note, like I was tearing away my
past with him.
I lifted my coffee, the bitterness still lingered on my tongue, making me savor every sip.
I pulled up my camera and took a picture of the
ocean, the seagulls above, and the flowers by
the rocks, and posted on Instagram.
“New beginnings.
The End.
