Chapter 2

Ava looked indignant as she watched Ethan humble himself to me.

“Ethan, you bought this house. You have the right to decide who lives here. Why are you apologizing to her like this?”

Ethan stopped her before she could continue.

“Enough. I was wrong about this. Find a job soon and move out.”

“Ethan, you don’t want to take care of me anymore? Did you forget what you promised my mom? You said you’d look after me properly.”

“Ava, stop. Once you move out, I’ll still visit you often. Don’t worry. I won’t let you suffer alone.”

They went back and forth, gazing at each other with deep affection. They looked like a pair of tragic lovers.

And I was the stick being used to beat them apart.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I stormed over and slapped Ethan across the face.

“Ethan, how did I never realize what a shameless jerk you are?”

Ethan hadn’t even reacted when Ava screamed.

She stroked his face in distress. When she saw the red mark from my hand, she turned around and glared at me.

“Claire, what gives you the right to hit him?”

“Shut up. Keep talking and you’ll get one too.”

Ava looked as though I had frightened her. She burst into tears and hid in Ethan’s arms.

“Ethan, she’s so scary.”

Ethan looked down at me coldly.

“Claire, how long are you going to keep this up? I told you, Ava is just my neighbor’s daughter. Can’t you stop being so unreasonable?”

Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. My angry voice carried a hint of hurt that I couldn’t hide.

“I’m being unreasonable? Go ask everyone on the street if they’ve ever heard of a future wife being kept out of her own marital home while a woman with no blood relation moves in first.”

“Ethan, I built this place piece by piece according to our tastes. How could you do this to me?”

Ethan lowered his head guiltily, but he still stubbornly argued, “You had no right to hit me, especially not in front of Ava. This is my house. Don’t I have the right to let my own sister stay here?”

Looking at Ethan’s complete lack of remorse, I felt utterly exhausted.

“Fine. You’re right. This is your house, and you have the right to decide who lives here. I don’t want to fight with you. Let’s take some time apart and calm down.”

I turned and walked away.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ethan reach out to stop me, but Ava grabbed his arm.

She held his face in both hands and carefully applied medicine to his cheek, as if she were terrified of hurting him.

“Ethan, is Claire always this aggressive? She just starts hitting people whenever she gets upset. She really scared me.”

“I’m not upset because I like you, Ethan. I know Claire hates me because of that.”

“But you didn’t do anything wrong. What right does she have to treat you like that?”

“You’re such a good person. How could she hit you?”

“You aren’t even married yet, and she already treats you like you’re beneath her. If I hadn’t come this time, I never would’ve known you were living like this. If your mom found out, she’d be heartbroken.”