On the way back to the countryside, my mind replayed memories of Ethan one moment after another.
He had claimed he did not have the money to marry me, yet I had seen the contract showing he was supporting Anna at the cost of a million dollars a year.
He had promised me the most luxurious wedding and vowed to make me the happiest bride. The truth was, his affair had started in our second year together and carried on ever since.
I had been nothing more than a fool, deceived from the very start.
The more I thought about it, the more it hurt. I tried to erase every trace of Ethan from my mind but found that love and habit were terrifying things. They were so deeply rooted in the bones that forgetting became impossibly
hard.
The road was bumpy, and after struggling alone with my heavy luggage, I finally arrived home.
My mother, sitting in her wheelchair, was already waiting with a grim expression.
11
The moment she saw me, she moved the chair and demanded I kneel before my deceased father’s portrait. You’ve done your master’s, right? How’s that doctorate going? Tell your father about it properly so he doesn’t worry about you in the afterlife.”
I knelt down and placed my hands together, fabricating stories about my doctorate studies.
None of it was real. I had never pursued graduate school; I had given that up for Ethan.
I had been the best student in my family, the one everyone pinned their hopes on. Before my father–a police officer–passed away, his final wish had been for me to earn a doctorate and bring honor to the family. I had promised him I would.
For love, however, I had lost my mind. I gave up everything to follow Ethan West. I believed in a shared future and helped him rise to success.
