Chapter 4
I had few friends in the city, so I had to post broadly on social media looking for housing.
Surprisingly, Nathan was the first to respond. Our last conversation had been three years earlier.
He asked, “Are you sure about this?”
I remembered that day was when Ethan and I had officially gotten together.
“My friend has an apartment close to downtown. Wanna take a look?” he offered.
I agreed quickly and met Nathan that day.
“You’re moving out? Did you break up with Ethan?” he asked, then realized and repeated the question near my right
ear.
“How did you know?” I asked.
My hearing was poor–my left ear could barely hear anything, while my right ear was somewhat better. Most of the time, I couldn’t hear people talking because they found it too troublesome to accommodate me.
Ethan had told his friends, “It’s annoying that she can’t hear. I always have to translate everything.”
My desire to tell him the truth instantly died. Let him think I was just deaf.
My eyes must have shown surprise that Nathan knew to speak into my right ear.
Nathan smiled slightly. “I noticed before that you don’t respond when people talk to your left side.”
“Amy, you’re the one who left him this time, right?”
“Yes, I’m the one who doesn’t want him anymore.”
I walked past him, carefully examining the apartment, when I noticed him leaning against the railing, grinning at
- me.
“Why don’t you consider me instead?” he suggested.
My heart momentarily sped up, but rationality quickly took over.
“Aren’t you afraid he’ll beat you up?”
“I’ve never been afraid of him.”
His sincere gaze fixed on me, forcing me to back away repeatedly. I practically fled from that confrontation.
But once downstairs, I received a message from Ethan: “You can stay in the apartment. I won’t be coming back for a
while.”
22:02
When …
Chapter
1 smirked Ethan was being confesenting as it granting me caring
He seemed to be waiting for me to come rating back, but that was impule NE
I had seen Sophia with my own eyes, witnessed Efan surrender to her advances
The nigandhub was chaotic and noisy, but I spotted Ethan immediately
People around them were egging them on as Sophia sat on Ethan’s lap with a drink. “Truth or dare? You wouldn’t want to see me get punished would you?”
He downed the drink in one grip, but Sophia announced she’d lost because the punishment was to confess to someone at the table.
“Ethan, how about I be your girlfriend?” she asked
The surrounding noise suddenly died down. Ethan looked at Sophia with hazy eyes and then kissed her in front of everyone.
“Don’t look. It’s gross.”
That night, Nathan covered my eyes, his palm gradually becoming wet with my tears.
He took me away from there, gently wiping my tears.
“Amy, he’s not worth it.”
Then Nathan handed me a helmet. I realized he hadn’t driven his car.
“Come on, I’ll take you for a ride to clear your head.”
I’d ridden on motorcycles many times, but this was my first time riding with someone other than Ethan.
Unlike Ethan, Nathan drove very steadily.
Ethan loved racing, loved the thrill. I would always hold onto him tightly in fear.
“Amy, you can’t hear, yet you’re still so afraid?” Ethan would often say this, his expression mocking and belittling.
“Amy, I regret it now,” Nathan said.
22.02
