Chapter 2

My hands and feet turned cold, like someone had poured a bucket of ice water over my head.

"What are you doing!"

My body moved faster than my mind.

I lunged towards the sofa, reaching out to pull them apart:

"Have you no shame!"

My fingertips had just touched Chloe's hair when a powerful force suddenly pushed me away.

Ethan protected Chloe with one arm and shoved my shoulder with the other.

I stumbled backward, slipped, and fell hard to the floor.

Ethan looked at me with a cold expression:

"Enough! Sophia, don't act like a shrew!"

Through my tear-filled eyes, I watched Ethan calmly put on his clothes.

Chloe nestled in his arms, giving me a triumphant smile.

I struggled to sit up:

"Why? Ethan, why are you doing this to me?"

Ethan fastened his last button and looked down at me.

"Because it's fair."

I froze.

"Every time I sleep with you, I always remember you being pinned down by that fifty-something professor. Sophia, I'm disgusted!"

My mind went blank.

But he was the one who approached me first.

After I was forced by my professor, Ethan was the first to stand up and help me gather evidence.

He accompanied me to the hospital for examinations, accompanied me to the police station to give a statement.

When I was being pointed at and talked about by the whole school, he held my hand and walked through the crowd.

The day I had a mental breakdown and slit my wrists.

He broke down the door, rushing me, covered in blood, to the hospital.

He guarded outside the operating room all night, and the first thing he said when I woke up was:

"Sophia, no matter what happens, I'm here for you."

Chloe stood up from the sofa, the hickeys on her collarbone so glaring they made me want to vomit.

She leaned languidly on Ethan's shoulder, saying sweetly:

"Ethan, you've torn my underwear, what should I do?"

Ethan chuckled, pulling a damp lace thong from his pocket:

"What to do? Then don't wear them."

Chloe playfully hit him.

I couldn't stop trembling:

"Chloe, I paid for your college tuition, I gave you living expenses, I sponsored you!"

"When you couldn't find a job after graduation, I told Ethan to make you his assistant."

"Was I not good to you?"

Chloe tilted her head, smiling innocently:

"Oh yes, Sophia was very good to me."

"But just because you were good to me, does that mean I have to be eternally grateful?"

"You yourself slept with an old man, you're dirty, and you still demand loyalty from Ethan?"

My ears were buzzing.

I squatted down, clutching my head tightly.

That feeling was back.

Five years ago, they said I voluntarily climbed into the professor's bed for a master's degree spot.

They said I turned on him afterward to blackmail him, that I was unclean, shameless, and deserved it.

Back then, I had the same nightmare every day.

The professor's obese body was pressing down on me, and I struggled desperately but couldn't move.

After waking up, I started self-harming, as if only pain could prove I was still alive.

It was Ethan who pulled me out of that abyss.

He accompanied me to see a psychologist every day, hugged me when I broke down:

"Sophia, don't be afraid, I'm here."

I thought he was my salvation.

But he personally pushed me back into hell.

I curled up on the floor, twitching uncontrollably.

Ethan approached me, looking flustered:

"Sophia? What's wrong?"

Chloe, standing nearby, rolled her eyes:

"Don't use your depression to threaten Ethan again; the story of the boy who cried wolf loses its meaning if told too many times."

Ethan paused, then stood up and looked down at me condescendingly:

"Alright, stop acting! As you wish, the engagement is off."

He turned and walked out, pulling Chloe with him.

Chloe looked back, giving me a mocking smile.

I was left alone in the living room.

My vision blurred, and my ears filled with sharp ringing.

In the last second before losing consciousness, I thought:

"Mom, I'm sorry. Your daughter really doesn't seem to deserve love."