Chapter 3

He cupped my face and kissed me a few times.

“Fiona said you were petty before, and I didn’t believe her. Guess it’s true.”

Ethan laughed again, and that laugh felt like a needle pricking my already aching heart.

Then his phone vibrated. He glanced at it and shook his head with a sigh.

“Fiona didn’t bring any hand warmers. I’ll go get them for her.”

Then he bent down, took a big pack of hand warmers from my suitcase, and went to the room next door.

I looked down at the two lonely hand warmers left in my bag and suddenly felt a chill.

I remembered another time when I forgot to grab my pajamas for the shower. They were right next to Ethan, but he was too lazy to get up and hand them to me.

Now, walking from our suite to Fiona’s room was more than ten steps away.

And he hadn’t even thought of refusing.

Ethan didn't come back for two hours. He seemed like he wanted to explain something, but then he saw I was already lying in bed, facing away from him.

The next day when I opened my eyes,

Ethan was already dressed, helping Fiona, who must have come in at some point, adjust her collar.

“Zip up properly, or you’ll get cold.”

Fiona stuck out her tongue.

Watching this scene, I sat up.

“You guys go have fun today. I’m not coming.”

I hadn't planned on going up the mountain today anyway.

Seeing their natural interactions, I felt like I would just be in the way.

“Kylie, you’re awake? What were you just saying?”

Fiona blinked, then playfully slapped Ethan's arm.

“Kylie just called you. Say something!”

Ethan smirked.

“Do you think she’s like you, needing to be coaxed out of bed?”

He turned to me and said.

“I was going to let you sleep in a bit, but then I forgot to call you. Hurry up and get ready, we’re leaving soon.”

Then he bent down and picked up his things.

“Fiona, let’s go first. We’ll wait for Kylie downstairs.”

I stood up and looked down from the window.

Fiona walked ahead, occasionally looking back and smiling as she said something.

Ethan, walking behind her, replied, unlike with me, when we rarely had much to talk about.

Ethan and she always had so much in common.

I don't like playing video games, and I'm not into extreme sports. I couldn't join Ethan in his passions like cave diving, skiing, or skydiving.

But in our ten years together, I never thought there was anything wrong with that. People don't have to be alike to be together.

But looking at Ethan's smiling face now, I knew he was truly happy today – a hundred times happier than spending a boring weekend with me, or drinking one of my poorly mixed cocktails.

I opened my chat with Ethan.

He had just asked when I was coming down.

I wanted to type ‘Let’s break up,’ but my fingers felt incredibly stiff.

So I sent voice messages:

[You guys go ahead, I’m not coming.]

[Ethan, we’re just not right for each other. Let’s break up.]

He first replied with ‘Okay.’

Then he sent a voice message:

[Okay, well hurry up and catch up. We’ll wait for you up ahead.]

Ethan was being lazy again. Of the two voice messages, he only half-read the transcribed text of one, and didn't even bother to look at the other.

He probably thought the second message was just me telling them to wait a bit.

He'd always been like this. Always.

I put down my phone and remained silent for a long time.

The hotel phone rang. I picked it up.

“Yes, I booked a driver. To the station.”

Because of the significant temperature changes between day and night, I started to feel a bit feverish.

While waiting for the driver, my mind began to drift.

When I came back to my senses, my phone showed an unknown number of missed calls.