Chapter 2

Serena POV

That day, Ethan didn't come back to stay with me as he'd said.

The IV drip went until late at night. I pressed the call button myself to have the nurse remove the needle.

I also ordered my own dinner delivery.

It wasn't that I was incapable of being independent.

Quite the opposite. I grew up in an orphanage and never knew what it was like to be protected by someone.

As a child at school, because I was an orphan, I was often excluded by classmates.

I didn't dare make trouble, afraid of causing problems for the orphanage director, so I endured everything by myself.

When I was sixteen, on my way back to the orphanage after school, I was cornered in a narrow alley by several men.

Those men asked me for money with leering smiles.

But where would I have any money?

They got angry and reached out to tear my clothes.

I was so scared I couldn't make a sound, could only shrink into the corner.

Just when I was about to despair, a young police officer passed by the alley entrance and quickly knocked those men to the ground.

The man crouched down, wiped away the tears and snot on my face, and gently comforted me. "Don't be scared. I'm a police officer. The police will protect you."

Before he left, he tore off a piece of paper and stuffed it into my hand with a string of phone numbers written on it.

"If you run into trouble again, call this number."

That man was Ethan.

That was the first time in my life someone had protected me.

The man's image was forever carved into my heart.

I memorized that string of numbers and kept the paper safe.

I always remembered what he said: the police would protect me.

From then on, Ethan became my salvation and my faith.

Over the years, I quietly followed Ethan's whereabouts.

After graduating from college, I deliberately moved to the city where Ethan was stationed and became a pastry chef.

I opened a dessert shop on a street not far from the police station, waiting for an opportunity to openly give him desserts.

That day, I carried desserts I'd made myself, handed him that yellowed piece of paper, and gathered my courage to say, "My name is Serena. Can I pursue you?"

I thought he would refuse, or at least hesitate.

But Ethan looked at me for a moment and said one word: "Okay."

From then on, I became Ethan's girlfriend.

Ethan was busy with work, and I often couldn't find him.

I never complained.

I handled everything at home by myself.

When the pipes burst, I called a repairman. I paid the water, electricity, and gas bills. When lightbulbs burned out, I climbed a ladder to change them myself.

When Ethan worked late, I brought him food in a thermos. I did this for three years.

Ethan wasn't good at being affectionate. He only focused on work, so I came up with explanations for him. Police officers are like that. They carry a lot of responsibility. I just need to take care of him.

Ethan never said sweet words, but I comforted myself that he was cold on the outside but warm on the inside.

Otherwise, why would he have chased away those men for me back then and crouched down to wipe my tears?

When I got sick or injured, he always frowned and said, "Can't you handle such a small thing yourself?"

He didn't remember anniversaries, birthdays, or Valentine's Day.

So I prepared gifts in advance, made dinner, and dragged him over to eat after work.

I thought he would eventually learn how to love someone.

I always thought Ethan loved me, he just didn't know how to love someone.

He had responsibility in his heart, and as his family member, I should support him.

Until three months ago, when Vivian came to the police force, I discovered that wasn't the case at all.

Vivian was the only daughter of Ethan's mentor.

Ethan's mentor had sacrificed himself during a mission to save Ethan.

After graduating from the police academy, Vivian came here and became Ethan's subordinate.

From that day on, Ethan would drive Vivian home after work.

At night, worried she'd get cold, he always brought an extra jacket.

The desserts I put on his office desk all ended up in Vivian's stomach.

Turns out Ethan wasn't incapable of taking care of people.

I felt wronged for the first time.

Why could he be so good to Vivian, yet couldn't spare even a little bit of kindness for me?

But Ethan was just impatient. "Vivian's parents are both gone. Are you really going to begrudge her this? She's young. As my girlfriend, you should help me take care of her."

Both parents gone? Wasn't I the only one without parents?

Vivian was young? I was only two years older than her.

These words, every time I opened my mouth to say them, I swallowed them back.

Until that day, when I was organizing old belongings and found a photo in Ethan's old phone.

The picture showed young Ethan and Vivian.

They had their faces pressed together, smiling happily.

I stared at that photo for a long time.

I finally understood.

All those things he said were just excuses.

Love or no love, the difference was so obvious.

My years of persistence had been nothing but a joke.