Chapter 2

Tears spilled over my lashes without warning.

After sending the message, I set down my phone and began packing my bags.

Right then, my phone rang—it was the hospital calling about my mom.

I rushed over immediately. The doctor stepped out of the emergency room and delivered the blow:

"She suffered an acute myocardial infarction at home.

We need to perform emergency surgery right now. It will cost around one hundred thousand dollars. Go handle the paperwork first."

My mind exploded into static.

A hundred thousand dollars.

Hands trembling, I called Ethan eleven times before he finally picked up.

"Chloe, are you done yet? I told you I'm busy!"

Ethan's voice was dripping with impatience.

I gathered every ounce of strength in my body and screamed, "Ethan, my mom had a heart attack! She's in the hospital right now and needs a hundred thousand for emergency surgery! Where is our money? Transfer it to me right now!"

A brief pause hung on the line, followed by an even colder sigh.

"Doesn't she have Instagramurance? Besides, where am I supposed to pull that kind of cash from?

Rachel just bought her house, she needs money for everything right now. Can you grow up and be sensible for once?"

Then Rachel's voice chimed in from the background.

"Chloe, stop stressing him out over this. Can't your mom's procedure just wait a little bit?"

I shook with pure rage. "Wait until she's dead?!"

Before I could finish, the call went dead.

The triage nurse looked at me with deep pity. "Ma'am, are you..."

I spent the next hour calling everyone in my contacts, barely managing to scrape together enough loans to cover the deposit.

By the time I finished the paperwork and dragged myself back to the apartment, every bit of my energy was completely spent.

I looked around the home Ethan and I had built together over three long years.

On the wall hung photos from our vacation, captured while we were grinning brightly.

Only now did it hit me: Ethan had abruptly cut that trip short.

Later, on Rachel's feed, I had seen photos of her on the very exact stretch of beach.

On the couch lay two accent pillows I bought a few days ago, costing barely thirty dollars for the pair.

Because they were over the five-dollar threshold, I was forced to sit in our group chat for thirty minutes, giving a full justification speech.

Only then did Ethan and Rachel graciously approve the purchase.

Yet a single throw pillow in Rachel's newly purchased home probably cost more than my entire monthly salary.

Silently, I packed my things away, piece by piece.

The sound of the deadbolt clicking echoed through the quiet apartment just as I zipped up my suitcase.

Ethan walked in and froze at the sight of the luggage standing in the middle of the living room.

"Chloe, what are you doing?"

He stepped toward me, reaching out to take my hand like he always did. I stepped aside, letting his fingers brush empty air.

His arm froze in midair.

After a moment, he rubbed the bridge of his nose with an exasperated sigh, wearing the face of a man humoring a petulant child.

"Are you seriously running away from home just because I couldn't give you that money?"

I looked at him, my voice flat and dead.

"We're breaking up."

He looked at me like I had just told the most absurd joke in the world.

"Chloe, we've been together for five years! You're breaking up over something this trivial?"

I held up my phone, shoving Rachel's selfie right into his face.

"Is this trivial to you?"

"My mom is lying in a hospital bed and you refused to give me our money—is that trivial too?"

Ethan's expression Instagramtantly shifted, a flicker of raw panic flashing across his eyes.

"Let me explain. I'm just trying to allocate our finances rationally.

Rachel bought that house all by herself and was feeling down, so she had a little too much to drink. I was literally just walking her back to her room."

"Walking her back to her room required you both to strip down naked?"

I thought my heart was already dead, yet a dull, bruising ache still throbbed in my chest.

His voice rose sharply in defensiveness.

"I dropped her off and left immediately! She was messing around and snapped that photo to mess with you!

Chloe, how can you choose to believe her games over me?"

He looked so righteous, so genuinely aggrieved, that for a split second, it almost felt like I was the crazy one making mistakes.

"Then what about the two-hundred-dollar condoms? The two-thousand-dollar dinner? The ten-thousand-dollar suite?"

Ethan froze completely.

His mouth opened and closed, words failing him.

Just then, frantic knocking sounded at the front door, accompanied by an excessively delicate, tearful voice.

"Ethan? Did Chloe misunderstand everything? Please let me explain..."

Ethan's expression soured further, glaring at me.

"Happy now?"

He spun around and yanked the door open.

Rachel rushed in, tears streaming down her face as she lunged to grab my hands.

"Chloe, please don't be mad at Ethan! It's all my fault! If you want to yell or hit someone, do it to me!"

As she cried, she actually tried to force my hand up to strike her own cheek.

Disgusted, I violently wrenched my hand away.

"Rachel, cut the act. Aren't you tired? Because I'm exhausted watching it."

Rachel clearly hadn't expected me to react so coldly. She froze on the spot, delicate tears clinging to her lashes, looking the picture of a helpless victim.

Ethan immediately pulled her behind him like a shield.

"Chloe! That is enough! Rachel came all the way here out of the kindness of her heart to clear things up, and you treat her like this?"

Every single time. Whenever I had an issue with Rachel, Ethan chose her without a second thought.

In the past, I thought he was just a soft-hearted guy.

Only now did I realize it wasn't kindness at all—it was blatant, undisguised favoritism.