Chapter 2

I wrapped my thin cardigan tighter around myself and quickened my pace.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was a Snapchat notification.

I pulled it out. It was from Ethan.

"Let me know when you get home. Stay safe."

I stared at the words for a few seconds. I didn't reply and shoved the phone back into my pocket.

He didn't even run out to chase after me.

To him, what just happened was probably just me throwing a tantrum, losing control of my emotions. And he was being the bigger person, generously checking in on me.

I kept walking. The subway entrance was finally in sight.

My phone buzzed again.

Another Snapchat message from Ethan.

"The guys rarely get together like this, so we're heading to a club next. I'll probably be back late. Don't wait up for me. Go to sleep."

My thumb hovered over the screen for a few seconds. In the end, I didn't type a single word.

I swiped left on the chat and deleted the conversation.

Out of sight, out of mind.

When we first started dating, we had talked about marriage. I was serious back then; I wanted a future with him.

He had brought it up to his parents, but they told him their finances were tight and they couldn't help with a down payment on a house.

If we wanted to get married, we had to figure it out ourselves.

Since then, I had worked even harder.

I cut my expenses to the bare minimum, putting away a fixed amount of money every month, thinking that if we both worked hard, we could save up for a down payment.

But Ethan didn't seem to be in any rush.

He had hopped through several jobs since graduation, none of them lasting long. It was always either the boss was bad, the co-workers were toxic, or the pay was too low for the amount of work.

He lived paycheck to paycheck, and sometimes I even had to help cover his bills.

I had tried to talk to him a few times, asking him to settle down, work hard while we were still young, and plan for our future.

He would always say, "I know, I know," but he never actually did anything about it.

Eventually, I couldn't take it anymore. During a phone call with my mom, I vented a bit.

My mom was immediately against him, saying a man like that wasn't reliable, and urged me to break up with him.

I actually argued with her, defending Ethan. I said he was just young and needed time to mature, and that I was willing to wait for him.

Looking back, my mom had lived twice as long as me. She saw right through him.

But now, I didn't have to stress about any of it anymore.

Neither the house nor the man mattered to me now.

My thumb mindlessly scrolled through my phone and opened Instagram.

I scrolled down. The latest post was from Ethan, posted ten minutes ago.

It was a photo of Harper sitting on a couch, smiling with her head tilted.

The caption read: Happy Birthday to my favorite dummy! Another year older.

Sleep early from now on, make more money, and find someone who can actually handle you so you can stop driving me crazy.

The comment section was already lively.

Our mutual friend, Zach, was the first to comment: Whoa, Ethan, what's going on here? Who is this?

Ethan replied to him: My childhood bestie. We grew up together. Don't get any ideas.

Lucas commented right after: A guy and a girl alone together... where's Chloe? Isn't she going to be mad?