Ryan desperately clutched my suitcase.
“Sophie, listen to me.”
“There’ve been too many misunderstandings between us!”
“That phone call–Lily made it to you, not me… I had no idea!”
“I was drunk and bragging! I never found you annoying!”
“I married you because I really loved you…”
“Those things I said to Lily–I lost my mind temporarily. Yes, she seduced me with her tricks!”
“I wasn’t really going to divorce you.”
“Didn’t I say I had a surprise for you? I was planning to propose again the next day.”
“Sophie, it was all a terrible coincidence!”
“That night, I was planning to come to your apartment…”
“But James insisted I go drinking with him!”
“Yeah, it’s all other people’s fault,” I looked down at his tears. “The condoms were slipped into your pocket by someone else.”
“The bed was something you were pushed onto.”
“All those belittling, humiliating words about me were spoken because you were demonic possession.”
I was now speaking in full sentences without pausing.
“Ryan Brown, you simply believed I couldn’t leave you.”
“So…you disrespected, ignored, and despised me.”
“Mocking and belittling me became the only way you could feel significant in your failed life, isn’t that right?”
The Brown family had two sons.
The elder took over the family business entirely.
The younger drifted aimlessly through life.
Chapter 11
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to contribute–he couldn’t.
The only achievement he could boast about in his life was once caring for a girl.
Making her completely depend on him, trust him.
“Let it go.”
“Don’t end our childhood bond so uglily.”
Ryan’s hand trembled and then released.
‘Sophie! Give me one more chance! This time I promise-”
He reached for my hand.
quickly dodged:
‘You’re filthy.”
Ryan’s words died in his throat.
pulled my suitcase, turning to leave.
Ethan waited just ahead. I took his arm.
Behind us, a sudden wail broke out.
For a very long time afterward, I never saw Ryan again.
Occasionally I heard bits of news about him and Lily from my roommates.
ily’s situation escalated–several wealthy young men, including Ryan, sued her together.
he was expelled, never receiving her degree.
As for the lawsuit’s outcome, no one knew for certain.
Ryan was thrown out of the Brown family.
Perhaps to curry favor with Ethan, or because Ryan’s mother’s business was struggling and she blamed him.
They froze all his cards and reclaimed all his properties, making him find work on his own.
Supposedly, the young master who once bought million–dollar couture without blinking now agonized over buying
a bottle of wine.
73.6
Some claimed to have seen him and Lily fighting in the streets.
Two equally desperate people–even if they fought until bloodied, no one cared.
My “job” was going well.
My students grew from one to two, then four.
Soon I had a whole class of children.
My language studies progressed reasonably well too, at least I could manage daily conversation.
During our first Spring Festival in France, Ethan took me skiing.
Racing down from the Alps, I screamed in exhilaration.
That night, we lay in our valley hotel counting stars.
Each star represented someone who had loved us.
‘Ethan, won’t you tell me the story of ‘Angel‘ yet?”
That night, Ethan took me back to America.
Back to the capital.
Back to that long–unopened family mansion.
There was a room there, filled with pink bunnies.
