Chapter 3

I listened quietly.

He'd said the same words too many times over these five years.

The first time I heard them, I was moved to tears.

But now my heart was like a dry well that couldn't even produce an echo.

Just as he was painting our future with passionate promises, I heard the hospital room door being pushed open on his end.

Then came Mara's excited voice.

"Ethan! Marcus just brought my car back! It's downstairs right now, and it's super cool!"

"Come on, come downstairs with me to see it, please?"

Ethan's heartfelt confession to me stopped abruptly, and his tone immediately switched to indulgent.

"I just got stitches... Fine, fine, fine. Let me throw on some clothes and I'll go with you. Stop pulling."

I didn't keep listening. I hung up directly.

Actually, Ethan and I weren't always like this.

When we first got together, Mara didn't even exist in my world.

It wasn't until two years ago, when the Morrison family went bankrupt and Mara was forced to return from abroad.

That's when I learned Ethan was an orphan who'd grown up with the Morrison family's support.

In Ethan's heart, Mara wasn't just an ordinary sister—she was a benefactor he had to repay with his life.

This debt of gratitude was like an insurmountable mountain, making our relationship a dead end from the start.

I took a deep breath, picked up my phone, and called my university advisor.

"Professor Wilson, that position you mentioned before—the one at the Iceland polar observation station—is it still available?"

The professor's voice was serious.

"The position is still open."

"But I need to remind you again—it's highly classified. Once you're in, you can't return home for at least three years. Are you willing to accept that?"

I said firmly, "I'm willing."

The professor paused for two seconds and sighed.

"You refused so adamantly before. Did you break up with that guy?"

I made an affirmative sound, my eyes stinging slightly.

"We broke up."

I was just pulling my suitcase out of the building when headlights swept over me.

A brand-new car pulled up by the curb.

The window rolled down. Mara's eyes swept over my suitcase, and she smiled with raised eyebrows.

"What, running away from home in the middle of the night?"

I smiled back.

"If I don't leave, how will I make room for you?"

Mara pushed open the car door and stepped out.

"Don't make it sound like I'm the other woman. That's pretty funny."

"Ethan willingly gives me his money to spend. What can I do about it?"

She paused deliberately.

"Actually, you're pretty pitiful. You know that?"

"One time when Ethan was drunk, he told me that if I weren't the high-and-mighty Morrison family heiress and he weren't the poor kid they supported—"

"If he hadn't felt the class difference was too vast to dare reach for me, he never would have settled for someone else."

"So don't really think of yourself as the main wife."

"If I actually wanted to compete with you, what chance would you have?"

The night wind blew past, tousling my long hair.

Hearing these words, I didn't feel sad at all.

I only felt how absurd these five years had been.

I smiled faintly.

"Then I wish you two a long and happy life together. May you be locked together forever."

My reaction made Mara freeze. It gave her the frustrating feeling of punching cotton.

Seeing me about to leave, she grabbed the strap of my suitcase.

"Wait, who said you could leave now?"

"If you leave, Ethan's still lying in the hospital. I'm not going to take care of him. You need to go look after him."

I looked at her hand gripping my suitcase.

"Let go."

Not only did Mara not let go, she actually pulled out her phone and video-called Ethan.

"Ethan... did I make Gianna mad again?"

"I just wanted to show her the new car, but she's pulling her suitcase and insisting on leaving. She won't even go to the hospital to see you. I can't stop her..."