Chapter 2

2.

I looked at Clara's conflicted face and reached out my hand.

"Clara, come with me."

My words only made Liam and his friends laugh harder.

Liam pulled Clara into his arms and looked at me with pure contempt.

"Ethan Thorne, what can a low-level lawyer like you give her? With one phone call, I can make her Teacher of the Year. I can make her a principal. What do you have? Stop making her suffer with your loser life."

He then kissed her deeply right in front of me.

Clara didn't pull away. She just buried her face in his chest, looking shy.

The physical pain was nothing compared to the agony in my heart.

Clara looked up at me, and I saw a hint of disgust in her eyes.

"Ethan, just leave. We can talk tomorrow, okay?"

"Talk? What is there to talk about?! Should we talk about how you've been sleeping with him for three years? Should we talk about how you've been mocking me behind my back?"

My eyes were bloodshot as I screamed at the injustice of it all.

Even now, she chose to stay by Liam's side.

The pain felt like a rope tightening around my heart, making it hard to breathe.

I lay on the ground, Liam's friend's boot pressing into my back. I started laughing like a madman.

Everyone around us looked startled, thinking I had lost my mind.

I crawled up slowly. The love I once had for Clara was gone.

"Clara Vance, let's get a divorce."

"Are you crazy, Ethan? Don't forget you were the one who knelt on the ground and begged me to marry you."

Clara's temper flared. She couldn't stand that I was the one ending it.

She was right. I had knelt and begged for a chance to love her.

No matter how bad our fights were, I never threatened to leave.

Back then, she was my whole world. I thought I couldn't breathe without her.

Now I realized that everyone survives.

I didn't answer her. I just gave a bitter smile.

I brushed the dust off my clothes and limped toward the exit.

I didn't belong in a place like this.

The city lights felt blinding in the middle of the night.

I sat down at a late-night diner and let the alcohol dull the pain.

Bottle after bottle, my vision started to blur.

I remembered when I was courting her. She took me to a place like this.

She told me if I could drink ten beers, she would be my girlfriend.

I was young and reckless. I drank them all right there.

When I was throwing up against a tree later, she just laughed at me.

"Do you really like me that much?"

She became my girlfriend that day.

I used to think it was a challenge she set for me.

Later, I learned she only said yes to make Liam jealous.

I looked at the beer in my hand. She would never choose me over Liam.

They were each other's unforgettable first loves.

They met in high school. Liam was the school bad boy, and Clara was the quiet genius.

Fire and ice. Their love was legendary in their circle.

When Liam went abroad to study, they supposedly ended.

I thought if I loved her enough, she would forget him.

But no matter how hard I worked for our home, she never cared.

They had been sneakily seeing each other all along.

She only married me because I was good to her and fit her parents' image of a perfect son-in-law.

Three years of marriage meant nothing compared to one hug from Liam Sterling.