Maybe that was just how he worked–spinning lies into a web and luring me into his trap.
He was only deceiving me.
Kicking me to the ground, then gripping my throat just to kiss me.
The pathetic part was that, for a moment, I had actually forgotten he was the one who pushed me into the abyss.
The commotion outside the hospital room was loud.
However, the summer’s warmth, its vibrance, felt completely disconnected from me.
Ethan strode in, dragging his sister by the collar.
“I’m not apologizing to her! Ethan, you’re taking this too far!”
She struggled, twisting in his grip, until he kicked the back of her knee.
She nearly collapsed at the foot of my hospital bed.
“You-!” She shot me a furious glare.
What a ridiculous scene. A senseless spectacle.
But I had no interest in entertaining it.
And the man standing behind her was an even greater eyesore.
So, I shut my eyes, sinking back into the bed, pretending none of it existed.
“I’m sorry.”
In the end, she muttered the words under her breath.
I kept quiet.
“Alice.”
I heard him call my name, but I had no intention of opening my eyes.
Then, Serena’s voice shot up several octaves, shrill and indignant.
“What are you doing?! Ethan! Get up!!”
I was speechless.
+15 BONUS
1/3
Chapter 10
The great Ethan Chambers was on his knees.
A sight rare enough to be almost unimaginable.
He knelt stiffly at my bedside, eyes lowered, the light casting long shadows behind him.
Serena clung to his arm, sobbing as she tried to pull him up.
“Ethan! Get up! Don’t kneel… Why are you kneeling for her? Look at yourself-”
“Ethan Chambers!”
At some point, Serena had dissolved into tears beside him, completely falling apart.
I couldn’t be bothered to watch.
I had lost the ability to feel anything for scenes like this.
When she realized she couldn’t move him, she finally broke down and ran out of the hospital room, still crying.
The sound of cicadas hummed in the summer heat, muffled within the small, enclosed space.
I stared into his eyes.
