Ficorpio
Chapter 1
I attended my childhood friend’s wedding with my boyfriend, who hadn’t spoken to me in three days.
He was one of the groomsmen. I was a bridesmaid.
During the wedding door games, he lost a challenge. His penalty was to carry every bridesmaid downstairs on his back.
Laughing, he carried each of them down.
Everyone except me.
Then one of the bridesmaids, a sweet-looking woman, suddenly asked, “Do you have a girlfriend?”
He glanced at me.
“No.”
Her smile brightened, bold and eager. “Then can I pursue you?”
He gave her a gentlemanly smile. “Of course.”
All at once, the whole thing felt utterly pointless.
At the Grand Hotel Wedding Venue, I stood apart from the crowd, unable to stop my gaze from following Ethan Sterling.
His tailored black suit complemented his tall, straight frame, and his smile was as warm and polished as ever.
He was standing beside the bridesmaid.
She held a red balloon by its string, her eyes curving with every smile and her cheeks flushed pink. Every so often, she lowered her head and pressed her lips together, looking shy and sweet.
Ethan’s attention never left her. A faint smile lingered at the corners of his mouth.
Something clenched hard around my heart. For a moment, I could barely breathe.
Was I being too sensitive?
Then Ethan took the bridesmaid’s phone and crouched down to photograph her.
She struck pose after pose, and he remained endlessly patient.
Yet when we had gone to Lakeview Cherry Blossom Park that spring, he’d looked annoyed before I even asked.
“What’s the point of taking pictures?”
He had reluctantly snapped a few. When I checked them afterward, every shot was a blurry silhouette.
Bitterness rose in my throat.
I had believed this wedding would mark a turning point in our relationship.
Ethan had once promised he would surprise me here.
We both knew what he meant.
After an eight-year relationship, he would catch the bridal bouquet and propose to me.
But now he stood beside another woman, smiling more naturally than he had with me in a long time.
The bride came up behind me and tapped my shoulder, jolting me from my thoughts.
“Chloe Bennett, you finally made it! Miss Busy, when do I get to attend your wedding?”
Mia’s teasing only made me more uncomfortable.
I forced a smile. “Probably soon.”
Following my gaze, she spotted Ethan. Her face lit up, and she waved at him.
“Hey, campus heartthrob! Chloe says wedding bells are near for you two!”
Her clear, carrying voice drew everyone’s attention.
I instinctively tugged at her wrist, trying to stop her from saying anything more.
Hearing her, Ethan turned toward us.
His eyes rested on my face for a split second before sliding away with cold indifference.
Chapter 2
“Don’t start rumors,” he said, his tone calm but distant.
Mia gave an awkward laugh, then glanced at me questioningly.
“Did you two break up?”
I smiled bitterly.
“We had a fight. He’s giving me the silent treatment.”
Mia patted my shoulder in sympathy.
As part of the wedding door games, the groomsmen were given a playful challenge.
Ethan lost.
His punishment was to carry all three bridesmaids downstairs on his back.
Laughing, he carried the others down one by one.
Everyone except me.
He drew a shallow breath and said, “Sorry. I don’t have the strength for one more.”
Only then did one of the other bridesmaids seem to notice me. She studied me curiously before asking in a soft voice, “Do you two know each other?”
Ethan barely hesitated.
“We grew up together.”
Something pierced my heart all over again, and the pain spread through my chest.
He wouldn’t even acknowledge our relationship.
Forcing myself to smile, I nodded. “That’s right. If you want to hear any embarrassing stories from his childhood, feel free to ask me.”
Ethan clearly hadn’t expected that response. The smile vanished from his face.
I looked at him. “What?”
His eyes flashed with anger. “Chloe Bennett, don’t go too far.”
How was I going too far?
Was he really that afraid I might tell people what he’d been like as a child?
The bridesmaid broke the awkward silence between us.
She blinked, her smile sweet. “Really? That’s perfect. I’ve been wanting to get to know him better.”
Then she turned to Ethan, a playful gleam in her eyes. “So, can I ask you out?”
Ethan didn’t look at me. The corner of his mouth curved upward, and his answer came easily.
“Of course.”
In that moment, my entire world collapsed.
Ethan Sterling was handsome, and over the years, countless women had thrown themselves at him.
He had always turned them down without hesitation.
“Sorry. I’m already with the woman I’m going to marry.”
We had barely started dating the first time he said that.
Even then, he had already included me in his plans for marriage. He had made me feel completely secure in our relationship.
Now, after eight years, I was nothing more than someone he had grown up with.
I tried to reassure myself that he was only doing this to make me angry.
He couldn’t truly treat me this way.
But the people around us began to cheer, and every shout cut into my heart like a sharpened blade.
“Exchange contacts! Exchange contacts!”
Everyone was eager to stir up more excitement.
Smiling, Ethan pulled out his phone and opened his contact QR code. He held it out to Vanessa Vale as naturally as if I weren’t standing there.
There was even a trace of shyness in his smile.
It was exactly how he had smiled during our junior year of college, when I was preparing to apply for a study-abroad program.
After he found out, he dragged me into the campus grove.
“Chloe, I like you. I’ve liked you for years.”
“Will you be my girlfriend?”
Before I could answer, he had suddenly leaned closer and kissed my cheek.
Chapter 3
He had worn that same shy smile then.
Standing off to the side now, I suddenly found the whole thing dull.
Almost laughable.
Eight years together, and every memory we had shared, seemed pale and powerless in that moment.
I had once believed our love was unbreakable.
Now I saw how fragile it truly was, no stronger than a sheet of paper that could be torn apart without effort.
I drew a deep breath and forced myself to remain calm.
“Okay, everyone! Time for a group photo!” the photographer called.
We quickly gathered around the bride and groom.
Amid the confusion, Vanessa, the bridesmaid who had just asked Ethan out, shoved me aside.
By the time I turned around, she had pressed herself close to Ethan and taken the place beside him.
The bride, Mia Carter, had originally been a mutual friend of ours.
Back in college, Ethan and I had promised her that when she got married one day, we would stand in her wedding party together.
A few days earlier, on the eighth anniversary of our relationship, my company had suddenly assigned me to an overseas business trip.
The last-minute assignment sparked a vicious argument between us.
Ethan accused me of breaking my promise, while I tried to explain.
“This came up at work. It’s not like I chose to miss our anniversary.”
I did my best to placate him. “Ethan, as soon as I’ve handled the situation at the overseas branch, I’ll come straight back. Please don’t be angry.”
But he only grew more furious.
“Work. It’s always work with you! What, will the whole company collapse without Chloe Bennett there to save it?” His voice turned scathing. “Take a look at yourself, Chloe. You graduated from some second-rate university. Stop acting like you’re so important.”
My hand froze around the handle of my suitcase.
At first, I had been willing to coax him out of his anger. For one thing, I really had broken my promise. For another, I understood why he was so upset. Our anniversary mattered to him.
I told myself he cared because he loved me.
But those words struck me like a slap, shocking me awake.
Maybe he had spoken in the heat of the moment. Maybe anger had made him reckless.
Even so, his words were a blade driven straight into one of my deepest wounds.
I could have attended an elite university.
The night before the national university entrance exam, Ethan and his mother had gotten into another argument over his father’s affair. Ethan had stormed out of the house, and his mother had come looking for me.
We were neighbors and friends, and Ethan and I had been especially close at the time.
Terrified that something might have happened to him, I went out searching. I spent three full hours looking for him, heedless of the cold.