Ficorpio
Chapter 1
At the party, the moment Ethan Sterling pulled that pink love letter from your clutch, the noise around you seemed to freeze.
He held the envelope between two fingers and gave it a lazy shake, his tone casual, almost certain. “It’s been five years, and you still like me?”
His friends erupted at once. You reached for the letter, but Ethan caught the momentum and pulled you into his arms instead, his warm breath brushing your ear.
“Come on,” he murmured. “Tell me. What do you like about me?”
“I stopped liking you a long time ago.” You pushed free, though your heartbeat had already slipped out of rhythm.
Because that letter really wasn’t meant for him.
Ethan arched a brow, plainly unconvinced, and slipped the love letter into his own pocket as if it belonged there. “Being stubborn won’t help. Everyone knows you’re in love with me.”
You looked at the confidence written all over his face, and all you felt was helpless.
The party had been in full swing by the time Ethan finally arrived.
His gaze swept over the skirt of your dress, which barely reached your knees. He said nothing, only tossed his coat across your lap.
“Hold that for me.”
Then he dropped into the seat beside you as if it were the most natural thing in the world. You ignored him and lowered your head to answer a message on your phone.
“What’s this?”
Before you could react, Ethan had already drawn the pink envelope from your clutch.
“A love letter?”
Your chest tightened. You reached for it at once, but he pinched the envelope between two fingers and lazily stretched his arm back, keeping it just out of reach.
“Five years, and you still like me?”
The commotion drew every eye at the table. Ethan’s closest friends immediately started in.
“No way. Claire, you’re still carrying a torch for him?”
“Guess our Ethan really is that irresistible. He can keep you waiting around like a lovesick backup plan.”
“Honestly, he might as well accept it. Why turn down something delivered for free?”
Ethan lifted his brow, amusement playing in his eyes. “What do you like about me? Let’s hear it.”
“I already told you, I don’t.” You reached for the letter again.
Your footing slipped, and you stumbled forward, pressed unwillingly against Ethan’s chest. Something assessing flickered through his eyes before it turned into open teasing.
“You know I only see you as a little sister.”
The laughter around the table rose even louder.
“Exactly. Why are you pretending now? Everyone knows Mr. Sterling here is charming enough to have anyone he wants. He was never going to fall for a good girl like you.”
All at once, you lost the desire to argue. You straightened and sat back down.
“That letter isn’t for you. Give it back.”
Ethan held the love letter between his fingers and said nothing.
Chapter 2
The man on his left slapped the table. “Claire, come on. That’s just sad. You put the love letter right in front of the guy and now you’re still denying it?”
“Right? Who doesn’t know you’ve been obsessed with Ethan for years? People in our circle have been laughing about you as his backup girl forever.”
Once, what they said had been true.
But you didn’t want to listen to those tired lines anymore. You were just about to stand and leave when Ethan’s hand closed around your wrist.
With a faint smile, he swept his gaze around the table. “Anyone who wants to call my little sister a joke can say it to my face.”
He still carried the same reckless pressure he’d had since childhood. The table went silent in an instant.
Right now, all you wanted was to get that letter back. If a certain someone found out the love letter meant for him had ended up in Ethan’s hands, who knew how jealous he would get?
Your fingertips hadn’t even brushed the envelope before something warm was placed into your palm.
A piece of osmanthus cake.
“Eat it while it’s warm,” Ethan said lightly. “Weren’t you craving this on your feed last week?”
Then, as if it meant nothing at all, he folded the love letter in half and tossed it into his pocket.
You and Ethan Sterling had grown up together.
You had always been slow to react as a child, easy to tease and easier to corner, so somewhere along the way you learned to stay close to him. Ethan meant safety. If he was beside you, no one pushed too far.
In high school, Ethan started dating Vivian Hayes, the prettiest girl in class.
You swallowed the ache in your chest and became what you had always been best at being: quiet, obedient, buried behind stacks of practice tests.
Whenever their whole group went out, you turned them down nine times out of ten. Everyone laughed and called you a humorless grind, the kind of girl who only knew how to study. Vivian laughed with them.
“Claire Bennett, what’s the point of being a nerd who only knows how to keep her head down and do homework?”
“There’s plenty of point.”
Ethan’s voice cut in from the doorway like a rescue you hadn’t dared hope for. He stood there with a basketball tucked under one arm, damp with sweat from practice.
“Our Claire has the grades to go anywhere she wants. One day, she’ll shine no matter where she ends up.”
He winked, then reached over and stole the new drink you had just bought as if it were the most natural thing in the world, completely ignoring the way Vivian’s smile froze beside him.
The next day, you were carrying a neatly collected stack of homework notebooks back to your desk when Vivian suddenly slammed into you from the side.
Chapter 3
Your school desk crashed to the floor. Everything inside spilled out in a mess. The corner caught you hard enough to make pain shoot through your side, but you could only grit your teeth and kneel to gather the scattered notebooks.
“What’s this?”
Vivian had picked up your diary from beside the overturned desk.
“It’s mine. Give it back.” Panic rose in your throat as you lunged for it.
“No.” She hugged the diary to her chest and ran behind Ethan, flipping it open before you could stop her.
Ethan, woken by the commotion, looked between the two of you in confusion.
Then Vivian’s voice rang out, bright and cruel.
“April thirteenth, sunny. I think I’ve realized I like Ethan Sterling…”
All the color drained from your face.
Your eyes locked on Ethan.
You watched disgust flash across his expression as he snatched the diary away.
After that, he never said another word to you.
The next day, Ethan and Vivian broke up.
And you became, in everyone else’s mouth, the girl who had wedged herself between them.
Underneath the fear and shame, some small, murky hope stirred in you despite everything.
But a week later, they got back together.
Your secret crush became the joke everyone shared.
You had witnessed every one of Ethan Sterling’s relationships, including the night he and Vivian Hayes finally broke up freshman year.
That night, Ethan stumbled drunk into your house and demanded you play video games with him to take his mind off it.
“Come on, hurry up. You have to make your character jump.”
“Left. You go first. I’ll cover you.”
“You died again. Claire, you’re hopeless.”
Ethan tossed the game controller aside and laughed, tipping back another mouthful of liquor. Then he reached over and mussed your hair, his eyes bright. “How about we go to the amusement park tomorrow? We haven’t been in forever.”
You nodded.
Despite yourself, you thought he didn’t seem all that heartbroken.
And, hazy and foolish, a small rush of happiness rose in your chest. Your heart beat faster over the tomorrow he had promised you.
The next morning, Ethan dragged you out of bed early.
You screamed together on the roller coaster, tugged at each other’s rain ponchos on the water ride, and watched the sunset from the pirate ship. Later, you went into the haunted house with a group.
When one of the actors lunged out without warning, terror wiped your mind clean. You grabbed the person beside you and clung on for dear life.
“Claire Bennett, let go.” Ethan’s voice came through gritted teeth as he pried at your arm.
Only then did you realize you were hugging another guy from your group.