Ficorpio
Chapter 1
It was pouring by the time we got off work.
I stood outside the office building, waiting for Adrian Cross to give me a ride home.
With the rain coming down that hard, every rideshare nearby had been snapped up. My coworkers were all complaining that even if they managed to book one, the driver would take at least half an hour to arrive.
My own car was in the shop, so I had no choice but to wait.
Last week, Adrian had mentioned that we lived in the same complex and that if the weather was bad, he could give me a lift after work. Since it was on his way anyway, I hadn’t thought much of it.
So I waited.
One coworker after another left. Before long, I was the only person still standing under the awning, and only then did Adrian’s car finally roll slowly toward the curb.
The rain was loud enough to blur everything around me.
Adrian lowered the window and called out, “Get in. You’re soaked.”
As he spoke, he leaned over and pushed the rear door open for me.
I took one step toward the front passenger seat out of habit, only to realize there was already a young woman sitting there.
She was pretty, polished, and wearing a bright little smile.
Adrian glanced at me, then looked away as if nothing about this was awkward. “Sit in the back.”
I tightened my grip on my umbrella and opened the rear door.
Before I could get in, the woman in the passenger seat turned around. “Oh, careful, careful. Your umbrella is dripping everywhere. Could you shake it off before you bring it in? Or maybe just put it by your feet? The seats are leather, and water stains are such a pain to clean.”
The way she said it made my mood sour instantly.
I had never been the type to swallow irritation just to keep the peace.
So I smiled at her. “Miss, this is Adrian’s car. Even if I get the whole back seat wet, that doesn’t seem to have anything to do with you. What exactly are you worried about?”
Her expression stiffened.
Adrian immediately said, “Come on, get in first. Olivia was just worried about the car. She didn’t mean anything by it. Why are you taking it so seriously?”
I looked at him. “And who is she?”
Adrian paused, then said lightly, “Olivia Parker. She just started at the company. She’s on my team. She happens to live near us, so I gave her a ride after work. That’s all. Think of it as doing a coworker a favor.”
His explanation sounded perfectly reasonable.
Too reasonable, almost.
Olivia blinked at me innocently, her eyes already turning red.
Then she smiled again and said, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have held Mr. Cross up for so long after dinner. If not for me, he wouldn’t have been late picking you up. Please don’t be mad.”
What was that supposed to mean?
Chapter 2
Adrian kept one hand on the steering wheel and tapped the other against it, his tone carrying a warning. “She’s already apologized. Don’t make a scene. Olivia is new here, and she’s sensitive. If you keep talking like that, you’re going to make her feel awful.”
I nearly laughed.
So I was the one making a scene now.
I had stood outside in the rain for nearly an hour waiting for him, and the woman sitting comfortably in his passenger seat was apologizing as if she were the victim.
Olivia lowered her head and said in a tiny voice, “It’s okay, Mr. Cross. Please don’t blame her. If I were in her position, I might misunderstand too.”
Only a faint babyish perfume lingered in the car, sweet enough to make the cramped space feel suffocating.
By the time I came back to myself, Adrian Cross still hadn’t explained anything to me.
He simply started the car and drove off, as if nothing had happened.
For one dazed second, Olivia’s soft little “It’s okay” echoed in my ears again.
Fine.
At that moment, I was apparently the one at fault.
Oh, right. He had mentioned Miss Ashford.
Adrian drove in silence, his profile as composed and distant as ever.
After a while, his phone rang. He answered through the car’s Bluetooth without any intention of avoiding me.
“Mr. Cross, Miss Ashford is waiting at the entrance. She said her feet hurt.”
A childish voice followed, crisp and spoiled. “Mr. Cross, I don’t want to go back yet. I want to wait for you a little longer. Come pick me up.”
Then Olivia’s voice came through again, gentle and careful. “Mr. Cross, Miss Ashford said the dessert from your office was delicious. She wants to try it again tomorrow, so could you bring her another one?”
Miss Ashford.
Miss Ashford.
I had never imagined that title belonged to an actual little girl.
And in that instant, I finally understood why Adrian Cross was so willing to stay at the office.
Every day, he waited for Olivia after work. Every appointment with me had to fit perfectly around his schedule.
Now, watching how smoothly he handled everything for this little girl, I realized that in the same car where I had stood in the rain and made a fool of myself, he still had to take Olivia out to buy food, coax Miss Ashford until she finished eating, and only after all that would he finally remember to drop his girlfriend home.
I had always answered the questions people asked about Ethan Sterling with silence.
I told myself there was nothing to explain, that what he did for me was simply practical. When I caught a cold, he would buy me the cheapest little bottle of vitamin C he could find. The kind of bottle that looked like it belonged on a discount shelf at the pharmacy. He would hand it over with the same calm expression and say that vitamin C was vitamin C, that there was no difference as long as it worked.
Back then, I believed him.
Chapter 3
And because I believed him, I even thought he was being thoughtful in his own quiet way. When I was sick, he had at least remembered. When I was tired, he had at least brought something home. I used to think that was enough.
It wasn’t until I saw the bottle Bella Hayes was holding that I understood how laughable I had been.
It was imported vitamin C.
The packaging was clean and expensive, the sort of thing that made the price obvious at a glance even if nobody said it out loud. Bella had only mentioned it casually, as if it were no big deal, but Ethan had gone out of his way to get it for her. The difference was so clear it almost hurt to look at.
Only then did I finally remember the bottle he had always bought for me.
Cheap. Ordinary. A pharmacy special.
He had told me those things were the same.
He had told me not to overthink it.
And I had really believed that maybe, in his eyes, I was worth exactly that much.
Now, looking back, I could see it for what it was.
It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to be generous.
He just never spent that generosity on me.
My eyes finally settled on the inside of the car.
I liked things clean and simple. The interior had once been a calm gray, but now it had been swallowed by a sugary shade of pink—the kind of princessy car decor I would never have bought for myself.
I frowned. “What’s with all the pink?”
Ethan glanced over and said, almost offhand, “If you don’t like it, I’ll have the service center take it off later. It’s just a few accessories.”
Before I could answer, Bella leaned forward, surprised and a little offended. “These aren’t dealership freebies. I picked them out myself. They only arrived today, and Ethan helped me put everything in.”
As she said it, she even smiled at him.
It hit me then.
I’d been buried in work lately, and I hadn’t used this car much. Not once had I paid attention to what had been happening inside it.
Only now did I realize the whole cabin had been remade by Bella.
In front of the passenger seat—the seat that had always been mine—she had placed a cheap little diffuser shaped like a cartoon doll. It gave off a sweet, cloying perfume that turned my stomach.
The charm I’d hung from the rearview mirror was crowded by fuzzy pink ornaments and a fake-leather cover that had nothing to do with me.
Even the nickname for the in-car voice assistant had been changed. The “Hey, Vivi” I had set up myself was now “Hey, Bella.”
The screen was full of her preferences: a pink theme, cute icons, bubbly reminders. Every detail looked as if it had been arranged around her habits, her taste, her presence.
And Ethan had let her.
No—that was the part that made my chest tighten.