Chapter 2

The moment Ethan saw Seraphina, he walked straight over and plucked the iced slushie right out of her hands.

Without missing a beat, he reached into his small bag, pulled out a thermos of hot chamomile tea, and pressed it into her palms.

That bag used to carry only a small bottle of warm water and my stomach medication. I’ve always had a weak stomach, prone to nausea and painful cramps.

I had no idea when the contents of that bag had quietly changed to hold Seraphina’s chamomile tea and her favorite painkillers.

Seraphina pouted and playfully whined, “It’s scorching outside, and you’re seriously making me drink hot tea?

“Ethan, you are so cruel to me!”

As she spoke, she reached out and pinched his ear.

Ethan didn’t get angry. Instead, he just laughed. “Don’t come crying to me when your cramps act up later!”

They playfully bickered as they walked deeper into the shop, leaving me standing there with nothing to look at but their retreating backs.

The bakery owner sighed warmly. “Ah, young love. They really are a sweet couple!”

I let out a self-deprecating laugh. The owner was right—looking at them, they looked far more like a couple than Ethan and I ever did.

I bought two plain pastries to go and drove straight home. I was sick of the coffee from that shop anyway, but a girl still had to eat.

As I drove, an email notification popped up on my phone. It was an application for an overseas corporate transfer from my company.

Yesterday, I would have immediately hit decline without a second thought. But today, I planned to accept it.

I was already home and pulling my dust-covered suitcase out from the back of the closet by the time they finally realized I was gone.

Seraphina was the first to call.

“Liv, Ethan just got back from the convenience store to buy me some pads, and you vanished! Where did you go?”

Hearing her voice sent a deeply complicated wave of emotions crashing through me.

“My stomach was acting up, so I headed home early,” I replied evenly. “Take your time eating.”

Ethan’s anxious voice suddenly filtered through the receiver.

“Liv, make sure you drink some water and take your stomach medicine, okay?”

Then, I heard him mutter softly to himself, “Good thing I swapped out the medicine in my bag, otherwise you wouldn’t have any left at the apartment.”

My nose stung with a sharp, sudden ache. How had I never noticed how painfully flawed his logic was before?

After hanging up, Seraphina’s voice echoing Liv kept ringing in my head.

Only this time, the voice belonged to a memory from seven years ago.

Back then, sophomore year P.E. required everyone to pass a swimming exam, but they only announced on the day of the test that we had to swim in the deep end. I had a severe phobia of deep water ever since nearly drowning as a child. Just looking at the deep end made me dizzy.

I gritted my teeth and forced myself into the pool for the final exam, and I nearly drowned all over again.

As I was going under, it was Seraphina who saved my life. She pulled me out, called me Liv in the infirmary, and stayed by my side for a full day and night.

I heard later that someone else had also immediately dove into the water to save me, but I never found out his name.

From that day on, Seraphina and I became inseparable best friends. We shared absolutely everything.

I had a soft personality, and my roommates constantly took advantage of me. Seraphina didn’t hesitate; she immediately petitioned the administration and moved into my dorm room to protect me.

I had lost my parents at a young age, so my grandmother raised me single-handedly. During school holidays, Seraphina would come back to my hometown with me just to help take care of her.

And when Ethan first asked me out...

Everyone else in our friend group immediately agreed I should say yes. They told me he was wealthy, handsome, and that I needed to lock him down fast. But Seraphina? She risked our entire friendship just to go confront Ethan and thoroughly vet his character before she gave her blessing.

So when exactly did everything change?

I opened the closet doors, but the tears wouldn’t stop falling.

As I moved things around, a photograph slipped out from a hidden crack in the shelving.

The people in the photo were Ethan and Seraphina. They were pressed tightly together, smiling radiantly at the camera. Together, their hands were holding up a framed business license.

Usually, I was the one who folded the laundry, and Ethan was the one who put it away in the closet. Every night, he would pick out my outfit for the next day and lay it on the bedside table.

Because of that routine, I had never had a reason to dig deep into the back of the closet. I had never seen this photo.

But I definitely recognized the business in the picture.

Two years ago, Seraphina finally achieved her dream of opening a high-end dessert boutique. She was absolutely ecstatic.

I had teased her about it back then. “Sera, which rich heir is chasing you so hard that they just gifted you an entire storefront?”

She had only blushed deeply, looking back and forth between Ethan and me as she laughed.

I assumed she just wasn’t ready to tell me who the mystery investor was. I never could have imagined that the man funding it was standing right beside me the entire time.

Click.

The sound of the front door unlocking violently yanked me back to reality.