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Penulis: Primapoint
Ethan pulled me into a back room and locked the door.

He reached for a tissue to fix the smudged makeup at the corner of my eye.

I stepped back.

“Fine, you’re angry. I’m not going to fight with you.”

I laughed.

“So I should thank you?”

Ethan tossed the tissue aside.

“Don’t threaten me with divorce. It’s pointless.

“Seven years.

“When my stomach acted up, you ran out at midnight to get medicine.

“When I had a fever, you stayed up all night.

“Can you really walk away from that?”

In the past, when he talked to me like this, I’d soften.

Sophie’s crying came through the door.

“Ethan, my parents are in the group chat.

“My mom just called screaming at me, asking if I’m hooking up with random people at hotels.

“Amber won’t let it go, and I can’t even show my face at home.”

The hospital called right then.

The doctor said my mom’s transfer bed had been confirmed for today.

“If the deposit is paid by three this afternoon, she’ll make it into the next round of treatment.

“If it’s delayed past tonight, we’ll have to go with conservative medication for now.”

I started to make the payment.

Ethan took my hand.

“I’ll handle your mom’s situation.”

He called his assistant.

“Get Dr. Harris on the line. Keep things stable on Helen’s end.”

My eyes had barely started to sting when Sophie began crying again.

“Ethan, the hotel manager says if we pay, he can wipe the memo and the surveillance footage.”

Ethan looked away from me.

“I need to borrow thirty thousand.”

“That’s my mom’s transfer money.”

He said, “I know.”

Sophie cried harder.

“Forget it. If I get yelled at, I get yelled at.”

Ethan closed his eyes.

“I’ve got someone keeping an eye on the hospital. There’s still a chance for the expedited assessment.

“Sophie’s situation can’t wait.”

I laughed.

“Her situation can’t wait, but my mom can?”

He frowned.

“I’ll pay you back tonight.”

I lunged for the phone.

He wrapped one arm around my waist and pinned me back on the couch.

Same move as always.

Except this time, he wasn’t holding me.

He was restraining me.

“I have primary access to the joint account.

“I’m not trying to take your money. I just need to get past what’s right in front of us.”

I snapped my head up.

“My mom isn’t what’s right in front of us?”

Ethan’s hand stopped.

But he still hit “transfer.”

The recipient wasn’t the hospital. It was the hotel manager.

$30,000.

I gripped his sleeve with everything I had.

“Ethan!”

He looked down at me.

“Be good.

“Once this is over, I’ll stay at the hospital with you.”

I slapped him across the face.

Ethan took the hit, his head turned to the side. After a moment, he smiled.

“Feel better?

“Now that you’ve got that out, behave.”

At three o’clock, the hospital called again.

“Ms. Shaw, the deposit hasn’t come through. The bed has been reassigned to an emergency patient.

“We’ll have to go with conservative treatment for tonight. Dr. Harris will do his best to fit in an expedited assessment.”

I held the phone, my hand frozen.

At the end of the hallway, Ethan was signing a receipt the hotel manager had handed him.

Sophie stood beside him, her eyes red.

He finished signing and said quietly, “Don’t worry. No one will ever know.”

I suddenly remembered the first time my mom was hospitalized, when Ethan held me and said, “From now on, Helen’s problems are my problems.”

So his forever was that short.

Short enough that a few tears from Sophie was all it took to reach the end.
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  • He Promised Me Forever, I Said There Was None   10

    Two years later, of all the businesses I could have started, I opened a wedding planning studio on the south side of the city.And yet here I was, determined to make other people’s weddings better than mine had ever been.For every wedding I took on, I asked the groom, “On the wedding day, will anyone the bride doesn’t like be sitting at the head table?“Is there anyone who can override her decisions?“Can you promise that no joke will come at her expense?”Some clients laughed and said I took things too seriously.I laughed too.“A wedding should be taken seriously.”Later, someone sent me a video online.Ethan was a groomsman at a wedding.Some so-called childhood friend of the groom was holding up a glass, demanding the bride toast her first, ahead of her own mother, claiming that was how it was done in their circle.The crowd was egging it on.Ethan suddenly stood, took the glass from her hand, and poured the wine on the floor.He said, “Don’t dress up cruelty as fun.”The room wen

  • He Promised Me Forever, I Said There Was None   9

    Before the trial, Ethan finally signed.Nathan sent me the scanned copy while I was sorting through my mom’s medical records and receipts.The edges of those papers were soft from how many times I’d handled them.I’d been so close to getting her there.On the day the divorce was finalized, Ethan was waiting outside.He didn’t bring flowers. He didn’t bring porridge.Just a bank card.“This is the money for your mom’s treatment.”I glanced at it.“I don’t want it.”His voice was rough.“It’s not compensation. It’s what I owed her.”I looked at the card.“This isn’t my mom’s treatment money.”He blinked.I said calmly, “This is the money you spent on a hotel room for Sophie and Derek.“Don’t use it to disrespect my mother.”His hand slowly dropped.I handed him a copy of the transaction records.“The originals are with Nathan.“This copy is for you.“Whenever you miss her, take a look at exactly who you lost my mother’s last phone call for.”Ethan’s eyes went red.I continued, “You will

  • He Promised Me Forever, I Said There Was None   8

    Later, the full picture came together through materials Ethan’s own lawyers submitted.Derek’s text screenshots, what Sophie shouted outside the law firm, and the hotel’s records. Pieced together, they filled in every gap.The day Ethan went to confront Sophie, she was standing outside Derek’s apartment building.Derek had already called her three times.The transaction records showed she’d just bought Derek a new phone.Charged to a supplementary card Ethan hadn’t gotten around to canceling.Ethan stood by his car. For the first time, he didn’t open the door for her.Sophie saw him and immediately softened her voice.“Ethan, let me explain.”Ethan tossed the statements in front of her.“Explain.”Sophie’s tears fell instantly.“We broke up a long time ago.“He keeps coming after me. I was just trying to give him some money so he’d leave me alone.”Ethan looked at her.“So the love hotel was also just money?”Sophie’s mouth opened.“That night... I’d had too much to drink.”A text noti

  • He Promised Me Forever, I Said There Was None   7

    Ethan started looking for me.He went to the apartment I used to rent, to the hospital, to the street below my uncle’s place.I wouldn’t see him.He kept transferring money. The memos went from “paying you back” to “please pick up the phone.”I had Nathan return every cent.Before the lawsuit was filed, I handed Nathan everything: the joint account statements, the hotel records, and the audio of him pressuring me to sign the statement.Nathan paused on one page.“Ms. Shaw, a few of these charges are unusual.”I looked.Before that night at the love hotel, Sophie had taken several ride-shares within the city.The destination wasn’t her home.It was a run-down apartment complex.I remembered what the receptionist had said: Two guests at check-in.Nathan said, “The transaction records and hotel booking, we can submit.“The chat logs, let’s hold off on those for now.”I was quiet for a few seconds.“That’s enough. Let’s go with what we have.”On the day of the first mediation, Ethan arrive

  • He Promised Me Forever, I Said There Was None   6

    The day we cremated my mom, Ethan came.He wore a black suit and carried a bouquet of white flowers.In the past, he’d always been the most striking person in any room.Today, all I felt was repulsion.He walked up to the memorial hall, his voice low.“Amber.”I looked at him.“Get out.”Ethan froze but didn’t leave.“I came to see Helen off one last time.”I picked up the flowers he’d set down and dropped them straight in the trash.“She doesn’t want them.”His hand hung frozen in midair.I said, “Her last phone call. You kept it from me.“So don’t bother sending flowers after she’s gone.”Ethan’s throat bobbed.“I didn’t know it would turn out like this...”“You knew.”I cut him off.“You saw the words ‘critical condition.’ You saw that she wanted to hear my voice.“You just thought my mom could wait.“Sophie couldn’t.”His eyes reddened.Ethan said quietly, “You can hit me. You can scream at me.“Just don’t be this calm.”I looked at him.“Do you still think that as long as I cry, y

  • He Promised Me Forever, I Said There Was None   5

    Ethan stared at the joint account card for a long time without moving.Sophie stood behind him, her voice thin.“This time... I think Amber’s really angry.”Ethan picked up the divorce agreement. When he saw the line “Amber Shaw voluntarily waives all marital assets,” his expression darkened.“What is she trying to prove?”He tore the agreement in half.“She’ll come back.”Sophie chewed her lip.“True.“Amber loves you so much. In the past, three days was the longest she ever held out.”Ethan scoffed.“Three days?“She’ll regret it by tonight.”He said it with conviction, but he was already reaching for his phone.The call wouldn’t go through.On the messaging app, a red exclamation mark sat next to his message.He tried his assistant’s number. It rang once, then was declined.He called again. Blocked.In the past, no matter how angry I was, I always left Ethan a way back in.His stomach would flare up. He’d run a low fever. He’d text “Amber, I feel terrible” after a night of drinking,

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