Chapter 2

Every time I asked Sean to say he loved me, he would only say, "Do I have to say those words for it to be real love? I'm marrying you, not someone else. Isn't that enough?"

Was it enough?

Even the brilliant sunlight could not clear the grayness from my eyes.

When I did not answer, he suddenly kissed me at a red light.

"I'm not abandoning you, Honey." He said, his warm breath brushing the tip of my nose, but I no longer reacted the same as before, as I hummed back numbly.

In the past, he would scold me for treating life as a joke if I so much as poked the back of his hand when he was driving, even when the car was stopped. But now, Sean still kept kissing me as if his life depended on it, despite the cars behind us already honking one after another.

With five seconds left before the light was going to turn green, he finally let me go as he caught his breath and stepped on the gas. He said, "You're the only woman I've ever wanted to marry in this life."

The street outside the window slid past us.

When we reached Ethan's door, all my things had already been packed and left in the yard. I could tell that he really could not wait to kick me out and make room for Anita.

I took the suitcase from his hand and walked into the mansion, deliberately avoiding his touch.

"I'm going," I said.

But this time, I would not look back.

Meanwhile, the sound of the car engine faded quickly behind me without a hint of hesitation.

The heavy weight pressing on my chest shattered completely too.

Ethan silently took the suitcase from my hand. He did not go into the mansion first. Instead, he walked beside me and turned to study my expression. "You're upset? Relax. I won't touch you unless..."

He paused, as if weighing whether he should say the rest. "Unless you agree to it."

At that, I raised my brow slightly. I could not hide the surprise in my eyes.

Since when did Ethan know how to read people? I had met him a few times at Sean's birthday parties.

If memory served, he was someone stiff and could not understand subtext nor read the room. Whenever he opened his mouth, the mood would frequently become awkward. Fortunately, he was quiet enough that he barely said three sentences in an entire party.

I had once asked Sean why he invited someone like that and let him ruin the party's atmosphere. Sean said, "He's a bookworm who hasn't shown much emotion since he was little. I've gotten used to it after spending so much time together over the years. Besides, Ethan's family has been old money in Wishford for over a century, and they're third on the Forbes list.

"As the current head of his family, he's already doing me a favor by showing up to events like this."

Would someone with that kind of status and power care whether a surrogate girlfriend like me agreed or not?

I smiled faintly and sneered at myself coldly. This was just another game the nepobabies had come up with, just like Sean had back then.

I shook my head and smiled indifferently. "What wouldn't I agree to? Do whatever you want."

Even if Sean really had given me to someone else, what could I do? The rich and powerful had plenty of tricks up their sleeves.

Seeing Ethan open his mouth without saying anything, I changed the subject first. Not embarrassing the client was a basic skill for someone like me.

"Didn't you want to pay tribute to your late first love by having me try on wedding dresses in her place?" I stopped in front of the bedroom. "Get it arranged."

His dark eyes seemed to hold back some secret as he looked at me. In the end, he simply nodded and left.

I knew that look well.

Every client had looked at me that way. It was feelings mixed with pain and restraint…

His eyes hid a story of love he could never tell anyone.

Ethan moved quickly.

The next afternoon, his Maybach stopped outside a private bridal salon.

When I walked in, the first thing I saw was not rows of luxurious wedding dresses, but Sean and a woman clasping hands.

Seeing me arrive, Sean raised a brow with a roguish smile and reached for a cigarette out of habit. But when his eyes stopped on the woman beside him, he forced himself to put the cigarette back in the box.

"Ethan's wedding is coming up, so I invited them to try on wedding dresses with us," he explained to the woman beside him.

As for me, he ignored me completely.

Only after that did Sean finally seem to notice me. "So, this is Ethan's wife? Pretty."

Ethan's wife...

He said it so matter-of-factly.

Unfortunately, Ethan did not seem to want to play along, and his expression stayed cold as he said nothing.

True.

Being willing to clean up Sean's mess was already more than enough for someone at his level.

But then his voice came from behind me, "I don't like other people casually judging my wife's looks."