- And he hugged me, calling Lily’s name all
- night.
- A voice kept asking me, Lauren, do you really
- not care?
- Then why are your hands and feet so cold?
- I sighed, forcing myself to pull out of the
- memory, refusing to recall it.
- I looked at the bedroom.
- There was the man I loved most.
- What happened before didn’t matter; the key
- was now, I didn’t care anymore.
- We started planning the wedding.
- I went to try on wedding dresses, ignoring
- several calls from Ethan.
- But my phone kept buzzing.
- It was Ethan, sending WeChat messages.
- Before, he wouldn’t send so many messages
- in a month.
- “Lauren, I haven’t let you go yet!
- <
- Lauren, you’ll regret this!
- What are you doing, answer me! You wouldn’t
- ignore me for this long before!”
- I couldn’t take it anymore, grabbed my phone
- in the fitting room, and quickly replied, “I’m
- trying on wedding dresses, stop sending
- messages.”
- The phone was silent for a moment.
- Then, it vibrated frantically, non–stop, as if
- the person on the other end had gone crazy.
- I couldn’t handle it, I answered. “Ethan, if you
- keep doing this, we can’t even be friends.”
- He ignored me, just kept asking, “What’s so
- good about him?
- Lauren, marriage and dating are two different
- things!”
- He took a deep breath. “Lauren, listen to me,
- do your parents agree to your marriage? Or
- should I wait to go back and talk to them…”
- I calmly interrupted him. “Ethan, stop it.”
- <
- The other end fell silent.
- I said quietly, “Ethan, I’m really getting
- married. He and I grew up together, we know
- each other well, we’re in love.”
- Ethan was about to say something, I
- interrupted him again. “Lily will be unhappy if
- you do this.”
- He didn’t speak, his breathing was unsteady.
- I sighed. “I told you, I grew up in an
- orphanage, I don’t have parents. Why do you
- always forget?”
- Then I hung up.
- Ethan didn’t call again.
- Kai waited patiently outside the fitting room,
- not asking why I was taking so long.
- Only when I came out, he hugged me tightly,
- unwilling to let go. “Ningning, thank you for
- loving me.”
- I hugged him back. “Thank you, too.”
- We both grew up in orphanages; we cherish
- く
- every kindness we receive, feeling endlessly
- grateful.
- Unlike Ethan, a spoiled rich kid, his always
- obedient ex–girlfriend suddenly getting
- married, it’s understandable that he’d go
- crazy.
- But I believed time would heal everything.
- Eventually, he would let go of his resentment
- and move on.
- But I overestimated Ethan’s ability to accept
- it.
- A few days later, when I was about to get
- married, needing my beauty sleep, Ethan
- called again late at night.
- He seemed to have been drinking. “Lauren,
- you’re something else.”
- I was already very impatient, planning to
- block him.
- He spoke slowly, his voice hoarse and low.
- “Back then, why didn’t I think to look at the
- photo.
- If I’d just looked once, I would have known
- something was wrong.”
- He was hurt and angry. “But I didn’t look at all, I even brought him back from the
- warzone, got him treated, and sent him to
- you.
- I’m a fool for only remembering to look at the
- photo now, I put a green hat on myself!”
- Ethan was so angry his voice trembled.
- He lowered his voice, you could tell he was
- trying to control his emotions, but he couldn’t
- control the trembling in his voice. “Lauren,
- were you… using me as a replacement?”
- I was silent.
- He was silent, too.
- After a while, he gritted his teeth and yelled,
- “Say something! Why aren’t you saying
- anything!”
- But I suddenly remembered what happened
- <
- back then.
- Lily had another suitor, Ethan posted a photo
- of my back on his Moments.
- Wearing the latest luxury dress Lily wanted
- that season.
- It was the only time I wore a dress Ethan gave
- me.
- I usually didn’t even take the tags off, just
- kept them in the closet, but Ethan nagged me
- to wear that dress that day, and took a
- picture of me.
- It was the first time he posted me on his
- Moments, many people liked it, many people
- asked in the comments who I was.
- Ethan showed me, flippantly calling me,
- “Wife, they’re all asking about you.”
- When Ethan was in a good mood, he would
- call me wife.
- He twirled my hair around his fingers. “I said
- you’re my wife, my buddies are so envious.”
- i smieu, put my eyes caught a new comment,
- from Lily: “I want to go to the music festival,
- are you going?”
- After a while, Ethan glanced at his phone, his
- hand paused.
- He turned his phone over, casually taking out
- his credit card. “Go buy a few bags.”
- Then he stood up, put on his coat, and was
- about to leave.
- Watching him walk out, I impulsively stopped
- him. “Ethan, don’t go, okay?”
- Ethan was holding the doorknob, hesitated
- for a moment, turned around and smiled at
- me. “Lonely? Then go shopping for a while
- longer, buy some more clothes, some more
- jewelry.”
- He turned and closed the door, and as the
- door closed, he suddenly said, “I’ll be back
- soon, wife.”
- I watched the door slowly close, lowering my
- <
- head, unsure what I was feeling.
- At that time, we had gone from college to
- work, Ethan changed from calling me baby to
- wife.
- I had some feelings for him.
- Looking at the credit card on the coffee table,
- I looked at it for a long time, then put it in the
- drawer and never touched it again.
- I never had any thoughts again.
- A few days later, Ethan came back.
- The Moments photo of me, was gone.
- A friend called him, asking why he deleted the
- photo of his girlfriend, he said lightly, “Oh, it
- was just a girl I saw on the street, I thought
- she was pretty so I took a picture, I didn’t
- delete it to avoid misunderstandings.”
- I was in his arms at that time, motionless,
- obedient and gentle.
- He hung up the phone and kissed my ear.
- “Wife is so good.”
- <
- He thought for a moment and posted my
- picture back on his Moments, but only he
- could see it.
