passionately when she was caught.
It had been a long time since I last saw Ethan, and he looked much more haggard. His hands clenched as he questioned her, his eyes bloodshot.
“How could you do this to me? I worked day and night for you, and you betray me like this!”
The scene was strangely familiar.
Acha
than, at that moment, was just like I had been not long ago, when I lost control.
Grace, however, did not panic. In fact, she retorted with an almost defiant tone.
“It’s not my fault you’re incapable. Do you think you’re still the successful, career–driven Mr. Smith? You promised me a comeback, but a year has passed–has your career
progressed at all?”
Her voice grew more emotional.
“Ethan, my youth has an expiration date. I can’t afford to waste it all on you. Since you can’t give me the life I want, don’t blame me for finding someone else.”
Her words left Ethan speechless.
His hands were clenched into fists, his shoulders shaking with anger as he managed to say
through gritted teeth,
“You’re not with me because you love me.”
Grace suddenly laughed, as though she had heard a joke, and shot Ethan a contemptuous glance.
“Love you? What do I love about you? Your plain appearance? Your growing belly?”
At that, many onlookers burst into laughter.
Ethan’s face turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his chest heaved violently.
No one expected him to suddenly push Grace to the ground and start beating her.
The entire hall was filled with Ethan’s curses and Grace’s screams.
I stood nearby, watching in silence.
Sure enough, the tables had turned.
Life is so dramatic.
But the beating didn’t last long; the police arrived and quickly intervened.
Grace, battered and disheveled, was taken away.
As she passed by me, she saw me and struggled to break free from the police, screaming at
me,
“Autumn, this is your doing, right? Watching me fall makes you so pleased, doesn’t it?”
I briefly glanced at her exposed skin and lingered for a moment.
I couldn’t shake the feeling that something about those red marks on her seemed off.
I ignored Grace’s insults and didn’t respond.
But her outburst did catch Ethan’s attention.
When Ethan saw me, he froze for a moment. Our eyes met, and for the first time, I saw regret and guilt in his.
As the police led him away, he kept turning back to look at me.
His gaze made me uncomfortable, so without thinking, I turned and walked away.
Behind me, I heard him call out loudly,
“Autumn!”
I didn’t turn around or stop.
Perhaps at that moment, Ethan was regretting his actions.
But his regret wasn’t because he loved me.
It was because, in comparison with Grace, he suddenly realized that he had been deceived all along, and that I had been the only one who had truly cared for him.
Sadly, it was too late.
