The Love That No One Could Rewrite

A strange man dropped to his knees in front of me, begging me to give him my fiancée. “I really love her. I can’t live without her. Please, give her back to me.” “Is he your ex?” “No. Who the hell are you?” My fiancée looked just as confused as I was. I believed them when they said they didn’t know each other. I assumed the man was mentally unstable. But later, I saw my fiancée grab his hand and beg him to forgive her. I stepped out of the fitting room when a seemingly mild-mannered man suddenly rushed over and dropped to his knees in front of me. “Please give Claire back to me. I’m begging you.” “You two will never have a happy ending. Claire and I are destined to be together.” “Please. I’m begging you.” He knelt at my feet without a shred of dignity. He looked absolutely pathetic. If he hadn’t been trying to steal my fiancée, I might have felt sorry for him. I noticed that he’d said “give her back” instead of “give her to me.” Raising an eyebrow, I looked at Claire, who was standing there just as stunned as I was. “Your ex?” The man turned toward Claire and looked up at her with tearful eyes. “Claire!” Claire hurried over to my side and anxiously explained that she didn’t know him at all. “Who are you?” Her cold tone seemed to hurt him even more. He stared mournfully at her hand linked with my right arm and murmured, “How could you forget me?” The commotion had drawn a crowd outside the store. “What’s going on? Is the wife kneeling to the mistress? A male mistress, too. You don’t see that every day.” “Not necessarily. The one standing looks more like the wife to me.” “Listen to what that guy is saying. Maybe he has amnesia and forgot he found someone else.” Within minutes, the spectators had come up with countless ridiculous stories. “Security! There’s a lunatic here. Get him out of here!” Claire called security and watched the struggling man with open disgust. “Claire! You’ll regret treating me like this!” The guards hauled him to his feet. Just before they dragged him away, he turned and gave Claire one last desperate look. Claire rolled her eyes. “What a freak.” Then she tugged on my arm, looking utterly wronged. “Ethan, you have to prove that I’m innocent. I really don’t know that lunatic.” Normally, I would have found her adorable like this. I would have rubbed her head and let her cling to me. But this time, I gently pulled my arm free. “Did you drag me out here just so I could watch another man lose his mind over you?” Claire realized I was genuinely angry. She immediately called her assistant. “Pull up the mall’s security footage from today. Find out which mental hospital that man who knelt in front of Ethan escaped from.” The mall belonged to Claire’s family. Getting the footage would be easy. With the power her family held, tracking down one man would be even easier. I was curious about what kind of connection he had to Claire. Whether she had been cheating on me or the two of them still had feelings for each other, I would end things the moment I confirmed it. I, Ethan Carter, couldn’t accept a relationship built on divided loyalties.After taking a shower, I asked the housekeeper to heat me a glass of milk. Once I had calmed down, I still believed Claire. Our families were close, and Claire and I had grown up together. I knew exactly who had come and gone from her life. That man’s appearance was suspicious, but I had never considered him a threat. To put it bluntly, a man of his standing didn’t even qualify to stand within three feet of Claire. Still… I smiled helplessly. “She could at least try to comfort me a little more. A man’s heart is pretty small, you know.” My phone suddenly lit up with more than a dozen friend requests. Who was this? Had something happened to the puppy Claire and I adopted from the animal shelter? 【Hello, I’m Julian Hayes.】 The familiar tone gave me a bad feeling. 【I really, really love Claire. She’s the only woman I’ll ever love.】 【You already have so much. Can you give her to me?】 【I’ll die without her.】 My fists cracked as I clenched them. I wasn’t going to indulge a lunatic like this. I immediately replied: 【Why should I give her to you? Because you’re insane? If you want to die, I’ll send flowers to your funeral.】 Julian replied almost instantly. 【Because I love her. I fell hopelessly in love with her the first time I saw her.】 【No one in this world loves her more than I do. Not even you.】 【Why are you so determined to refuse?】 【You two will never have a happy ending. You’re going to die horribly.】 【I’m the one Claire is destined to be with!】 If I had still been amused by the spectacle a moment ago, that ended the instant he cursed me to die horribly. I blocked the lunatic. He clearly had no intention of letting it go. Furious, he started sending text messages instead. 【You blocked me because you feel guilty, didn’t you? Guilty that your love can’t compare to mine.】 【Claire will be my wife!】 【Our names both have the same middle sound. Do you really think that’s a coincidence?】 【Guess how I got your number. Of course Claire gave it to me, you ignorant clown.】 The more he talked, the crazier he sounded. But his final message reminded me of something. Very few people had my private number. Could he really be Claire’s lover? Fine. I blocked his number too, then sent screenshots of the messages to Claire. A few minutes later, she called. “Ethan, don’t pay attention to that lunatic.” I raised an eyebrow. “Would Miss Carter like to explain?” Her voice turned slightly aggrieved. “He’s one of the students the Carter Group sponsors. But you know how these large-scale sponsorship programs work. Everything gets delegated. I’ve never even met him.” “Ethan, you can’t fight with me over some crazy person.” There was a slight nasal quality to her voice. It was the way Claire always sounded when she was trying to act cute with me. I often teased her for sounding like a kitten, always purring and whining. And unfortunately, it worked on me every time. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “Claire, I believe you. Because I love you.” I could imagine her grinning from ear to ear. In our relationship, Claire had always been the more forward one. I had been sickly since childhood, and that had made her take care of me more often. Everything she did was direct, bold, and passionate—including the way she loved me. When I gained weight from being sick as a child and my parents strictly controlled my diet, she secretly brought me delicate pastries. When we were in school, a boy once gave her a love letter. I immediately darkened with jealousy, and Claire rejected him right in front of me. “Ethan is the only man I’ll ever love.” She was a spoiled heiress, but she had never acted like one in front of me. Worried about my health, she even developed a healthy meal plan and cooked for me herself. Whenever we argued, we never went to bed angry. Usually, she would come over making those soft little noises, take my hand, and shake it until I finally cracked. Then she would bury herself in my arms. Claire and I had grown up together. We were made for each other. If someone like Julian had appeared in her life, how could I not know? “Ethan, are you laughing?” “If you are, then you’re not allowed to be mad at me anymore.” Her sweet, childish voice slipped through the phone. Even from a distance, it made my ears itch. “Claire,” I called. “Yeah?” “I want spicy hot pot tomorrow.” I loved spicy hot pot—the cheap kind where you could get an entire pan for a few dozen dollars. But my stomach was weak, so Claire had figured out how to make a version that wasn’t actually spicy but still carried the fragrance of chili peppers. Both our families loved to tease us about it. We were supposed to be a powerful socialite couple, but we acted more like a working-class newlywed pair. “Sure. Come to my office tomorrow. I’ll make it for you.”I saw the last person I wanted to see. Julian had blocked Claire outside the company building. His eyes were bloodshot. “Claire, why did you make the Carter Group stop sponsoring me?” “You know perfectly well that without the company’s support, I’ll have no choice but to work for a mining tycoon!” Claire was clearly losing patience. She was still carrying the hot pot she had prepared for me. When she saw me, she looked even more upset. She shoved Julian away and ran over to me. “Ethan, he’s been harassing me. I haven’t even looked at him properly, so you can’t misunderstand me.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Julian clench his fists. His face was awful, but he still refused to back down. He stepped forward and grabbed Claire by the arm. “Claire…” Claire shook him off like he was trash. Julian’s face turned deathly pale. Anyone would have been lying if they said seeing an unpleasant person first thing in the morning didn’t affect their mood. But this was the entrance to a Carter Group building. It wouldn’t look good if outsiders saw Claire and me “bullying” a poor student. If he made a scene and someone used it to stir up public opinion, that would be a problem. I put an arm around Claire. “Claire, let’s have this gentleman come inside. It’s better to clear up any misunderstanding.” Claire rose onto her toes and brushed her nose against mine. “Whatever you say.” Our intimacy made Julian’s expression even uglier, but he had no choice except to follow us inside. In the elevator, he pressed the floor button before I could. Then he turned toward Claire with a smug smile. The little stunt was obviously meant to tell me that he knew which floor Claire worked on—that his relationship with her was special. What a pathetic clown. When the elevator doors opened, Julian shoved past me and rushed toward Claire’s office door. The system beeped. 【Face recognition failed.】 The disappointment on his face was impossible to miss. “Sorry… I forgot it’s not time yet.” Claire and I exchanged a glance. We both agreed that someone should probably call a psychiatric hospital. “Excuse me.” I gently moved the delusional man aside and unlocked the door with my face. Claire had registered me in the system long ago. Her love for me had always been absolute. No one invited Julian in, but he still forced himself through the doorway just before it closed, wearing the expression of a man who had been humiliated. Claire placed the food container on her desk, carefully opened it, and fed me a meatball with her own fork. When Julian saw the steaming, delicious hot pot, his expression shifted. He picked up the matching cup I had bought for Claire and walked over to the water dispenser. “This food is spicy. I’ll get you both some water.” He said “both,” but he only took one cup. When he carried it over to Claire, I finally dropped my fork. “Are you applying to be our servant, Mr. Hayes? Even as a servant, shouldn’t you be pouring water for both the master and mistress?” Julian stared at his reddened hand and forced himself to stay calm. “Women shouldn’t eat food that’s too spicy. I’m worried about her.” Claire kept piling food into my bowl and calmly said, “It isn’t spicy. Ethan can’t eat spicy food, so I never add any to his meals.” Julian silently set the cup down. “So that’s how it is… You used to make everything extra spicy for me. I thought…” My family had always wanted me to remain calm and unshaken, no matter what happened. My chopsticks smacked against the table. I stood and punched him in the face. “I know a psychiatrist who might be able to help you, Mr. Hayes.” Julian clutched his cheek and stared at me in disbelief. Then he turned toward Claire and shouted, “You’re just going to let him hit me?” Claire glanced up at him. “My husband hitting you is a blessing.” Julian charged forward. “I’m your husband, Claire!” He lunged at me, but Claire suddenly stepped in front of me. Smack! Her palm struck his left cheek. Now both sides of his face matched. Claire smoothed her hair. “My family wanted me to become a proper lady, so I took self-defense classes instead. If you keep acting crazy, I won’t hesitate to knock your teeth out. We can afford your medical bills.” “And as for your sponsorship, you’re an adult now. The Carter Group ending its support is perfectly legal. If you have nothing else to discuss, you need to leave. Security, remove him.” Julian’s eyes were blood red as he stared at Claire with desperate grief. Security arrived quickly. This was the second time Julian had been dragged away. He twisted around and screamed, “Claire, I’m from the future! I’m really your future husband!” “You have a red mole on the inside of your left thigh!”