The Man I Chased Finally Turned Around

“Get off me when you’re done playing around.” Ethan said that while I was sprawled across him, biting his ear. His girlfriend, Chloe, stood in the doorway of his bedroom, watching us. I didn’t answer. I only moved my lips away from his ear and started kissing his Adam’s apple instead. I felt Ethan’s large hand settle on my waist. The next second, he flipped me off the bed. When Ethan threw me off the bed, my fragile head struck the floor of his bedroom and split open. Just like that, I ended up in the hospital. By the time Chloe turned on the bedroom light, I was lying helplessly on the floor. “Ava, stop pretending. Get up and get out.” Ethan had never been one to indulge me. He only thought I was in the way. “Ethan, her head is bleeding!” Chloe hurried over and tried to stop the bleeding. Thank goodness for Chloe. Otherwise, Ethan would probably have left me lying there until I died. Ethan let out a quiet sigh and sat up in bed. I was still dazed when I felt a pair of strong arms lift me from the floor and carry me out of the room. What a mess. Ethan had a fever and a cold, yet he still had to rescue a menace like me. His arms were incredibly warm, though, and surrounded by the faint scent of mint. I passed out in his embrace. By the time I woke up again, I was already in the hospital. The smell of disinfectant surrounded me. Soft voices murmured in the hospital room. “Ethan, I asked Ava to take care of you. How did she end up taking care of herself into the hospital?” That was my best friend, Lily. She was the reason Ethan had been able to throw me off the bed in the first place. Ethan was Lily’s uncle. After I confessed my feelings for him, Lily had taken every opportunity to play matchmaker. Ethan spoke. His voice was slightly hoarse from his cold, but there wasn’t a trace of emotion in it. “You can ask her when she wakes up.” Then maybe I really shouldn’t have woken up. “Ava, I saw your eyelashes move.” Ethan was truly heartless. I couldn’t keep pretending. I acted as if I had just woken up and slowly opened my eyes. Besides Lily and Ethan, who were speaking in low voices, Chloe was also in the room. Lily leaned close to me. “What happened, Ava?” Her long eyelashes nearly brushed my face. I pushed her away with the hand that wasn’t hooked up to an IV. “Lily, who are these two?” Lily had always been easy to fool. Apparently, all the deviousness in her family had gone to Ethan. She reached out to feel my forehead. “Sweetie, are you okay? This is my uncle.” I pushed her hand away and smiled at Ethan. “Nice to meet you.” Then I shifted my gaze to Chloe. She was beautiful, with fair skin and delicate features. Her eyes were especially captivating. “And this must be your wife. Nice to meet you too.” Ethan just looked at me with an unreadable smile. The look made my scalp prickle. I was so stupid. Seriously, what was I thinking, pretending to have amnesia in front of this old wolf? Lily, on the other hand, immediately started making a fuss and headed for the door. “Ethan, did Ava lose her mind? I’m going to get a doctor.” “I’ll go with Lily.” Chloe followed Lily out. Maybe she could tell Ethan was about to lecture me, so she thoughtfully left us some privacy. “Ava, stop clinging to me. I don’t have that much time to play with you.” Once everyone had left the room, Ethan finally stopped pretending to be polite.He didn’t give me any time to prepare. He simply dumped those words on me, and they exploded beside my ears, leaving them ringing. “What about before? When you used to treat me so well?” I still couldn’t help asking. “Because you’re Lily’s friend.” By the time Lily returned with the doctor, I was alone in the room. I had thrown a fit and chased Ethan out, and the only person who came back with Lily was the doctor. Chloe had left with Ethan. I had only met Chloe three times. The first time was at a bar. I hadn’t seen Ethan in a long time and wanted to sneak over to take a look at him. I had disguised myself from head to toe and hidden in a corner. Chloe had been sitting obediently beside him. The second time was last night, when I was kissing Ethan on his bed while she watched from outside the door. The third time was just now, when she had stood behind Ethan. If I were him, I would choose Chloe too. She was beautiful and obedient. She wasn’t like me, always going against Ethan. If he told me not to do something, I insisted on doing it. If he told me to stay away, I ignored him anyway. What was I even talking about, choosing? I had never been one of Ethan’s options. “Doctor, please check her.” Lily urged the doctor to examine me. I caught her hand. “Lily, I’m fine now.” The doctor spoke from the side. “You don’t get to decide that. I do.” After a series of examinations, the doctor concluded, “She’s fine. Get plenty of rest, avoid strenuous exercise for a while, and you can go home.” Lily finally let out a breath of relief. After the doctor left, she leaned closer to me. “You were pretending, weren’t you? You scared me to death.” “Yeah.” “Then why did you stop?” “I couldn’t fool him.” I knew I couldn’t fool Ethan. I just didn’t know how to face him after what happened last night. “Now tell me about your heroic feat!” Heroic was a bit of a stretch. Thinking about it now, the whole thing was ridiculous. Lily had brought me the news that Ethan was sick. In exchange for buying her dinner at a hot-pot restaurant, I had gotten his house key. I wanted to take advantage of his weakened state and create the image of an adorable domestic goddess. I made it into Ethan’s house without a hitch. I prepared some cold medicine and slipped into his bedroom. I stood beside his bed, wanting to wake him. But the medicine was too hot, and I figured I should let him sleep a little longer. Ethan was handsome, with sharp, well-defined features. I liked his high, straight nose the most. I swear, all I wanted to do was see if he was really asleep. I reached out and poked his cheek. It was soft, unlike the usual Ethan, who was always so polite and distant. This version of him seemed much more alive. I couldn’t stop myself from leaning closer, wanting to kiss his cheek. “Ava, don’t you dare.” Since Ethan had put it that way, I really wanted to test exactly where his limits were. I climbed onto his bed and leaned down to kiss his lips, but he dodged me. We remained locked in that awkward position. The bedroom door was open. I vaguely heard the lock turning. “Ethan…”It had to be Chloe. At that hour, she was probably the only person who could open Ethan’s front door with a key. I curved my lips into a smile. “Ethan, your girlfriend is here.” Ethan didn’t answer. He turned his face away from me, giving me a chance to leave on my own. There was no way I would do what he wanted. I changed targets and went for his ear. I bent down and kissed it. “Get off me when you’re done playing around.” Chloe had already reached the bedroom doorway. I moved from Ethan’s ear to his throat and kissed his Adam’s apple. That was when Ethan threw me off the bed. Blood was running down my face, and the cold medicine I had prepared for him was still steaming. “Ava…” Lily scratched her head and thought for a long time. “The ending was a little tragic, but the process was pretty good, right?” I pursed my lips, trying to force out a couple of tears. It didn’t work. I was sad, but I couldn’t cry. “Ava, how did you manage to get yourself hospitalized?” Before I could wallow in self-pity, my mother arrived after hearing the news. “Let Mom take a look!” Mom pushed Lily aside and sat next to me, cradling my head as she inspected it. “Mom, I’m fine now. The doctor said I can go home.” My mother had been spoiled rotten by my father and had almost no practical sense. She pressed down with far too much force, making my head ache. “Then come home with me!” I dodged her hand and quickly agreed. “Okay, okay, okay.” After hitting a wall with Ethan, I needed to recharge in my mother’s arms. Lily sent me all the way to my bedroom, hoping to get a free meal at my house. Once everything was settled, she casually lay down beside me. “Ava, did my uncle say something to you?” She toyed with the ends of my hair, giving them a gentle tug. I might have been fine if Lily hadn’t asked. The moment she did, I felt horribly wronged. I pouted, and tears rolled from the corners of my eyes. “He told me to stop clinging to him. He said I was annoying. He’s never said that to me before.” Lily hurriedly searched for tissues and wiped my tears. “Did we really go too far? He has a girlfriend now, after all.” “He never admitted that. Your mother was the one who said Chloe was his girlfriend. Ethan never said it himself.” That was true. The reason I had been so shamelessly climbing into Ethan’s bed was because he had never admitted Chloe was his girlfriend. But I also knew that whenever someone joked about it, Ethan never denied it either.His silence had simply been the way I convinced myself to keep hoping. “So…” Lily began, probably wondering what I planned to do next. I took the tissue from her and wiped my nose. “If he wants me to stop clinging to him, then I’ll stop. It’s not like he’s the only man in the world.” But how was I supposed to forget the way Ethan had treated me? For more than twenty years, he was the only person who had ever made me feel this way. Lily had transferred into our class during her senior year of high school. She looked sweet and easy to fool. I was naturally outgoing, so I approached her without hesitation. I helped her get her textbooks, took her to the cafeteria, and showed her around the campus store. Lily really was soft and adorable. She trusted everyone. After knowing me for only a month, she started bringing me home. Ethan was there for dinner that day, along with Lily’s parents. After we finished eating, Lily’s mother asked Ethan to drive me to the entrance of my apartment complex. “Is this the place?” Ethan asked after parking the car. “Yeah. Thanks, Ethan.” Back then, I was still a polite girl who respected my elders. After thanking him, I got out and hurried into the complex. Around Halloween, the neighborhood was filled with the scent of candles and incense. It gave the night an eerie atmosphere. I had always been timid, and I was even more frightened around Halloween. I walked faster and faster. Then I heard footsteps behind me, following at a steady distance. It was terrifying, and I couldn’t help breaking into a run. Something grabbed the strap of my backpack. “Why are you running? You left your phone in the car!” It was Ethan. I broke out in a cold sweat. “Which building do you live in?” Still dazed, I pointed it out to him. “Let’s go.” Ethan tilted his head, indicating that I should lead the way. When I was a senior in high school, Ethan was only twenty-five, seven years older than me. Even then, he quietly knew how to take care of my childish fears. Ethan had always been thoughtful. After I graduated high school, Ethan happened to leave town for work. Lily insisted on going with him. After he agreed, she shamelessly begged him to take me too. Ethan couldn’t resist her. He ended up taking the two of us little burdens along on his business trip to Seattle. On our first night there, I got my period. The cramps were so bad that I couldn’t even stand up straight, so I stayed in the hotel all day. Lily, on the other hand, had endless energy. She spent the entire day running around outside, then collapsed onto the bed after eating her fill without caring whether I lived or died. When I was so hungry that my stomach felt glued to my spine, Ethan knocked on our door. I dragged my weak body out of bed to answer. Ethan handed me a box. “Late-night snacks.” He was practically my savior. When I opened the box, I found desserts from the restaurant Lily and I always went to. Seeing how pale I was, he asked, “Are you feeling sick?” I stuffed dessert into my mouth and waved him off. “It’s nothing. Those days every month are always rough.” He stood in the doorway and thought for a while. He seemed to be trying to come up with a solution, while I waited and chewed my dessert. After a long moment, he looked up and told me, “Drink more hot water.” He had completely short-circuited my brain. Still, for the next week, whenever I ate with Ethan, there was never anything cold on the table. His care was quiet and constant, like a gentle rain sinking into the earth. And Ethan didn’t treat everyone that way. One year, Lily invited her closest college friends to her birthday party. One of the girls was bold enough to carry a drink over to Ethan and flirt with him openly, making it perfectly clear that she thought she would be easy for him to win over. Ethan was always polite to people who approached him with a smile. He humored her for the evening, then turned around and ordered Lily to stop associating with her. Compared to that, Ethan had already been incredibly indulgent with me. He bought me gifts, took me out to eat, drove me home, and did so many other things… I thought I was special. I thought that was why he treated me so well. But today at the hospital, Ethan said the only reason he treated me differently was because I was Lily’s best friend. When had things between Ethan and me become so hostile? During my junior year of college, Ethan was twenty-eight. He still hadn’t settled down, and Lily’s grandmother was frantic. She began arranging dates for him. I heard about it at my family’s dinner table. My father was an amazing cook, and Lily spent most of her winter break at my house. After hearing the news, I devoured two bowls of rice and even ate the one that was supposed to be Lily’s. She finally lifted her head from her bowl and stared at me. “Ava, what’s gotten into you?” I motioned for her to finish eating first. As soon as she swallowed her last bite, I dragged her into my bedroom and asked awkwardly, “Can you stop your uncle from going on blind dates?” “Ava, that’s ridiculous! Do you really think he’ll listen to me?” Lily stared at me as if I had lost my mind. “Besides, what does my uncle going on a date have to do with you?” I covered my flushed face and boldly declared, “I want to be your aunt.”