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The word ‘ex–boyfriend” struck Ethan.
‘I’m her boyfriend. We didn’t break up!” he said coldly.
Summer rolled her eyes internally.“Oh, please. Why don’t you just stick with your childhood sweetheart and leave Natalie alone? I won’t tell you where she is. Please leave, or I’ll call security.”
Ethan contacted a friend in Switzerland to help search, but Natalie wasn’t there. For six days, he found nothing.
He spiraled into a state of agitated depression.
Then, he saw Natalie’s post, which had detailed everything. The story, almost forgotten, went viral again.
“Poor girl! Your boyfriend cheated, yet you’re the one who got cyberbullied.”
“Well done! You should have dumped him earlier!”
“Good for you! Stupid ex and his childhood sweetheart will go to hell together!”
The internet exploded with outrage; Ethan and Chloe faced another wave of criticism. Chloe’s family moved quickly to suppress it, but Ethan didn’t care. He reread Natalie’s post again and again, as if only through these words could he feel her presence.
In the following days, Ethan tried everything to find Natalie. He checked every flight manifest–Iceland, France, Los Angeles, Seoul. Whenever he had time off, he flew to these places, searching for her. But the world was too vast; how could he possibly find someone who was determined to disappear? He even went to the police. But when they asked his relationship to Natalie, he couldn’t provide a proper answer.
The officer explained, “We can’t intervene in relationship disputes. If anything happens to her, her family will contact us.”
Ethan didn’t remember how he left the police station. The familiar sharp pain stabbed at his heart. He regretted not having secured her sooner. He didn’t even have the right to look for her…
A year passed. Those who knew Ethan were shocked by the change in him. He used to be calm, reserved, and kind. Now, he was like a block of ice, cold and indifferent to everything except his work.
One day, Mark received a call from a bar.
As Mark rushed over, he saw Ethan, whose white shirt was stained with blood. Mark’s heart leaped. He checked on Ethan and then sighed in relief. He wasn’t injured, just incredibly drunk. The bar manager told him the whole story. Ethan mistook Natalie for a woman who was making out with another man, so he beat that man up.
Mark sighed; he paid the bills and took the inebriated man home. He and Ethan had been best friends since childhood, and he had rarely seen him this drunk. The last time was the night when he officially became Natalie’s boyfriend. Mark remembered that night–Ethan was completely smashed, but he kept babbling, “Natalie said yes! She’s my girlfriend now…”
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