Chapter 2

In the middle of the night, my phone suddenly rang. I answered it and heard Ethan's slurred voice from the other end. "Darling… Darling, come get me..." Just as I was about to hang up, an unfamiliar voice came through. "Hello? The customer is quite drunk here. Can you come pick him up? We're closing soon." I rattled off Mia's number without hesitation. "Let her handle it. I don't have the time." This wasn't the first time something like this had happened. In the past, I'd driven for an hour in the middle of the night with a high fever to pick him up, only for him to shove me away roughly. Even in his stupor, he insisted on being with Mia. "I don't want you. I want Mia," he'd said. He even told me to stop bothering him. I'd stumbled back a few steps to steady myself, and my hand hit the sharp metal corner of a table. Blood dripped down, but the sting was nothing compared to the ache I'd felt in my heart. Snapping back to the present, I looked at the scar on the back of my hand. At least, wounds could heal, and my heart wouldn't break the same way twice. The deep quiet of the night had just begun to pull me under when that familiar ringtone sounded again. This time, an unfamiliar woman's voice came through. "You're this drunkard's wife, right? He showed up at my door in the middle of the night. Can you come get him? Otherwise, I'm calling the police." "What?" She gave me the address. After I hung up, I sat frozen, trying to process what I'd just heard. In his drunken haze, Ethan had somehow stumbled his way to our previous rental apartment. When I arrived, I kept apologizing to the woman before dragging him away from her door. He reeked of alcohol and mumbled incoherently, "Oli… Did you have a rough day at your internship today?" That long-forgotten nickname made my mind reel for a second. I realized Ethan was so drunk he thought we were back when we'd just graduated. Back then, we were broke. The two of us crammed into that small rental apartment, dreaming about the future. I had rehearsal every night. No matter how busy he was, he'd always come to pick me up. His eyes were red-rimmed from exhaustion, but he'd hug me tight and promise that one day, he'd give me a better life. My eyes stung, and tears rolled down. I hurriedly lowered my head to wipe them away, but someone beat me to it. Ethan raised his hand and gently wiped it away, his voice slurred with self-pity. "Darling, why aren't you angry anymore? Why did you change the body wash… How can you not be angry about Mia… You've changed…" I looked at him. For once, I could talk to him without losing my cool. "Because I'm tired." Ethan rambled on, then suddenly pulled his hand from mine, fumbling for something inside his jacket. Under the moonlight, I saw a strawberry cake. It was the cake I used to love most, which I thought he'd long forgotten. Ironically, I first discovered his infidelity because of a cake, too.