Chapter 3

I refreshed it several times, convinced it had to be a glitch.

It wasn't.

I bolted out of the room.

Why was Ethan here? He was supposed to be working late.

I made my way past one private room door after another, utterly confused.

The distance shown on the app kept shrinking.

Closer. Closer.

Finally — zero.

Through a gap in the door, I looked in.

Not only Ethan, but several other people his age — men and women — were inside. Soft background music played. They were laughing and talking.

I pressed myself flat against the door frame and strained to listen.

After a while, I finally pieced it together: they were setting Ethan up on a blind date.

My gaze shifted upward to the only woman in the room.

Striking features. Poised. Elegant.

I had to admit — she and Ethan looked good together. Really good.

Something clenched hard in my chest.

My hand found the door handle without thinking. My fingernails clicked faintly against the metal.

Ethan glanced over at the sound.

Thank God my reflexes were fast. I ducked down before he could step out.

I fled back to my room just in time.

Back inside, the model had peeled an impressive pile of tangerine segments for me.

I had zero interest in eating them.

I stared at the location app, unblinking.

Thirty minutes later, Ethan's marker began to move.

I grabbed my bag and followed.

In the lobby downstairs, the group was saying their goodbyes.

Ethan personally called a car for the woman and walked her to it.

She was flushed all the way up her neck.

From the shape of her lips, she seemed to say: See you next time.

Ethan nodded.

He watched until she was gone, then got into his own car.

When I got home, Ethan was sitting on the sofa reading.

The moment I got close to him, I caught it — the heavy scent of women's perfume.

I dug my nails into my palm and kept my expression neutral, playing dumb. "Where did you go today? You smell like perfume."

Ethan paused. He lifted his sleeve and sniffed.

A faint look of embarrassment crossed his face — rare, for him.

"A friend set me up on a blind date. She was probably standing close. I must've picked it up."

"Are you thinking about getting married?"

I looked at him without blinking.

Ethan nodded. "I am. At my age, it's time to start thinking about it."

"Your age? You're still so young!"

The words came out before I could stop them.

Ethan gave a helpless sigh.

"Zoe," he said, after a moment. "My biggest goal used to be making sure you got into a good university. I put everything into that — I barely had time to think about my own life. But you're a junior now. Don't I deserve to have something for myself?"

"But—"

"But what?"

Ethan looked up at me.

His neck tilted back slightly, forming a clean, vulnerable arc.

The light fell across his eyes, his jaw... pooling finally at his open collar, his collarbone just barely visible.

He was so...

Beautiful.

I felt like I was losing my mind.

Or maybe I'd already lost it a long time ago.

I wanted to kiss him, to bite him, to lock him away so he could never leave, could never smile at another person again.

My heart hammered wildly, out of rhythm.

I gripped my palm hard and kept adjusting my breathing, fighting to keep everything below the surface.

But Ethan sensed something was off.

He stood and stepped toward me, his expression full of concern.

"Zoe, are you alright?"

I looked away quickly.

It took me a moment before I could speak again.

"I just... I don't want to lose you, that's all. If you get married and start your own family, eventually we won't be as close."

"That's not going to happen."

He ruffled my hair.

"It will," I insisted. "You've already been more distant since I started university."

"That's because you're grown up now. I have to keep appropriate boundaries."

Of course.

I closed my eyes.

If growing up meant losing him, I'd rather stay a child forever.

My eyes were beginning to sting.

Ethan ruffled my hair again.

"People grow up, fall in love, get married. It's the way things go. You'll meet someone of your own someday, Zoe."

No I won't.

I screamed it, inside.