Chapter 4

When I finally woke up on my own, I saw countless missed calls from Ethan and countless messages.

"So this is your attitude?"

"You won't stop until this whole thing blows up?"

I'd been asleep, so of course I hadn't answered any of them. Ethan seemed to have run out of patience, and he sent me an ultimatum.

"If you don't come apologize before three, don't bother coming at all."

I didn't even reply. I opened a travel app and paid extra to get myself a train ticket home.

I checked out, and the moment I stepped out of the hotel, Ethan appeared in front of me, fuming.

"You won't answer my calls, you won't answer my texts. What's that supposed to mean, Jessica?"

I said, "I have a train to catch. I don't have time to explain anything to you."

With that, I stepped forward to push him aside. Ethan stared at me in disbelief.

"Do you know how hard it was to find you? If I hadn't seen your hotel booking, I'd have turned the whole town upside down."

I couldn't even be bothered to look up. Last night I'd stood outside his door for hours, and not once had he opened it to come looking for me.

"I spent the whole night calming my mom down, and you just up and left. Did you even think about the consequences?"

"An apology? Not happening! The engagement's off. We're done!"

Just as I finished, the car I'd booked pulled up.

I pushed Ethan aside and slid into the cab. I hadn't expected that to set him off. He got in his car and chased after us like a madman, and on the way to the train station, he actually forced the cab to pull over.

"Jessica, how far are you going to take this?"

"My mom's a widow. You buy her a box of that stuff, and now you act like you're in the right?"

It would have been better if he'd kept that to himself. I was livid. I got out of the cab and slapped him across the face.

"Did you see with your own eyes that I was the one who sent it?"

Even though I knew he was just choosing to be blind, I still pulled up my order history and shoved it in his face.

"Open your damn eyes and take a good look. What I bought was a $30,000 luxury face cream!"

Ethan sat frozen in his car like a wounded quail, too scared to move a muscle.

I said scornfully, "You two staged this whole show just to drag my name through the mud so I'd hand back the bride price and throw in a bigger dowry, didn't you?"

"Fine. I'll give you what you want right now."

I took out my phone and transferred $90,000 to him on the spot.

"Keep the change. Now get out of my sight."

With that, I turned to leave. Ethan panicked, reached out, and grabbed hold of me tight.

"You're calling off the engagement over something this small? Besides, my mom isn't the person you think she is. And even if you want to call it off, you can't just walk away like this."

"Don't be mad. Let's go somewhere and talk this through."

I pried his fingers off me one by one. "We have nothing to talk about."

"No matter what, this engagement is over."