He Called Me a Leech, Then Got Mad When the AI I Talked to Wasn’t Him Chapter 02

He Called Me a Leech, Then Got Mad When the AI I Talked to Wasn’t Him Chapter 02

My face might as well have had the words, “Are you serious?” written all over it.

He was the one who had suddenly laid everything out that day, saying he didn’t like how I clung to him and depended on him all the time.

He was also the one who had tossed me a mysterious AI app installer.

“Why would I tell you?”

My retort left Ethan momentarily speechless, and his expression darkened.

“Would your parents really be okay with you going alone?”

For some reason, I thought of the AI on my phone.

“Who said I was going alone?”

Ethan gave a derisive laugh.

“You think I don’t know you? You used to make me go with you just to the neighborhood grocery store. Who else would possibly go with you?”

“Even if your parents were okay with it, my mom would still…”

Before he could finish, his phone rang.

It was his mother, Mrs. Walker.

My hearing wasn’t good, and even with my hearing aids, I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

But from the way Ethan’s expression grew more and more irritated, I could guess.

Mrs. Walker wanted Ethan to go to Maui with me.

He could have refused.

But after he hung up, he sighed.

“Looks like I can’t get rid of you after all.”

I froze where I stood.

I could understand why Mrs. Walker did it.

When we were little, my hearing impairment hadn’t been as severe as it was now.

Ethan had been mischievous. One day, he held a toy megaphone next to my ear and shouted my name.

I covered my ears and burst into tears, and then I was taken to the hospital.

The test results weren’t good.

If I wanted to live normally, I would probably have to wear hearing aids for the rest of my life.

My parents didn’t say much.

Mrs. Walker, however, was furious. She gave Ethan a harsh spanking, then made him kneel in front of me and swear.

“I, Ethan Walker, swear that I’ll take care of Lila for the rest of my life. I’ll be good to her, and I’ll never bully her.”

Little Ethan cried so hard his shoulders shook. Back then, he had no idea what responsibility meant.

But to everyone’s surprise, he really kept that promise.

From age six to eighteen, he was the person I depended on.

He was the one who could understand what I meant without me having to say a word.

That was why I had always known.

Ethan had probably fallen a little bit for Sophie.

It started around three months before the SATs.

Sophie, the slacker at the very bottom of our class, suddenly started studying hard.

Ethan had scoffed at it. While peeling a boiled egg for me, he muttered under his breath, “Now that she’s done messing around, she suddenly regrets it? Does she really think three months can make up for three years of other people’s hard work? I hate people like that the most.”

He really had disliked Sophie before, because she was always late or skipping class, and because she was always causing trouble during lessons.

Until one day, he bumped into her around the corner of the stairwell.

The practice tests in her arms scattered all over the floor.

Ethan saw the pages covered with dense notes.

From that day on, he began getting closer and closer to her.

By the final month before the SATs, he had pulled Sophie into what used to be our two-person circle, all so he could help her get into college.

He began ignoring me.

So it made sense that he wanted to draw a line between us.

After thinking it over, I took a deep breath.

“You don’t have to go. I can put in a good word for you with Mrs. Walker.”

Ethan tugged the corner of his mouth in a self-mocking smile.

He pulled a plane ticket out of his pocket and said to Sophie, “I was still hesitating over whether I should go with you. But now it looks like I have no choice.”

After he said that, the two of them smiled at each other.

Silently, I opened AI Guy.

Lila: [I feel like I’ve become an unwilling prop in their little flirtation game.]

AI Guy: [That’s rough.]