He Gave My Dream to Another Woman? I Took It Back with Interest! Chapter 04

He Gave My Dream to Another Woman? I Took It Back with Interest! Chapter 04

I stared at him in disbelief.

He looked embarrassed too, his eyes flickering away, unable to meet mine.

“Do you even hear yourself right now? Leaving aside how important this competition is to me, have you ever stopped to think that even if I withdrew and gave her my spot, she still would not win anything?”

Natalie had never been especially gifted to begin with. Back in college, her grades in every subject had only ever been average.

In a major architectural competition like this, she would not even make it past the preliminary round, let alone win a prize.

Ethan obviously knew exactly what I meant. He pressed his lips together, hesitated, and then said awkwardly, “That’s why Natalie and I were thinking… she could use your design submission…”

He did not even get to finish before I cut him off.

“Don’t even think about it.”

At last, I understood why Natalie had been the one who studied abroad in my previous life.

Most likely, Ethan had stolen my design and recommended her to the professor under her name.

Even after I rejected him outright, Ethan did not get angry. He simply put an arm around my shoulders and tried to steady me upright. Then he looked straight at me and spoke slowly, one word at a time.

“Claire, just this once, okay? Think of it as the last time we ever make it up to her. After this, no matter what happens to her, I promise you, I won’t get involved again.”

“If you hadn’t been adopted, you wouldn’t have had the chance to get such a good education, and you wouldn’t even have had the opportunity to enter a competition like this, right?”

“We’re only giving back what should have belonged to Natalie in the first place.”

The fever that had burned through me for so long, combined with the medicine, left my mind swimming. Fighting to stay conscious, I forced myself to shove his arm away.

“I’m not giving it up.”

“I earned this qualification through my own work over a very long time. I’m not handing it over to anyone.”

“When she came back, our parents pulled every string they had to get her into college. She received the exact same education I did. I did not steal her place, and there is no such thing as me owing her this.”

“If you want to support her without limits, that’s your choice. Just leave me out of it.”

By the time I woke again, it was already deep into the night.

Ethan was slumped by the bed, his face tired and drawn. One of his hands was still wrapped tightly around mine, as though he had been afraid he would not notice if I woke up.

For a moment, I felt dazed.

The truth was, Ethan and I really had shared a stretch of happy married life once.

Back then, he used to come pick me up from school after work, always bringing some little snack he knew I had loved since I was young.

He would pedal me home on his bicycle, and along the way we would talk about anything and everything.

The orphanage had never had good conditions, and I had been frail since childhood.

After we got married, I got sick all the time, and in those days he had often been just like this.

The slightest movement from me would wake him instantly.

But who could have imagined that a man so gentle, so attentive, had done all of it for the sake of another woman?

I drew in a slow breath.

Sensing that I had moved, Ethan jerked awake and lifted his head at once.

“You’re awake? How are you feeling now? You scared me half to death this morning. Thank God the fever’s finally gone.”

As he spoke, he reached out to touch my forehead, but I turned my head slightly and avoided his hand.

He noticed the rejection and slowly withdrew it.

“Go back to sleep. I didn’t think things through today. Tomorrow’s my

day off, so I’ll take you to the department store and buy you something as an apology, okay?”

“Just forgive me this once.”

As he spoke, he tucked the blanket more securely around me. Without waiting for an answer, he went to the cabinet, took out another quilt, and headed into the next room.

Even after everything he said, I did not let my guard down. Because standing behind him, directing every move he made, was still Natalie.

And she was never going to let this opportunity go so easily.