He Drove His Female Intern Every Day. I Vanished After the Storm Chapter 05

He Drove His Female Intern Every Day. I Vanished After the Storm Chapter 05

Ethan knocked on Sophia’s hotel room door.

“Is my phone with you? Did anyone call?”

Sophia casually tossed the phone onto the bed.

“Eileen called just now.”

Ethan reached for it almost immediately.

“What did she say?”

“Nothing much.”

Sophia lay back on the bed.

“She just asked when you were going back.”

Ethan smiled.

“Then it can’t be anything important.”

“But she still seemed angry.”

Ethan rubbed his brow.

The smile vanished from his face.

“We’re going back tomorrow morning.”

Sophia’s eyes widened.

“What? Ethan, you promised we’d stay here and have fun for the weekend!”

Usually, whenever she used that spoiled little voice, Ethan would give in.

But this time, all he could think about was the look on Eileen’s face before he left.

He had been gone for four days.

She hadn’t sent him a single message.

And when he pictured her expression before he left, Ethan suddenly realized something.

She hadn’t been angry.

She hadn’t been disappointed.

There had been no emotion on her face at all.

“Pack tonight. I’ll make it up to you later.”

The trip back went smoothly the next day.

Ethan parked outside the office building.

“I’m going upstairs to drop off some documents. You can get a cab home from here.”

Sophia froze.

“You want me to go home by myself?”

Ethan was already out of the car.

He walked around and opened her door.

“Yeah.”

Sophia stayed in her seat.

“Ethan, because you’re in such a hurry to get back to Eileen, you won’t even drive me home now? Do you know that she actually…”

“Sophia Bennett.”

For the first time, Ethan cut her off.

“Whatever is going on between Eileen and me, we’ll deal with it ourselves.”

Sophia bit her lip.

Ethan sighed.

“Get out. I’ll make it up to you later.”

While waiting for the elevator, Ethan stared at the changing floor numbers and suddenly remembered the first few years after graduation.

Back then, neither of them had much money.

They often bought the cheapest meal they could find near the office and split it between them.

Through the glass window, he would watch office workers in sharp suits outside.

Even when it rained, they walked in spotless shoes straight from the office building into the underground parking garage.

Then he would look down and see Eileen sliding the only piece of chicken in their takeout box over to him.

She wore no makeup and was dressed in an ordinary sweatshirt, yet she always looked full of energy.

Back then, he had told her,

“One day, I’m going to give you a good life. You’ll have someone to pick you up when it rains. You won’t have to squeeze onto a bus or worry every day about your shoes getting ruined.”

Later, he could finally afford to keep that promise.

But the person who got to enjoy all of it was Sophia.

At first, it really had only been once or twice.

When his department manager saw Sophia getting out of his car, he had even pulled Ethan aside and warned him about the rumors going around the office.

Ethan immediately explained that Sophia was just a girl he’d known since childhood, someone he thought of like a younger sister.

But after explaining, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

If Eileen ever got out of his car in front of the office, how would he explain that?

So he began to think that not driving Eileen to work was the safest choice.

After he bought the car, the coworkers who had once looked down on him started making exaggerated comments about how well he was doing.

Even the wealthy guy in the office who loved showing off said Ethan had great taste in cars.

Their praise fed an insecurity Ethan had never wanted to admit.

The more he heard them, the more he cared about how other people saw him.

Eventually, he stopped correcting everyone’s assumptions.

He let them think he was single.

He let them think Eileen didn’t exist.

Before long, it became a habit.

He got used to Eileen being understanding about everything he did.

He got used to letting her walk through the rain.

He got used to dropping whatever mattered to her the moment Sophia called.

It wasn’t until Eileen ended up in the ER because of her stomach condition that he truly realized he’d done something wrong.

He swore he would change.

But in the end, he broke that promise too.

The elevator doors opened, pulling Ethan out of his memories.

He had to fix this.

He strode into the office and headed straight for Eileen’s desk.

The next second, he stopped dead, the documents still raised in one hand.

The desk was empty.

The computer was gone.

The photos were gone.

Even the coffee mug Eileen had used for years was gone.

Ethan looked at the desk number.

Then he checked the surrounding workstations, making sure he hadn’t gone to the wrong place.

His hand trembling, he pulled out his phone.

He called her.

All he heard was an automated voice.

The number was no longer in service.

He immediately opened their messaging app.

In the empty chat window, he quickly typed out message after message.

[Eileen, I was wrong.]

[Starting today, I won’t put Sophia first anymore. From now on, you’ll come first.]

[We’ll present this project together on Monday.]

[Why is your desk empty? You just moved to another desk, right?]

He hit Send.

A few seconds later, a red exclamation mark appeared on the screen.

Ethan stood there, staring at his phone.

His expression turned grim.