He Drove His Female Intern Every Day. I Vanished After the Storm Chapter 03

He Drove His Female Intern Every Day. I Vanished After the Storm Chapter 03

“Nothing.”

I hung up.

That was when I noticed Sophia standing behind Ethan with a white suitcase.

Ethan stepped aside to let her in, then lifted her suitcase over the threshold.

“Hi, Eileen!”

Sophia put on an extra-sweet voice.

Then, as if she knew the place by heart, she crouched down and pulled a pair of slippers from the bottom shelf of the shoe cabinet.

They were pink, with cartoon characters printed on them.

She had shown them off on her Instagram Story just last week.

[New slippers! Thanks to my knight for the gift!]

So this was where those slippers had ended up.

In my apartment.

I frowned.

“Why did you bring a suitcase here?”

Ethan closed the door and pushed the suitcase against the wall.

“Here’s the thing…”

Before he could finish, Sophia suddenly shrieked from the kitchen.

“Oh my God! Ethan!”

She yanked open the fridge and sounded as if she’d just discovered something horrifying inside.

“Didn’t you swear you’d never touch my chocolate milk? You are such a liar!”

I looked at the carton in her hand, then at Ethan.

“You bought that for her?”

Ethan lowered his head.

For the first time, I saw embarrassment on his face.

I closed the shoe cabinet.

“I drank it.”

Sophia immediately relaxed.

“Oh. So you drank it.”

She smiled, then deliberately added,

“I thought Ethan had been stealing my stuff again. He does that all the time. He says he’s not interested, but then he always ends up coming after what’s mine.”

Sophia turned to me.

“Eileen, next time you want some, just tell me first. I won’t mind.”

How ridiculous.

Apparently, even in my own apartment, I needed her permission to drink something from my own fridge.

I looked at Ethan.

“Do you bring her here often?”

“No. Just a few times. When she came over last week, there wasn’t much to drink, so I picked up a few cartons and left them here.”

How convenient.

Those “few times” just happened to be the times I was away on business trips.

“So why bring her here today, of all days, when you knew I’d be home?”

Ethan frowned as if my question had exhausted the last of his patience.

“Stop. Can you not assume the worst about everything?”

“What exactly am I assuming?”

Sophia immediately cut in.

“Eileen, I’m really sorry for bothering you. I had no idea you’d be this upset. Ethan and I have to catch a flight together tomorrow morning for a business trip. He said it’d be easier to go straight to the airport from here, so he invited me to stay the night.”

Convenient for Sophia.

A problem for me.

“What flight?”

Ethan paused.

“It’s for work. The company arranged it last week. I was going to tell you tonight. The apartment is close to the airport, so if she sleeps here, she can get a little more rest in the morning.”

I laughed.

So this was why he’d gone out of his way to tell me to come home early.

“No. She’s not staying here. The two of you can get an airport hotel.”

Ethan shot to his feet.

“Eileen, what the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Sophia stood up too, folding her arms across her chest with a deeply wounded expression.

“Eileen, I have a boyfriend! I promise, it’s not what you think!”

“Forget it! Ethan, I should just go. I mean, it’s scary for a woman to be out alone at this hour, dragging a suitcase around looking for a hotel, but I don’t want you two fighting because of me.”

Ethan immediately grabbed her hand.

Then he raised his voice at me.

“Eileen Carter, the regional vice president criticized you in front of everyone today, so now you’re taking it out on Sophia? It’s not her fault you got soaked in the rain. We have an empty guest room. What’s so wrong with letting her stay for one night?”

This time, I didn’t want to make excuses for him.

And I didn’t want to keep putting up with it.

When my best friend of ten years came to visit me in Seattle, Ethan refused to let her stay in the guest room because he was supposedly a germaphobe.

Less than six months later, his germaphobia had somehow disappeared all on its own.

He knew Sophia had a boyfriend, yet he still got out of bed in the middle of the night to talk to her until dawn whenever she couldn’t sleep.

There was really only one reason.

The first person he thought of was always the one he truly wanted to take care of.

And that person was never me.

For the first time, I said it out loud.

Ethan’s face went blank.

Sophia covered her mouth, her eyes filling with tears.

“I’m sorry, Eileen. I really never meant to come between you two. I’ll leave right now.”

She opened the door.

Before stepping outside, she turned back and looked at Ethan.

Ethan’s expression hardened with fury.

“What the hell is wrong with you? You’re forcing a woman out in the middle of the night. Eileen, when did you become like your mother, so bitter and hostile toward everyone?”

His words stopped me cold.

I thought I didn’t care anymore.

But he still knew exactly what to say to hurt me most.

Ethan shoved past me, dragging a suitcase in each hand.

When he reached the door, he even picked up Sophia’s pink slippers and tucked them under his arm.

I took a deep breath and forced back my tears.

“Let’s break up.”

He stopped at the door.

Then he turned to look at me and let out a laugh.

“You think I’m scared of your threats?”

“Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”