He Said He’d Marry Her, So I Married Someone Else Chapter 04

He Said He’d Marry Her, So I Married Someone Else Chapter 04

That night, Brooke posted three times on Instagram.

Screenshots started flooding in from people in our circle, all of them eager for drama.

They’d even circled Ethan’s replies in red.

I knew they wanted to see me humiliated.

In the past, I would have rushed to Ethan in tears the second I saw them.

He would have been annoyed, but he always caved in the end.

That was what made me think he actually cared about me.

It was what made me bounce back after every rejection, more determined than before.

But this time, I ignored all of them.

I dialed a number I had saved a week ago.

“Aunt Laura, it’s Ava.”

“I’ve thought about what you said the other day.”

When I was seven, my parents died in an accident.

Mr. Whitmore, who knew my father from the Yale alumni association, brought me to live with his family.

Aunt Laura had been my mother’s best friend when they were young.

She’d spent half her life traveling before settling in Chicago, but by then, my parents were gone.

Aunt Laura wanted me to move to Chicago.

She also wanted to honor a promise she’d made to my mother when they were young.

She wanted me to marry her son.

A week ago, I hadn’t agreed.

But I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so I just said I needed to think about it.

Until tonight. Until I finally let go of an obsession I’d carried for years.

This one-sided love was foolish.

Ridiculous.

I didn’t want to be their joke anymore.

Six months ago, Ethan had arranged for me to transfer to the University of Chicago.

I had cried and fought him on it, but he wouldn’t budge.

Now, I realized it might be an opportunity.

Maybe fate had already opened another door for me.

On the other end of the line, Aunt Laura laughed, her voice full of joy.

“Ava, Daniel has been hoping you’d say yes.”

“Just give the word, and he’ll fly to Los Angeles to propose to you properly.”

I held the phone, my face growing warm.

Her infectious laughter rang in my ear, and for a moment, I was dazed.

Fifteen years I’d lived with him, seven years I’d loved him.

And it only took seven days to let him go.