He Tore Out My Walk-In Closet for Another Woman, So I Sold the Home and Canceled the Wedding Chapter 08

He Tore Out My Walk-In Closet for Another Woman, So I Sold the Home and Canceled the Wedding Chapter 08

After that, Ethan kept waiting outside the building every day.

He stayed from morning until night, no matter the weather.

Before long, the neighbors all knew who he was, and people whispered as they passed.

“Who is that man? Why is he here every day?”

“I heard he’s Erin Walker’s ex-fiancé.”

“I heard he hurt her, and now he’s begging her to take him back.”

“Didn’t he do this to himself?”

Ethan heard them but didn’t argue.

He only lowered his head and said, “Yeah. I did this to myself. I’m the one who hurt her.”

On the fifteenth day, an unusually heavy storm rolled through San Diego.

Ethan had no umbrella.

He simply stood in the rain, his clothes soaked through as water ran down his face.

My mother saw him from the window and sighed.

“Erin, he’s still down there.”

I stayed on the sofa and kept reading.

“Let him stay.”

“What if he gets sick?”

“That’s his choice.”

My mother looked at me but said nothing else.

The rain lasted almost all day.

Ethan stayed outside the entire time.

That night, after the rain finally stopped, he collapsed near the entrance to the building.

A neighbor found him and called 911.

He was taken to the hospital with a high fever and stayed there for three days.

At the height of the fever, he was barely conscious and kept calling my name.

“Erin… Erin…”.

A nurse had to lean closer before she could make out what he was saying.

“He keeps calling someone’s name. Maybe it’s his girlfriend. No one’s come to see him, and we haven’t been able to reach an emergency contact.”

On the fourth day, after his fever broke, Ethan was discharged from the hospital.

He didn’t go back to the hotel to rest.

Instead, he came straight back to my parents’ building.

My mother paused when she saw him.

“Weren’t you in the hospital?”

“I’m fine.”

His voice was hoarse, and he looked weak and noticeably thinner than before.

“Mrs. Walker, is Erin home?”

“Yes.”

“Can I see her, just for a minute?”

My mother hesitated.

“Wait here.”

She went upstairs.

A few minutes later, she came back down.

“She said she won’t see you.”

Ethan’s eyes reddened.

He stood there in silence for a long time before finally turning away.

Back at the hotel, he lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

His phone was full of old photos of us, and he went through them one by one.

His finger stopped on one photo.

It was from our third year together.

He’d lied and told me he had to work late and couldn’t spend my birthday with me.

But when I came home, the living room lights came on and streamers fluttered down from above

Ethan stood in the middle of the room holding a cake in both hands.

“Did you really think I’d miss your birthday? Happy birthday. I’ll love you forever.”

In the photo, I was laughing.

I’d thrown myself into his arms and cried because I was so happy

Back then, when he looked at me, he’d truly believed we would get married and stay together

forever.

But now I’d cut off every way he could reach me.

He didn’t even have the chance to apologize to me face-to-face.

Ethan pressed the phone against his chest and closed his eyes.

He cried until his tears dampened the pillow.