I Bought a Boyfriend, Then He Spent Years Looking for Me Chapter 08

I Bought a Boyfriend, Then He Spent Years Looking for Me Chapter 08

All the blood in my body seemed to freeze.

The hand holding my phone kept trembling.

I thought back over everything.

Ethan Carter searching for me like a madman.

After we reunited, promoting me and giving me a raise.

Everything he had said and done.

Including last night.

So it had all been to repay a debt.

Nothing more.

Right.

At the karaoke lounge, Stella Monroe had said he hated me.

Maybe that had been the truth.

Ethan Carter didn’t like owing anyone.

From beginning to end, I had only been a huge burden in his heart.

A creditor.

At that moment, endless sadness swallowed me whole.

I didn’t even know how to blame him.

Eight years ago, I was the one who dragged him into an unequal

—

position with my own hands.

From then on, it had been almost impossible to fix.

He was upright.

He had never taken my help for granted.

He had politely remembered it until now.

But it would have been better if he had forgotten.

A nameless fire burned in my chest.

With shaking fingers, I messaged Ethan Carter.

“Who told you to pay my debt without asking?”

“Isn’t it better now? You won’t have to work so many jobs anymore.”

“I didn’t need you to.”

“Mia Sullivan, stop being stubborn.”

“I should’ve done this a long time ago.”

“I’ve always wanted to pay back my grandfather’s medical expenses too.”

His words stabbed me again.

“I’ll save up and pay you back.”

“From now on, other than work, we shouldn’t contact each other.”

Ethan Carter called me many times after that.

—

I didn’t want to answer any of them.

I took one more day off and locked myself at home, sleeping until I lost track of time.

It was as if I wanted to make up for all the sleep I had missed these past years.

The next morning, my mother told me Ethan Carter had stood downstairs all night.

I took the subway to work.

Ethan Carter gave up his Porsche and rode the subway with me.

At night, I went to my part-time shift at the karaoke lounge like usual.

He booked a small private room and sat by the door, watching me go in and out.

He was like a moving stone statue.

Wherever I went, he followed.

After several days of that, I finally couldn’t stand it.

“Stop following me.”

“If I don’t follow you, you disappear.”

He counted on his fingers.

“Disappear to other cities.”

“Disappear into stairwells.”

—

“Disappear and stop answering calls.”

“You make it impossible for me not to worry.”

I choked for a second and said,

“I promised to pay you back. I won’t disappear again.”

“People should still have some trust in each other, right?”

Ethan Carter frowned.

“What did you say?”

“I don’t need you to pay me back.”

He still kept being the shadow behind me.

Until Friday, when he didn’t show up.

Stella Monroe called furiously.

“Ethan Carter hit someone.”