I Bought a Boyfriend, Then He Spent Years Looking for Me Chapter 11

I Bought a Boyfriend, Then He Spent Years Looking for Me Chapter 11

Ethan Carter’s eyes were dark and wet, just like back then.

I spent a long while processing what he had said before I spoke.

“You misunderstood.”

“Hmm?”

“That was something I said out of anger.”

“Ethan Carter, I never treated you like a toy.”

“I was serious about being with you.”

“Why did you say it out of anger?”

“Before graduation, you told your roommate you wouldn’t marry me.”

This time, Ethan Carter froze.

He thought about it for a long time, then gave a helpless laugh.

“What I meant was that I had just graduated and didn’t have the ability to get married yet.”

“Actually… I started looking at engagement rings a long time ago.”

“I just really couldn’t afford one.”

We went through everything, one by one.

Only then did we realize we had both misunderstood so much.

Why had it turned out like that?

—

The root cause was still the enormous gap between our circumstances.

Ethan Carter thought I was helping him because I found it fun.

And I thought Ethan Carter felt too guilty to refuse me, so he had no choice but to be with me.

Neither of us believed the other truly loved us.

Back in the present, Ethan Carter asked,

“Mia Sullivan, why would you rather accept Lucas Grant’s help than mine?”

“Because I like you.”

“I didn’t want our relationship to become like that…”

I suddenly understood.

Ethan Carter nodded.

“Exactly. That was how I felt back then too.”

“Wait.”

“When I confessed to you, did you already like me?”

“Yes.”

“Mia Sullivan, I liked you before you liked me.”

“The first day of freshman orientation, you said your name was Mia Sullivan, and I remembered it.”

—

Ethan Carter’s version made me see my foolish younger self all over again.

He had fallen first.

He only confessed too late.

And the way I had shown affection was wrong from the beginning.

I used what he lacked most to tempt him.

That made it hard for him to speak.

He had actually said many times that he liked me.

But no one believed him.

Everyone thought he was lying, trying to please me.

Over time, I believed it.

Even he almost believed it.

Did he like Mia Sullivan, or his grandfather’s medical bills?

After being mocked again and again, after realizing the difference between us again and again, even Ethan Carter himself became confused.

Torn and twisted, he tortured himself day after day.

Anyone could help him.

Anyone except me.

Because money made love taste wrong.

—

If Ethan Carter hadn’t been so proud, he could have lived comfortably by my side.

But he didn’t.

And because he didn’t, he was the boy I loved.

Ethan Carter picked up an orange and began slowly slicing it.

I suddenly thought of the day we reunited.

“What did those things you said mean?”

“You can say angry things, but I can’t?”

“I thought you got bored of me, dumped me, and disappeared for four years.”

“It felt like you were hiding from me on purpose.”

“Am I not allowed to be mad?”

Apparently, he was.

“But Stella Monroe said you hated me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“That was my fault. I didn’t correct her in time.”

Ethan Carter calmly finished slicing the last piece of orange.

Then he gave a soft sigh.

“Because I thought you truly… didn’t want me anymore.”

Snow drifted outside the window.

—

It made the room feel dry and warm.

At that moment, I finally knew for sure.

Through the river of time, my boy had been making his way back to me.