I Took His Own Radio Advice And Walked Away From Seven Years Chapter 03

I Took His Own Radio Advice And Walked Away From Seven Years Chapter 03

Before the event began, Tara cornered me backstage. She held out her phone. My anonymous letter was on the screen.

“Claire, I recognized it last night. Don’t worry. I won’t tell Ethan.”

“Imagine how humiliated he’d be if he knew you had turned your private problems into an anonymous letter and made him analyze himself in front of all his listeners.”

She lowered her voice as her smile widened.

“Ethan was right about one thing. If a man truly loves you, he doesn’t leave you in the hospital to be with someone else.”

“But you didn’t even have the nerve to ask him about it to his face. You had to hide behind an anonymous submission.”

She leaned close to my ear.

“You gave him seven years, Claire, and he couldn’t even recognize your pain. Isn’t that pathetic?”

I closed my eyes for a moment, then pushed past her. Staff members heard the commotion and began to gather. Tara’s eyes filled with tears, which spilled down her cheeks.

“Tara was trying to talk some sense into her. How could she shove her?”

“She was only trying to help. Claire didn’t have to listen, but she had no right to get physical.”

“Her fiance works with another woman. That’s normal. What is there to make a scene about?”

“Being Ethan’s fiancee doesn’t give her the right to bully people backstage.”

Tara shook her head and tried to defend me through her tears.

“It wasn’t like that. Claire didn’t mean it. She’s under a lot of pressure, and she has the wrong idea about me.”

The more she defended me, the colder everyone looked.

“She shoved you, and you’re still making excuses for her?”

“It’s the show’s fifth anniversary, and she had to come here and ruin it for everyone.”

Ethan hurried over. The instant he saw Tara crying, he pulled her behind him.

“Claire Quinn, have you lost your mind?”

I opened my mouth, but he cut me off.

“I don’t care what she said. You had no right to put your hands on her. Apologize.”

Tara clung to his sleeve, blinking through her tears.

“I’m fine. Claire only did it because she cares so much about you.”

Ethan looked at me without a trace of warmth, as if I were a stranger.

“If you can’t control yourself, the wedding is postponed.”

I parted my lips.

Forget it.

He would never believe me, no matter what I said. Once the event began, Tara took her seat at the host table with red-rimmed eyes. During the audience Q&A, she suddenly removed her headset.

“Tonight will be my last time hosting this show.”

She faced the audience, tearful and solemn.

“For five years, Ethan and I have been nothing more than colleagues. But if our work is damaging his relationship with his fiancee, I’m willing to step away. I don’t want to be the reason they keep fighting.”

Someone in the front row stood up.

“Tara, why aren’t you telling the truth? I saw Ethan’s fiancee shove you backstage.”

Another listener called out, “Is that why you’re leaving the show?” The room fell silent. Tara shook her head frantically.

“No. Please don’t speculate. Leaving is my decision. It has nothing to do with Claire.”

Whispers swept through the room.

“She bullied Tara into quitting and even shoved her?”

“Tara is still defending her after what she did.”

“What kind of woman behaves like that before her own wedding?”

Ethan took the microphone from Tara.

“Tara is not leaving. She has given five years of her life to this show. She has done nothing wrong, and she should not have to sacrifice her career because someone else decided to cause a scene.”

The live comments filled the screen.

Listener: [Apologize!]

Listener: [Claire Quinn, come out here and apologize!]

The comments kept coming, each one sharper than the last. Everyone in the room had turned on me, while the man I had loved for seven years stood in front of them and defended another woman. I slowly released my grip on my skirt, rose from my seat, and walked out.

Then I changed my flight from three days away to the earliest departure I could get.