I Waited To Settle Our Wedding Date, Only To Find Him Acting As Her Fake Partner Chapter 07

I Waited To Settle Our Wedding Date, Only To Find Him Acting As Her Fake Partner Chapter 07

A cold, relentless rain settled over Alexandria in early winter.

I had just finished studying at the city library and opened my umbrella when I spotted Ethan leaning against a car by the curb.

It had been barely more than a month, but he’d lost so much weight he was almost unrecognizable.

The polished corporate director he’d once been was gone. Stubble covered his jaw, and deep

shadows sat under his eyes.

The moment he saw me, his dull eyes came alive.

He rushed through the puddles and held out a hot latte he’d been keeping warm inside his coat.

Without thinking, he tilted most of his umbrella over me.

“Claire! Done studying?”

His voice was rough and hoarse, every word painfully eager to please.

“I drove eight hours to get here… I brought chestnut cake from that bakery you used to love. It’s still

warm.”

I stopped and took half a step back, regarding him with the calm distance I’d give a stranger.

Ethan’s hand froze in midair. Panic flickered across his face.

“Claire, I know I screwed up. I’ll pay off that forty–five–thousand–dollar loan myself. I won’t pressure you about the money anymore.”

His eyes reddened, his voice tightening around the tears he was trying to hold back.

“Please come home with me. Without you, that place doesn’t even feel like home.”

I said nothing.

I watched him keep most of the umbrella over me, letting the cold rain soak one entire side of his

shoulder.

The irony was almost laughable.

For seven years, I’d wanted him to tilt an umbrella toward me just once when it rained.

Every time, he’d held it firmly over Maddie and let me get soaked.

Now he’d finally learned how to care for someone. He’d finally learned how to swallow his pride. I

just didn’t need any of it anymore.

“Ethan, Maddie is the one who loves chestnut cake.”

Are you doing all this because you love me, or because you finally realized no one else is stupid enough to be your unpaid housekeeper and clean up every mess you make?”

“No! Claire, I really do love you.”

He hurriedly pulled a dark blue velvet box from his pocket and opened it with shaking hands.

Inside sat a delicate diamond ring.

“Come back with me. We’ll go to the courthouse tomorrow and get married. I’ll give you control of every paycheck. From now on, I’ll do whatever you want.”

I looked at the ring that had come seven years too late and slowly shook my head.

“Ethan, do you remember my birthday last month?”

He froze. His lips parted, but no words came.

“You forgot. But you remember Maddie’s cycle. You even spent six months helping her choose the

wedding dress for that fake ceremony.”

I held his gaze.

“It’s not that you don’t know how to love someone. You just never chose to give any of that love to

me. You gave all that devotion to the wrong woman.”
Ethan’s eyes reddened as he rushed to explain.

Before he could, Maddie and a middle–aged couple stormed out of another car.