Seventeen Times She Came, Once I Stopped Caring Chapter 09

Seventeen Times She Came, Once I Stopped Caring Chapter 09

Minutes later, I posted a video on Twitter—our hands intertwined, our marriage license, and a nine-photo gallery from the wedding.

Comments poured in, everyone saying we were a perfect couple.

Ethan ended his livestream.

A few moments later, an unknown number texted me.

[Why did you marry someone else? We promised to be together forever.]

[He can give you anything I can. Divorce him and I’ll marry you right away.]

It was obviously Ethan.

I thought for a second, then typed back: [Don’t text me again.]

Then I blocked that number too.

Silence.

Owen and I spent two months on our honeymoon.

We traveled everywhere—mountains, oceans, almost all of it.

He even helped secure new investment for my jewelry design studio. In a year or two, I’d be able to expand.

When we were tired and happy, we went back to our new home.

We collapsed into bed, planning to sleep in and start work fresh tomorrow.

Then the doorbell rang.

I opened it to a pair of exhausted eyes.

Ethan had lost weight. Dark circles, wrinkled clothes, unshaven.

I frowned.

“Leah,” he rasped. “I waited for you two months.”

“It hurts. I miss you.”

He held out a paper bag. “All my assets. I’m giving you everything. Come back with me, please.”

“Megan and her father are in jail. I’ll make sure they have a terrible time in there.”

“I even had a priest say a prayer for Milo. I’m going vegetarian for a year—to help his soul find some peace.”

“Just tell me what else you want. I’ll do anything.”

I looked at him calmly.

“You don’t need to do anything.”

“Ethan, we’re not enemies. We just don’t have a future.”

He started shaking, words rushing out. “No—we do have a future!”

“For God’s sake.” Owen came out of the bedroom and wrapped an arm around me.

“If you have time to bother my wife, go do some actual good.”

“Aren’t you the big-hearted saint? There are plenty of missing kids out there. Go find them all—don’t let that holy reputation go to waste.”

“Actually, you don’t have to limit yourself to kids. How about a pig?”

“Our housekeeper Betty—her farm pig ran away a couple days ago, didn’t it?”

“Someone here wants to find it. For free!”

Betty popped her head out of the kitchen. “Oh, hon, you’d really find my pig? Thank you! That pig’s ornery, hard to catch!”

I couldn’t help laughing.

Ethan froze. “Wait—I didn’t agree to—”

Owen smirked. “What? You told my wife to have compassion. So where’s yours for a pig?”

“Or were you just covering for your own cheating—using Megan as an excuse?”

Ethan went pale, his lips quivering.

The boomerang had come back around.

I spoke gently. “Ethan, go home.”

“Next time, don’t throw your compassion around without thinking. Make sure it goes to the right person.”

The door closed.

He stood there for a long time before finally leaving.

I didn’t care anymore.

The future is wide open. But his part of it—I’m not going there.