The Eve of Our Forever, He Chose Her Chapter 06

The Eve of Our Forever, He Chose Her Chapter 6 He Came Back at the Worst Time

Another week later, I dragged my suitcase back to my apartment in Ashford.

The elevator doors slid open, and the motion sensor lights in the hallway flickered on.

They revealed Ethan sitting on the floor outside my door like a miserable stray.

I frowned.

“How did you find this place?”

“I went to your company,” he said hoarsely. “They told me you’d been fired. I couldn’t find you anywhere. You blocked me everywhere.”

“Daphne… I was worried about you. I had to ask around and get your friends to tell me where you were staying.”

His voice sounded rough, like he had been waiting there for hours.

I felt hothing.

If anything, I was just starting to feel annoyed.

Seeing that I wasn’t responding, he stepped closer and reached for my hand.

I sidestepped him immediately.

Ethan froze for a moment before lowering his head.

“Daphne… I’m sorry.

“I talked to the exhibition organizers. I know the show was ruined, and you had to pay a huge penalty. I didn’t know the camera and the USB drive had something that important on them. I swear I didn’t know.

“I shouldn’t have said those things either. I shouldn’t have treated your work like that…”

He stumbled through the apology, sounding more humble than I had ever seen him.

But the next moment he hurriedly added something else-

as if desperate to prove he meant well.

Or maybe just out of habit.

“As for Maya… she really didn’t mean it. She’s always been a little clumsy since the day I met her she’s not a bad person she doesn’t have any bad intentions

“Daphne, how about this? Whatever penalty you had to pay, I’ll pay double And I promise Maya will never touch your things again

He looked at me nervously.

“Can we… start over?
“You always wanted to get married, right? We can go to the courthouse tomorrow.”

After everything he said, it was obvious.

He still didn’t understand what had actually destroyed our relationship.

What killed it was never the camera.

It was his constant favoritism.

His refusal to stand up for me.

The fact that his heart had never once been on my side.

I sighed and pulled out my keys.

“Ethan,” I said quietly, unlocking the door. “You still don’t understand.

“I’m not throwing a tantrum. I don’t need your promises. I don’t need your money.

“We’re done. Completely.”

dragged my suitcase inside and looked back at him one last time.

‘Go home.

‘And stop coming to find me.”

This time, I had returned because I’d been invited to work as the photographer for a major outdoor documentary project.

t was an unexpected opportunity.

1 the project went well, I could receive a recommendation to study abroad at one of the world’s top art schools.

t felt like fate giving me a second chance after losing the exhibition.

So I poured all of my energy into preparing for the shoot and forced myself to forget Ethan-and everything connected to him

But on the first day of filming, the person surrounded by staff at the shooting location was someone I knew all too well.

Ethan.

He didn’t look surprised to see me.

Clearly, he already knew I would be there.

“Daphne,” he said with a smile, “didn’t you always say you wanted to film my outdoor adventures!

“So I agreed to show up.

“Aren’t you happy?”

He reached for my hand again.

I avoided him immediately.

He didn’t get angry.

Instead, he spoke with an unsettling confidence.

“Just wait,” he said. “I’m going to win you back.”

A wave of nausea twisted in my stomach.

The feeling was like stepping on a piece of gum that stuck to the sole of your shoe.

Where did he get the confidence to think he could pull me back into his world?

I forced down the anger in my chest and ignored him completely, focusing only on my work.

At first, the filming went smoothly.

Even though Ethan kept trying to talk to me, I shut him down every time.

Then one week later-

a wave of articles suddenly appeared online.

They all targeted me, accusing the “new photographer” of plagiarizing the compositions and creative concepts of a well-known veteran in the industry.

They even posted supposed evidence: side-by-side photos with nearly identical angles and color palettes.

The timestamps, however, were earlier than my work.

Public opinion exploded overnight.

Words like “industry plant,” “privileged hire,” and “completely unqualified” flooded the internet.

The production team had no choice but to suspend my work temporarily and ask me to stay out of the spotlight until the online backlash died down.

Looking at the fabricated evidence, a familiar wave of disgust rose inside me.

Those compositions and ideas-

were things I had discussed with Ethan months ago while preparing for my exhibition.

Some of them had even been rough sketches in my notebook.

There was only one person who had access to those ideas.

Only one person with both the motive and the willingness to do something this underhanded

Maya.

She was like a maggot hiding in a gutter.

Filthy.

Persistent.

And impossible to ignore.

But this time-

I wasn’t going to let her destroy me again.