I thought the hardest thing would be hearing Ethan Jiang say my name again.

I was wrong.

The hardest thing was realizing that the man who claimed he had forgotten me had actually remembered every detail.

The next morning, I woke up before Noah.

For years, waking up early had become a habit.

Prepare breakfast.
Check the schedule.
Make sure everything was ready before anyone needed to ask.

I had always believed that was love.

But Ethan’s words kept echoing in my mind.

“You look like a maid.”

I hated that those words hurt me.

Because the cruelest thing about them was not that Ethan said them.

It was that part of me wondered if he was right.

I looked at Noah sleeping peacefully on the couch.

He was kind.

He had never betrayed me.

He had never made me feel replaceable.

So why did I still feel the need to prove that I deserved to stay?

That question followed me all day.

At noon, Noah called me.

—Catherine, are you free tonight?

—Yes. What’s wrong?

—I want to take you somewhere.

His voice sounded excited.

I smiled.

—Where?

—You’ll know when we arrive.

I agreed.

But before we hung up, he suddenly said:

—By the way, Mr. Jiang asked about you today.

My hand stopped moving.

—About me?

—Yes.

Noah laughed.

“He said you looked familiar.”

I lowered my eyes.

—What else did he say?

There was a short silence.

Then Noah answered:

—Nothing.

But I knew him.

Noah was terrible at hiding things.

And that hesitation meant there was something he wasn’t telling me.

That evening, Noah took me to a restaurant near the river.

The lights were beautiful.

The atmosphere was peaceful.

For a moment, I almost forgot Ethan existed.

Until I saw him.

He was sitting at a table nearby.

With several company executives.

His eyes met mine.

Only for a second.

But it was enough.

After dinner, Noah went to answer a phone call.

I stood outside waiting.

Then Ethan appeared beside me.

—You still don’t eat ginger.

I froze.

I looked at him.

—What?

He looked ahead.

—The soup yesterday.

My fingers tightened.

—You noticed?

He smiled faintly.

—Catherine, I noticed everything.

The silence between us became heavy.

—Then why did you pretend not to know me?

His expression changed.

For the first time, I saw something other than confidence in his eyes.

Regret.

—Because I didn’t know what right I had to approach you.

I laughed softly.

—After all these years, you suddenly care about what right you have?

He accepted the accusation without defending himself.

—You hate raw onion. You remove cilantro from every dish. When you are nervous, you hold cups with both hands. When you lie, you avoid eye contact.

I stared at him.

Those were things Noah didn’t even know.

Things I had forgotten that I did.

—Why do you remember?

Ethan looked at me.

Because I remembered the day I lost you.

The words shocked me.

He continued.

—After I left you for her, I thought I had made the right choice.

My chest tightened.

—She was beautiful. She was popular. Everyone said we belonged together.

He laughed bitterly.

—But after being with her, I realized something.

—What?

His voice lowered.

—She loved the version of me that everyone admired.

He looked at the restaurant window.

“You loved the person I was when nobody was watching.”

I didn’t answer.

Because that was the cruelest part.

I had loved him completely.

Even when he didn’t deserve it.

Even when I was just a bridge to someone else.

—I saw you with Noah for the first time and I thought you were happy.

Ethan paused.

—Then I saw you preparing everything for him.

His eyes returned to mine.

“And I realized you hadn’t changed.”

I felt uncomfortable.

Because I knew what he meant.

I had spent years trying to become someone impossible to leave.

Someone useful.

Someone needed.

Someone nobody would abandon.

But Ethan was the first person who noticed.

—Noah is not like you.

I said quietly.

Ethan nodded.

—I know.

That answer surprised me.

—Then why are you saying these things?

He looked at me for a long time.

—Because someone should have told you earlier.

A cold wind passed between us.

—Catherine, you always think if you give enough, people will stay.

His voice became softer.

“But love is not a debt you pay to make someone choose you.”

Before I could respond, Noah returned.

He smiled when he saw us together.

But his expression changed when he noticed the silence between us.

—Everything okay?

I looked at Noah.

Then at Ethan.

Two men.

Two completely different chapters of my life.

But suddenly, I realized something.

The person I needed to face was not Ethan.

It was myself.

That night, after Noah fell asleep, I opened my old phone.

A forgotten folder appeared.

Photos from years ago.

Ethan and me.

Before everything ended.

I almost deleted them.

Almost.

Then I saw the last photo.

A picture I didn’t remember taking.

It was Ethan looking at me while I was laughing.

Behind the photo was a message saved in my notes.

A message I had written but never sent.

“I hope one day you understand that I never needed you to love me perfectly. I only needed you to choose me honestly.”

My phone suddenly lit up.

A message from Ethan.

Only one sentence.

“Tomorrow, I will tell you the truth about why I left you.”

I stared at the screen.

Because after all these years, there was only one question I had never found the answer to.

Why did the man who once promised to love me…

choose to destroy me instead?