A Seven-Year Obedience Test Chapter 06
The next few days, Ethan didn’t come looking for me.
I was relieved. I spent my days running to the embassy, filing paperwork, saying goodbyes to old colleagues. It was busy, peaceful.
My best friend Emma came to keep me company, dragging me out to eat and shop every day, calling it my “post-scumbag rebirth celebration.”
Truth was, I’d stopped being sad a long time ago. Real heartbreak wasn’t loud. It was when you couldn’t even muster the energy to hate.
Meanwhile, Ethan was retracing every step of our seven years together.
He went to the coffee shop near our old university—the place of our first date. Back when he was chasing me, he used to take the subway for half an hour just to bring me a latte. Later, he decided the place was too shabby and never stepped foot in it again.
The owner recognized him and smiled. “Long time no see! Your girlfriend used to tell me you loved their hot chocolate.”
Ethan froze. He’d forgotten he ever liked hot chocolate. But I’d remembered—for seven years.
He went to my old Brooklyn studio, now rented to a recent grad. The landlady still remembered him. “You’re that boy who used to show up late at night in his car, aren’t you? Claire worked so hard—she’d come home at eleven or twelve every night. Always said you were busy with work and I should be understanding of you.”
“She said I was busy with work?”
“Of course.” The landlady sighed. “I suggested she move somewhere closer, and she said her boyfriend was just starting his business and she wanted to save wherever she could.”
Ethan stood in the narrow hallway, his throat tight.
He’d always believed I stayed for his money, his status. But where he hadn’t been looking, I’d been quietly taking care of him. Saving for our future.
That night, he met Derek at a bar and drank until the early hours.
“Derek… am I really that much of an asshole?”
Derek looked at him—this wreck of a man—and didn’t have the heart to joke. “Look, the group chat was just us messing around. No one actually thought you’d keep a ledger for seven years. Honestly? Claire never wanted a thing from you. If she was after money, she could’ve had richer guys lining up. She didn’t need to grind through seven years with you.”
“I know.” Ethan downed another drink, his voice hoarse. “I just… got used to her orbiting me. I thought she’d never leave.”
On that drunk night, he went back to my motel.
It was late autumn, raining cold. He stood at the entrance, rain soaking him, staring up at my window.
The light went on, then off. He stood there all night, not even mustering the courage to knock.
The next morning, when I came out, I found him curled up on the steps. Soaking wet. Running a fever. A pathetic mess.
I paused for two seconds, looking at him with utter calm. Then I pulled out my phone and called the front desk.
“Hello? There’s a drunk stranger passed out at the entrance. Could you please come handle it?”
I stepped around him and walked away.