I Lost The Game But Won In The End Chapter 02
I picked up my phone and opened my chat with Ethan.
It had been pinned at the top for two years, and beside his profile picture was the nickname I had given him.
Ethan ❤️
I stared at it for a few seconds, then deleted the nickname.
I opened our chat history. There was too much of it.
It’s getting colder. Put on a coat. Don’t catch a cold.
Baby, if your stomach hurts, don’t drink anything iced.
Baby, I’ll come pick you up after my meeting. Want me to go with you to get your nails done?
Delete all.
Then I opened my photo album and found a picture from last year, when I had run a high fever.
At three in the morning that night, I had been so feverish I could barely think, and he had carried me on his back to the ER.
When I woke up, he was asleep with his head resting beside my hospital bed.
In the photo, Ethan was sleeping with one hand still wrapped around my wrist.
I had posted it on Instagram at the time.
Someone says he’s going to look after me for the rest of my life.
He had commented underneath:
I keep my promises.
I kept scrolling.
Our first trip. Our first kiss. The first day we brought Biscuit home.
I deleted the pictures one by one.
And somewhere along the way, tears suddenly started falling.
If all of it had been fake, maybe it wouldn’t have hurt this much.
But I knew Ethan had truly been good to me in those moments.
As I cried, though, I suddenly began noticing things I had never paid attention to before.
For a while, Ethan had constantly been browsing job sites.
“Since when is your company hiring for brand operations?”
“I’m looking for a friend.”
Not long after that, Zoe joined a company with excellent prospects.
And from then on, Ethan just happened to have business trips there every so often.
I had even teased him.
“Since when does Sinclair Group work with companies like that?”
Now I knew.
It was because Zoe worked there.
Later, she was promoted quickly and landed several projects other people would have fought tooth and nail for.
Then there was Zoe herself.
She was always asking about Ethan and me.
Once, she had even asked, “Would you mind if there was someone he could never get over?”
I had laughed and said, “Please. If he ever emotionally cheats on me, I’ll dump him on the spot and never look back.”
My phone slipped from my hand onto the bed.
Suddenly, that sentence felt painfully ironic.
Never look back.
And yet today, I had looked back—and discovered that every one of them had been lying to me.
Then there was Julian.
Over the past two years, he and Ethan had always had these mysterious “guys’ nights.”
“Nora, I’m borrowing Ethan tonight. Guy talk. Don’t follow us.”
I never checked up on them. I would even wave them off dramatically.
“Take him. I’m going to enjoy having the whole night to myself!”
But how many of those gatherings between the two men had Zoe attended too?
Suddenly, I was afraid to keep thinking about it.
The room felt suffocating. I couldn’t sleep, so I threw on a jacket and went outside.
But the moment I reached the aft deck, I heard Zoe’s voice.
“Tell me the truth. Have you really gotten over me?”
The sea breeze swept over me. I stood motionless in the shadows.
“No.”
One word.
It felt like someone had driven a knife straight into me.
“Neither have I.”
The two of them faced the ocean. A long time passed before Ethan spoke again.
“Zoe, you’re going to have a good life. Before I marry her, I’ll make sure you’re settled.”
“I’ll introduce you to wealthy men in our circle. I want you to be happy.”
My fingers tightened around the railing.
Zoe’s voice dropped lower.
“You never should have introduced me to Nora in the first place. If she and I had never met, none of this would have happened today.”
Ethan replied, “If you hadn’t met her, how would you have gotten into this circle?”
“Nora considers you a friend, so of course she’s willing to take you to her events. I just didn’t expect her to turn around today.”
“But don’t worry. Even without Nora, you still have me. I’ll take you to dinners and charity galas from now on.”
“Once you’re established, I’ll be able to stop worrying.”
I stood there, unable to cry anymore.
All I could do was smile bitterly.
Zoe becoming my friend had never been an accident.
I had introduced her to people, taken her to events, brought her into my circle of friends.
And Ethan had simply used me to ease her, step by step, into our world.
I couldn’t listen anymore.
Back in my room, I called my friend Sloane.
She was vacationing on a nearby Caribbean island. Just yesterday, she had asked if I wanted to join her.
I had replied:
No, I’m going out on the yacht with Ethan and the others.
The call connected.
“Princess, do you know what time it is? Why are you calling me in the middle of the night?”
“Sloane, can you come get me?”
She was silent for a few seconds.
“Aren’t you with Ethan?”
“I’m breaking up with him. So I don’t want to stay with any of them.”
Another few seconds of silence.
Then she said, “Send me your location. I’ll come tomorrow. Wait for me.”