The Seat Swap That Got Me Harassed To Death Chapter 02
Ethan froze for a second. His eyes darting toward the window. Then he finally answered.
“I’m in the window seat,” he muttered, avoiding my gaze.
“If she sits there, She’d have to climb over you to reach the bathroom. It’s just not practical.”
The logic was so thin I had nothing to say.
I just watched him, stone-faced, the train’s hum buzzing through my heels.
Dead silence.
Suddenly, a little girl in the row behind us hopped down from her seat.
“Snowball! You can take mine!” she offered, her face bright with innocent admiration.
Emily’s left cheek twitched.
For a fraction of a second, her practiced distress cracked, revealing a flash of genuine, jagged panic.
There was no way she could accuse a child who still had baby teeth of giving her a disease.
“Oh, thank you, sweetie,” Emily said, forcing a smile. “But you’re still so little. I couldn’t possibly take your seat.”
With that, she turned her damp eyes back on me, shoulders trembling. Like she’d just been handed the world’s worst burden.
“Claire… I never wanted to use my platform to pressure you.”
“I’m only asking you to switch seats and help me out. Is that really too much?”
The murmurs around us sharpened into clear, biting remarks.
“Shameless,” someone spat. “One day she’ll be the one begging for help. Let’s see how she likes it then.”
Ethan’s face darkened, a flush of embarrassed rage creeping up his neck like a stain.
He looked down at me, his eyes cold and heavy with disgust.
“Three years, Claire. We’ve been together three years, and I’m only now realizing how incredibly selfish you are.”
He took a shaky breath. The image of the ‘long-suffering boyfriend’ perfected.
“Are you doing all this because you’re jealous? Afraid something’s gonna happen if I sit next to her?”
He let out a jagged scoff, shaking his head in mock pity.
“Save the insecurities. Nothing’s gonna happen. Now, for the last time—get up.”
Emily put on a look of wounded innocence, her hands fluttering delicately.
“Claire, please don’t get the wrong idea. I’d never dream of crossing a line with your boyfriend.”
She cast a calculated, sweeping glance around the carriage, then pinned me with a saccharine smile.
“Everyone here can see we’re just talking. So… please? Can you swap with me now?”
She was playing the martyr perfectly. The more she humbled herself, the more unreasonable I looked.
The coppery taste of anger in the back of my throat, but I forced it down.
I looked her dead in the eye, my voice flat and devoid of the reaction she was fishing for.
“I am not swapping.”
“Claire, do you have any empathy at all?”
Ethan stood up. The movement was so sudden it made the woman in the front seat flinch.
A vein throbbed violently at his temple.
“Come on. You’re both women. Just put yourself in her shoes and show some basic decency.”
I watched him puff up with self-righteous poison. A physical wave of nausea hitting me.
The blue text messages were right. They were already sleeping together, and had been for months.
This wasn’t chivalry. It was a trap.
Once I stood up, my life would be over.
I wouldn’t let them.
“My seat isn’t an emergency room, Ethan.” I met his glare. With a cold smile.
“How is sitting here going to cure a stomach bug?”
“So you’re saying no? Really?” His eyes narrowed into slits, his voice dropping to a dangerous growl.
A pause. He smirked, “Fine. Let me make this simple, Claire.”
“If you won’t switch, we’re done.”