08
After that day, Ashley never showed her face
around me again. Ethan and I settled into this
weird, unbalanced truce. He didn’t contact
me first, but his friends started taking turns
inviting me out. Dinners, hikes, skiing you
name it, they tried it. They were running out
of excuses.
I turned them all down. I was busy. I really
was. I wasn’t even in the city. I was traveling
for work.
When I got back, it was four in the afternoon.
I was exhausted, so I took a shower and
crashed. I woke up to a call from my cousin,
saying she had set me up with someone.
Same place as usual. And he was practically
already there.
く
I didn’t have time to refuse, so I got dressed
and headed over. When I got there, I realized
my cousin had gone all–out this time. The guy
was cute. And he had a vibe about him that
reminded me of Ethan.
We talked for a bit, then he had to step out to
take a call. I zoned out for a while. Then, I
suddenly remembered something and pulled
out my phone. It was Ethan’s birthday today. I
had completely forgotten. I’d been so busy, I
hadn’t even gotten him a gift.
I opened my messages. He’d sent me a few in
the last half hour. The first time he had
messaged me in two months.
“2”
“Did you forget something?”
く
“We’re friends again, right? Why aren’t you
picking up?”
I paused, about to call him back. But his call
came through first.
His voice was low, but also a little nonchalant.
He asked, “What have you been up to?”
He meant, why was I always busy when his
friends asked me out? Even today. Why was
not picking up?
He hesitated, then added, “It’s been a while.”
For some reason, it sounded like he was a
little hurt.
I was about to answer, but my date came
back, his voice flat and distant. “Sorry, had a
situation.
In the light, I could see his face, and his eyes
reminded me a little bit of someone else.
Before, anything related to Ethan would make
me space out. Now, I was just looking back at
my date, with a slight nod.
I replied, almost automatically, to Ethan “Oh,
I’m on a date.”
I paused and was about to ask him about his
birthday plans, when I heard a weird sound on
the line.
Then, a crash, like something had been
thrown against a wall.
I held my phone.
I was stunned.
My date asked, “Everything okay? You can go
if you have something urgent.
I wiggled my fingers.
I didn’t understand what had just happened.
Did I say something wrong?
Ethan was not one to get angry. Why would
he throw his phone like that? Or maybe I was
just hearing things. It could’ve fallen.
I nodded and told my date I was sorry.
But when I left the restaurant, I got a call
from the office with an emergency. I needed
to come right away.
く
I stood at the intersection, about to message
Ethan. Then I started to type a message, but I
stopped.
I told myself, let it go. What was there to
explain?
He might think I still had feelings for him if I
did.
Finally, I called Finn.
“I can’t make it. Can you tell Ethan happy
birthday for me?”
Finn hesitated. Sounded like he wanted to say
something.
But in the end, he just nodded. “Sure.”
く
I think I heard a familiar voice.
Cold, with a hint of self–pity. “Don’t bother
her.”
If this had been before, I would have rushed
over, just because I almost missed his
birthday.
But he didn’t need me to do that for him.
He just needed a friend.
Much later, I learned that Ethan had been.
waiting since the morning.
Everyone had assumed I wouldn’t miss his
party.
He had checked everything over and over,
setting up my favorite roses, spraying the
cologne I loved. He had thought of all the
things he wanted to tell me.
We hadn’t talked properly in a long time.
But he had waited all day, until the party was
already half over and his phone didn’t ring.
Someone saw how lost he was and started
joking.
“Dude, you have a thing for Liv, don’t you?
It’s obvious. You treat her differently.”
55
Ethan repeated, almost numbly.
“Me? Treat her differently? I… have a thing
for her?”
L
The guy nodded. “Yeah, it’s obvious. ”
Ethan sat there for a long time, then opened
the chat box he looked at every day.
He had wanted to say something.
He must have wanted to say something.
But the message he typed was just ordinary.
Then there was the phone call.
He had been upset, confused, and he didn’t
know who to be mad at.
He broke his phone.
He seemed to have forgotten. He had
rejected me. I was going to start dating other
No one will wait forever for anyone.
