Untitled Episode 18
619 Words
By the time I boarded business class, I’d already discovered there was a man seated beside me.
I looked at him. “...Ethan.”
“Mm.” He gave a small nod. “What a coincidence.”
I said nothing.
I closed my eyes and leaned back to rest.
Beside me, he read quietly. Every now and then, I could hear the soft sound of a page turning.
Then after a long while, the page-turning stopped.
I thought he’d fallen asleep.
So I opened my eyes a c***k.
And found those eyes staring straight at me.
I immediately shut mine again.
Ethan Kane really did follow me overseas.
He bought the house directly across from mine and was always drifting in and out of my line of sight.
Sometimes he’d wait by my door, and when I came back late from the studio after pulling another all-nighter, he’d hand me a container of food he’d already made.
I told him, “Ethan, some things disappear and stay gone. What we had is one of them.”
He said, “As long as I still have those feelings, that’s enough.”
In the end, the only thing I could do was treat him like air.
Half a year passed quickly.
The show Leo Chase and I had filmed finally aired.
Just like I’d said back then, if promotion was needed once it came out, I was still willing to fly back and do it.
When I arrived, Leo walked toward me with a bright smile and a bouquet in his hands. “Maya.”
I took the flowers. “Thanks. So how’s it doing? I haven’t even checked.”
The producer hurried over from the side, grinning from ear to ear. “Really well!”
I smiled too when I heard that.
Leo was noticeably more mature than he’d been six months ago. In front of cameras and interviewers, he was no longer shy or tense.
At the press event, the reporters’ questions were all surprisingly gentle.
Most of them just wanted me and Leo to interact.
I said seriously, “Working with Leo was genuinely such a pleasure. Even if we probably won’t get another chance to work together in the future, this is still going to be one of those experiences I never forget.”
A collective sigh of disappointment rose from the audience below.
Leo pressed his lips together in a smile. “It’s okay. Maya and I will still see each other off-camera. She lives abroad, and I go visit her all the time.”
I nodded. “That’s true. The story in the show goes on, and so do our real lives.”
At the end, the producer stepped up to the stage to give the closing remarks.
I finally relaxed a little, already mentally counting how many more promotional appearances I still had after this.
I let out a small breath.
Then I heard someone in the crowd whisper, “Wait... is that Ethan Kane?”
“It really is him?”
“There’s someone in the other corner too!”
“Is that Nina Cole?”
“Why are they both here? Oh my God...”
I exchanged a helpless look with Leo.
He tilted his head. “Should we make a run for it first?”
“Yeah,” I said without hesitation.
The next second, we bolted for backstage.
The whole venue dissolved into chaos.
Wind brushed across my face. I was wearing a dress of my own design, one hand lifting the hem as I ran, the noise of the crowd crashing around me. For one brief moment, everything felt unreal.
Then I laughed softly.
I could see my tomorrow.
- Writer
