He Rejected Me, I’ll Win Him Over

Chapter 2 We're Not Close

"Never loved you."

The words shattered something inside Debby, leaving her struggling to breathe.

So for the past three years, she was the only i***t who had fallen completely in love?

Debby stood frozen in place, like every ounce of strength had been ripped out of her body.

Students passing nearby glanced at her curiously. Their whispers stabbed into her ears like needles.

Suddenly, Debby ripped the engagement ring catalog in her hands into pieces and threw it straight into the trash can.

The evening breeze carried the coolness of early summer, but it couldn't ease the freezing ache inside her chest.

She wandered aimlessly down the street until her phone rang sharply. It was her best friend.

"Debby! Where are you? Someone saw Ethan with a freshman. They went to that café near the back gate, the one couples always go to..."

Debby hung up immediately and headed straight there. She wanted to see for herself what was so special about his precious childhood sweetheart.

When she arrived at the café, she sat quietly in a hidden corner outside the floor-to-ceiling windows.

Inside, Ethan and Lena sat across from each other by the window. Lena took small bites of cake, and a little cream got stuck at the corner of her lips. Without hesitation, Ethan reached over and gently wiped it away with his thumb.

Lena looked up at him shyly and smiled sweetly, her cheeks turning pink. And Ethan smiled back softly.

That kind of effortless affection was something Debby had never received in all three years she spent with him.

Pain tore through her chest again and again until she could barely breathe.

As tears blurred her vision, the two of them stood up to leave.

Almost like she was possessed, Debby got up and followed them.

The evening streets glowed beneath warm streetlights. Lena walked beside Ethan happily, bouncing as she talked nonstop, occasionally pointing excitedly at random things along the road. Ethan tilted his head slightly to listen to her, answering every now and then with quiet patience.

Their shadows stretched beneath the lights, overlapping naturally. They looked perfect together.

That kind of comfort and closeness didn't happen overnight.

At that moment, Debby finally realized something. Ethan was never cold by nature. The warmth she desperately wanted simply never belonged to her.

Just as she bit down hard on her lip and stared at them stubbornly, something suddenly happened.

A delivery scooter swerved violently after a kitten darted across the road. The rider lost control completely and sped straight toward Ethan and Lena, who were standing near the crosswalk.

"Watch out!" Debby's heart nearly stopped.

Ethan reacted instantly. He turned sharply, pulled Lena tightly into his arms, and shielded her completely with his body.

Bang!

The scooter barely scraped past Ethan before crashing hard into a nearby streetlight.

Because he protected Lena, Ethan lost his balance, and both of them fell to the ground together.

"Ethan! Are you okay?" Lena's frightened voice trembled with tears as she quickly checked him over.

Ethan frowned slightly. His arm had been scraped during the fall, but the first thing he did was lower his head and comfort her softly.

"I'm fine. Don't be scared."

Then he helped Lena up carefully and brushed the dust off her clothes, his eyes filled with worry.

Across the street, Debby instinctively tried to run toward him after seeing the accident.

But in her panic, the heel of her high heel got stuck in a drain grate. Her ankle twisted violently. A sharp pain shot through her leg, and she fell hard onto the pavement in complete embarrassment.

Gritting through the pain, she looked up. Across the busy street filled with passing cars, her eyes met Ethan's. He had just finished calling an ambulance for the delivery driver.

For the first time, Debby saw a flicker of clear shock in his usually calm eyes. But it disappeared so quickly she almost thought she'd imagined it.

Lena seemed to notice his hesitation. "Ethan, what's wrong?"

Then she followed his gaze and noticed Debby sitting miserably on the ground. Her voice turned gentle. "Do you know that girl? Shouldn't you go check on her?"

Ethan looked at Debby's pale face silently. His expression was cold and distant, like he was looking at a complete stranger.

Then he looked away. "No need," he said softly to Lena. "We're not close."

After that, he wrapped an arm around Lena's shoulders, carefully led her through traffic, and walked away without turning back.

Debby stared at his disappearing figure. She wanted to laugh.

Instead, tears crashed down her cheeks uncontrollably. Even the sharp pain in her swollen ankle couldn't compare to what she felt inside.

Not close.

So in Ethan's heart, she was nothing more than a stranger.