Chapter 1
Under the spotlight, Ethan took the ring and glanced at me with absolute certainty.
Then he gently lifted Chloe's left hand and slowly slid the ring onto her finger.
Chloe raised her hand to admire it before looking at me.
"Claire is being unusually generous tonight. Since I'm already pushing my luck, could I have the bracelet on your wrist too?"
Half her body was pressed tightly against Ethan, and the bashfulness in her eyes was plainly an act.
Ethan didn't stop her. He said nothing.
He merely tipped his chin at me, his gaze settling on my bracelet.
Along with Chloe's voice came the attention of the entire crowd and the spotlight sweeping over me.
I instinctively clenched the thin hem of my swimsuit and took several steps back.
Someone gave a low whistle. Others looked me up and down while urging me to hand over the bracelet.
"It's just a piece of jewelry, Claire. Don't be so stingy."
"Exactly. Ethan can always buy you another one. What's wrong with letting Chloe wear it for a while?"
Ethan frowned as he listened and silently motioned for me to bring it over.
Chloe's shoulders drooped. She tugged at his sleeve.
"Forget it. Don't make things difficult for Claire. I brought it up too suddenly. Of course she'd mind."
That finally made Ethan speak. His voice was full of reproach as he looked at me with disapproval.
"Why are you acting up now? It's only a bracelet. What is there to mind?
"Just help Chloe fulfill one wish. Is being generous really that hard?"
Only a bracelet?
I didn't answer. I simply looked at the scratched bracelet on my wrist and suddenly remembered the summer Ethan and I started our business together.
We had walked through the rain together, sweated through long days together, and lived in a basement so cramped we could barely turn around.
He had spent every cent he earned on that bracelet.
When the business later lost money, we had no choice but to pawn it. On the day we bought it back, he had run his fingers over the scratch with an aching expression.
He promised the bracelet would never leave my wrist again. He promised he would never let me suffer again.
By the time I returned to the present, Ethan was already standing in front of me.
He froze when he saw my fingertips brushing the scratch. He raised a hand toward my shoulder, but I stepped aside, leaving it suspended in the air.
Ethan knitted his brows. He had clearly braced himself for tears and a scene, yet I only stood there in silence.
Before he could speak, I held the bracelet out to him.
He didn't take it at first. His voice softened.
"Claire, that's more like it. You've made a lot of progress."
My throat tightened. I didn't respond to that. I only said calmly, "Chloe is waiting for you."
At those words, he took the bracelet without hesitation and turned away.
Halfway back, Ethan paused. He turned, looked me over from head to toe, and said, "There's one of Chloe's jackets in my bag. Put it on."
Then he returned to the center without looking back, carefully took Chloe's wrist, and fastened the bracelet around it.
The spring breeze brushed past me. It did nothing to ease the weight in my chest. Instead, the cold made my nose sting.
I looked inside Ethan's bag. The jacket he had called Chloe's was neatly folded on top, impossible to miss.
I picked up the familiar jacket and unfolded it. Sure enough, it was mine—the matching half of the one in Ethan's closet.
Chloe had once said she wanted it, so he had simply taken it to her house. That same evening, he brought me a different jacket from the same brand and called it a "trade."
I didn't put it on. I ordered a new jacket for immediate delivery instead.
While I waited, I stood at the edge of the party and watched everyone laugh and fool around in the center, none of them giving the earlier humiliation a second thought.
A light rain began to fall. The wind drove it against my face.
I suddenly realized I had never needed to force myself into a social circle that had no room for me.
After all the humiliation I had endured trying to fit in, walking away now would be far better.
