Chapter 3 The First Time I Fell
532 Words
I never thought Ethan would see me at my absolute worst less than a month after we met.
Call it pride, call it embarrassment, whatever it was, I suddenly had no idea how to face him.
"Um... when I get paid next month, I'll pay you back."
Ethan reached out and gently wiped the blood off my face. Then he carefully cupped my cheeks and lifted my head so I had no choice but to look at him.
I thought I'd see pity in his eyes. Instead, all I saw was heartbreak. Just heartbreak.
Something inside me cracked right then. This huge wave of grievance and exhaustion hit me all at once, and suddenly I wanted to cry more than I wanted to stay strong.
I heard Ethan say softly, "Kristin, you don't have to keep score with me like this. And you don't have to act invincible around me either."
I honestly don't know how to describe how I felt in that moment. I just knew that if it was Ethan... maybe letting myself fall for him wasn't such a bad idea.
That night, I tried my best to sound casual while explaining my family situation to him. I told him my family was basically a black hole. Endless debt, endless problems. I told him I didn't want to drag him down with me.
Ethan held my hand tightly, his voice calm but firm. "Kristin, I've already thought all this through. I don't rely completely on my family, okay? I have my own company. I can help you."
When I stayed silent, he actually looked anxious. "If you're worried my family might use this against you later, then I'll write an agreement. Something official. It can say clearly that your father's debt and your mother's medical bills are voluntary gifts from me."
I couldn't help laughing at how serious he looked saying all that.
"Kristin, you should smile more."
Funny enough, after meeting Ethan, I really had forgotten how to smile.
At first, I thought he was only talking big. Then the next day, he actually handed me a signed "voluntary gift agreement."
At that point, I was already deeply moved.
He looked at me and said, "Kristin, this is how serious I am about you."
The line was cheesy as hell. But somehow, when Ethan said it, it sounded kind of attractive.
Back when we first started dating, his friends used to joke around with him all the time.
"Come on, Ethan, have fun if you want, but don't lose yourself over some girl."
For once, Ethan immediately went cold. "I already told you," he said sharply. "Kristin is my future wife. Don't say that crap again."
Nobody believed the eldest grandson of the Mills family would seriously fall for a girl with a gambling addict father and a sick mother.
Cinderella was still the daughter of a noble family, even if they'd fallen from grace. I was just a gambler's daughter.
Honestly, nobody needed to remind me that Ethan and I would never last forever. I already knew.
But sometimes in life, people deserve one chance to fall in love. And one chance to lose their minds for it.
- Writer
