My Fiancé Taught Me How To Cut My Losses

Chapter 2

The next morning, I went back to our apartment to pack the rest of my things.

I had just placed my documents in my suitcase when I heard the rumble of suitcase wheels outside the door.

Ethan came in with Tessa.

"Her apartment still isn't fixed. She'll stay in the guest room for a few days."

The guest room was piled with wedding candy favors, save-the-date cards, and wedding favor bags.

Without asking me, Ethan moved everything into the storage room.

A stack of save-the-date cards slid to the floor.

As Tessa backed up, her foot landed squarely across Ethan's name and mine.

"Quinn, I'm sorry. I didn't see them."

She quickly lifted her foot, but a gray shoe print remained across the gold lettering.

Ethan bent down, picked up the cards, and tossed them back into the box.

"We'll reprint the dirty ones. They're just pieces of paper."

Tessa walked to the shoe cabinet, pulled a pair of pink slippers from the bottom shelf, then opened the sideboard with practiced ease and took out a mug.

"Have you stayed here before?"

She pressed her lips together.

"When you were away on business, we sometimes finished recording too late. Ethan worried about me driving home alone, so he let me stay here a few times."

Ethan was making up the bed for her. He didn't even look up.

"She only stayed a few nights. I don't have to report every little thing to you."

I stood there, too stunned to react. Anyone who didn't know better would've thought they were a family.

Tessa pulled a tablet from her bag and opened a shared album.

"Ethan, I organized the photos for the 5th Anniversary Retrospective."

They sat on the carpet and flipped through them together.

They remembered everything: the first time they worked together, their first award, and every celebration after that.

Ethan and I had been together for 7 years, yet I couldn't find more than a handful of decent photos of us.

He always said he hated taking pictures.

But he and Tessa had already filled two shared albums.

Tessa swiped to a birthday photo and suddenly laughed.

"This was my work anniversary. You ordered the cake a week in advance and told me the production team had arranged it."

The date in the lower-right corner was my birthday last year.

That day, Ethan had told me Tessa was devastated over a breakup and might do something to herself.

I had sat alone in a restaurant until it closed.

In the photo, Tessa wore a paper crown while Ethan stood behind her, lighting the candles on her cake.

My eyes stung as I stared at it.

"So you were the one who ordered the cake that day."

Ethan swiped the photo away.

"It's over. Why dig it up now?"

Another photo appeared.

It had been taken the night I was hospitalized.

The timestamp read 10 p.m.

The host selection event had ended at 8 p.m., and he had seen all seven calls from the hospital.

Tessa said with a casual laugh, "I told you that night to go see Quinn at the hospital. You said she had doctors with her and would be fine."

The warmth slowly drained from my fingertips.

Ethan frowned and switched away from the album.

"And you were fine in the end, weren't you? She had just landed an important opportunity. I couldn't walk out on her when she was at her happiest."

Every time I'd needed him beside me, he had been there for her instead.

When Tessa closed the tablet, a black digital recorder rolled out of her bag and stopped by my feet.

The back was engraved with the words I had written myself:

May more people hear your voice, Ethan.

I had bought it for him with 3 months of my salary when he hosted his first show.

Ethan had told me 2 years earlier that the recorder had been lost during an interview.

I searched the entire apartment and even blamed myself for not keeping better track of it.

Tessa picked it up and held it out to me.

"So you were the one who gave it to him. I'm sorry. I didn't know. Here, take it back."

Ethan took it before I could and placed it back in her hand.

"Once you've given something away, you don't take it back. Don't make it look like she stole it from you."

I slowly pulled my hand back.

"No need."

'If something comes back to me tainted, I'll throw it away. The recorder is no different. Neither is Ethan.'

When I returned to the bedroom, a reply from the Ravenport team was waiting.

Ravenport Team: The position is still open. Please report within 3 days.

I accepted the job and bought a one-way ticket.

Ethan suddenly knocked on the bedroom door.

"Tomorrow night is the 5th Anniversary Listener Meetup. The sponsor wants us to bring our significant others. You already said you'd come, so don't be late."