After Saving Her, I Fell for Her

Chapter 3

The second I stepped through my front door, I spotted Clara perched on the sofa, waiting for me.

Before I could even open my mouth to tell her what had gone down that day, she pinned me with a sharp glare and snapped, "Ethan, how could you do this!"

"Me?" I jabbed a finger at my own chest, completely bewildered. "What did I do?"

It hit me all of a sudden, so I shot back immediately, "Did that little creep Felix feed you a bunch of garbage?"

In a blur, Clara shot straight up from the couch. "Ethan, can you stop being so controlling all the time!"

Controlling again.

At this point, I thought she saw me as some tyrant.

"I just love Felix, that is all!" she cried. "Why will you not let me be with him? Why did you have to go confront him, beat him up, and warn him to stay away from me?"

"We really love each other! You cannot just... you cannot just..." She darted two nervous glances at me, then squeezed her eyes shut and blurted the rest out through gritted teeth. "You cannot go after him just because you have feelings for me!"

"You say I went after him?"

I stared at Clara, completely stunned that those words actually came out of her mouth.

"Even if you had to go talk to him, why did you have to hit him?" she said. "You left him covered in black and blue bruises!"

A sharp, cold huff escaped my lips as I sank down onto the sofa opposite her.

"Let me get this straight," I said. "He told you I showed up at his place, beat him half to death, and threatened him to stay away from you?"

Clara sniffled and ducked her head. "You did not have to hit him that hard."

"I never laid a finger on him," I replied. "I caught him two-timing you, so I warned him to stay away from you. That is it. That is all that happened."

"Ethan, if you hit him, you hit him!" she protested. "Why do you have to lie and pin all the blame on Felix!"

She looked at me like I had let her down, her voice soft and bitter. "Ethan, if you really care about me, you should just let me go. Let me chase my own happiness. Felix is the one I want."

"Clara."

I cut her off.

"Why have you not asked me once what actually happened?" I said. "Not even one single question from the start of all this. You just believe every single word that comes out of Felix's mouth, no questions asked."

Ever since the day I found her, my whole life had been tangled up with hers.

I had scraped and clawed my way through childhood, then fought my way through the cutthroat, greed-driven world of adulthood after I grew up.

Hardly anyone ever stuck by me. I barely had any real friends at all.

The only person I had ever fully trusted was Clara.

In my entire world, it was just me and her.

I had stupidly thought she felt the same way about me.

But here we were. She would rather believe the lies of a total stranger than trust me, the person she had relied on through everything.

"Ethan, I... I do trust you, it is just... I just..."

Tears welled up and spilled down her cheeks. She swiped at them frantically, all flustered, then latched onto my arm. "Ethan, I do believe you. Just... just do not go bother Felix anymore, okay? I will listen to anything you say after this, I promise. Please?"

I snorted and brushed her hand off my arm.

"Do not worry. From this day forward, I will never stick my nose into your business with Felix ever again."

She picked up that I was furious, so she quickly switched gears.

"Ethan, why did you not come pick me up again today?" Clara curled herself up right into the sofa. "Come on, when was the last time you even bothered to pick me up?"

I carried the finished dish out of the kitchen, glanced at her coolly, and said bluntly, "I was busy."

She scoffed. "Busy with what, exactly?"

As she finished talking, she hopped over to the dining table, pinched a piece of food off a plate and stuffed it straight into her mouth. "There has not even been anything going on at the company lately, okay? Spit it out, are you busy going on blind dates, huh?"

I set the last dish, the baked fish in herb sauce, down on the table, pulled my apron off as I nodded, and said, "Yeah."

She made a face of pure disgust staring at the baked fish on the table. "Ethan, why would you even make fish!"

Clara hated eating fish more than anything. "Your future sister-in-law likes it," I said.

Her hand froze mid-air, halfway to her mouth, the second those words left my mouth. She spun around and stared at me, stunned and disbelieving. "Sister-in-law?"

I nodded and slipped on my jacket. "That is right. I am heading downstairs to pick her up right now."