I Was The Favor He Refused To See Chapter 14
Ethan stood in the lobby, stunned.
She didn’t know him?
Those words sliced through his heart all over again.
He switched to a new number and sent her a message.
Ethan: [Ivy, I know I was wrong before. I’m not asking you to forgive me. I just want you to know that on our anniversary, I was planning to propose to you.]
The message went through, but there was no reply.
He sent another one.
Ethan: [About Buddy… I’ve always felt guilty. He went wild and bit Lily, so she hurt him in a panic. We took him to the emergency vet, but they couldn’t save him.]
Ethan: [I buried him. The stew Lily ate wasn’t made from him.]
Ethan: [I didn’t explain right away because it wasn’t convenient to talk about it at the office, and you had already blocked me.]
Ethan: [There was nothing between Lily and me. I admit I was drawn in by how young and dependent she seemed. She reminded me of you right after graduation.]
Ethan: [I didn’t dare spoil you openly, so I spoiled her instead. Spoiling her didn’t require me to worry about appearances, and no one would gossip. I know I was wrong.]
His final message was:
Ethan: [Give me one chance, even if it’s only a chance to explain everything face-to-face. I’ll make it up to you, no matter what you want.]
At last, a plain system notice appeared on the screen: Message Not Delivered.
She had blocked him.
Ethan stood outside Bradford Group headquarters for a long time.
The October wind in Newport Beach already carried a chill.
He was wearing only a thin dress shirt, and his lips were turning faintly blue from the cold.
When Cole called him, Ethan was sitting on the edge of a planter across from the building.
“Ethan, where are you?”
“Newport Beach.”
Cole went silent for a few seconds. “You went to Bradford Group?”
“Yeah.”
“Did you see her?”
“No.”
A long sigh came from the other end of the line.
Cole said, “Ethan, why did you never tell me about you and Ivy?”
Ethan didn’t answer.
“If you had told me earlier, I would’ve talked sense into you. Don’t you think what you did was too much?”
“Ivy was with you for three years, and you didn’t even know which floor she lived on. You sent her to deal with that creepy client who kept hitting on her in Lily’s place. You told the whole company her proposal was full of holes. You blocked her promotion and raise. You let Lily take credit for her work. Listen to yourself. Is that what a boyfriend does?”
Ethan gripped his phone, his knuckles turning white.
“I know.” His voice was so hoarse it barely sounded like his own. “I thought she would always be there.”
“No one is always there.” Cole’s voice suddenly lowered. “Ethan, that night, your assistant told me you were going to propose to someone. I didn’t believe it at first.”
“It was true.”
“Then why didn’t you bring out the ring earlier? Do you know that on your anniversary, she was right there in employee housing?”
“She had already gone to the airport. I was the one who insisted on dragging her back for one last goodbye dinner.”
“And what did you do? You went to Lily’s place to catch a mouse.”
“How would a brand-new condo have mice? You really couldn’t see through her little game? She just didn’t want you to go see Ivy.”
Ethan couldn’t say a word.
“You kept talking about avoiding gossip, avoiding favoritism, avoiding appearances. In the end, you avoided her right into another man’s arms. Don’t you find that ironic?”
The call ended.
Ethan set the phone on his lap and lowered his head.
It started to rain, a fine, steady drizzle falling over his hair and shoulders.
He didn’t move.
On the top floor of Bradford Group headquarters, someone stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling
windows.
Ivy held a cup of coffee and looked down at the rain-soaked figure below.
Noah walked up behind her and said softly, “The rain is getting heavier, and he’s still there.”
Ivy didn’t turn around.
“Let him.”