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He Never Chose Me

Novelix Completed

追妻火葬场、追悔莫及、打脸、背叛、大女主、女性力量/大女主、剧情/戏剧、现代/都市

Chapters (3)

第1章

Thanksgiving. My boyfriend Ethan Sinclair was taking me home to meet his parents, but he'd insisted on booking the latest Amtrak long-distance train. I was so exhausted during the ride that I leaned against my seat and fell asleep. When I woke up, the seat beside me was empty. Ethan was nowhere to be found, and I couldn't reach him. I stared at the word "Savannah" on the display screen in the carriage and rushed to find a conductor, asking how many stops were left until Washington. "Washington? That stop passed a long time ago. The next one is the last stop." She looked at me, confused. "I remember there was a man sitting next to you. Your boyfriend? He didn't wake you?" My heart sank. Half an hour later, I stood alone in an unfamiliar terminal station, looking around blankly. Ethan, who had just had his phone off, finally called me. "Chloe was in a car accident. I had to rush back to New York to be with her. I forgot to wake you." "Just head to my parents' house and wait for me there." Chloe Whitman. Again. His childhood sweetheart. Every single time, the moment anything happened with Chloe, I was the one left behind. I didn't respond to his request. I took a deep breath and said to him: "You don't really need me in Washington anymore, do you?" A love that always put me second to Chloe was a love I no longer wanted. ...... The words had barely left my mouth when an explosion erupted not far away. A shockwave slammed into me, throwing my entire body to the ground. In the last second before I lost consciousness, I could still hear Chloe's voice on the other end of the phone, cooing at him. Ethan hadn't heard a single sound from my side. By the time I woke up in the hospital, two days had passed. A nurse noticed my eyes opening and hurried to get the doctor. After the examination, the doctor looked at me with visible relief. "God bless you. You were unconscious for two full days." He placed a medical document on the bedside table. "Once you're feeling more alert, please sign this acknowledgment form." The nurse beside him shifted awkwardly before adding. "We used your phone to contact your emergency contact, but Mr. Sinclair hung up on us. Then he turned off his phone." I nodded. My throat was so dry it hurt to speak. "I understand. Thank you." After they left, I slowly sat up and reached for my phone. Two full days. Ethan hadn't made a single call or sent a single message. I opened Instagram and saw the post Chloe had put up two days ago. "Ethan has the most beautiful hands. Watching him peel an apple for me is pure bliss." The photo showed my boyfriend with his head bowed, carefully peeling an apple. Ethan had never liked sticky fruit. He hated getting juice on his hands. Even when I'd been hospitalized with appendicitis and asked for some fruit, he'd simply sat beside me and refused. "Just hold off. I don't like touching these." But when Chloe made the exact same request, he didn't refuse her at all. I kept scrolling. A mutual friend had left a comment: "Isn't Ethan supposed to be in Washington with Ivy these past two days?" Chloe's reply carried the same suggestive tone. "My mom called him and told him I was in a car accident. I honestly didn't expect he'd just..." Just abandon me. I knew what she was going to say. A sharp pain surged through my chest. He'd been forced to choose between us too many times. Every single time, it ended with me being the one left behind. Just then, my mom's call popped up on the screen. "Ivy! You finally picked up! Your dad and I have been worried sick these past two days." "Your phone wasn't going through, and we don't even have Ethan's number!" I fought back the urge to cry. "I'm fine, Mom. I'll be there soon." She breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, hesitant and uncertain. "Ivy, could you give us Ethan's phone number? That way if something like this ever happens again, your dad and I..." My grip tightened around the phone. Tears streamed down my face. It wasn't that I didn't want to give my parents Ethan's number. It was that Ethan wouldn't let me. Everyone knew I was the one who'd chased him relentlessly. So when we first got together, he'd set his rules. "I don't interact with your family. And please don't give out my contact information." I'd felt wronged. But I'd forced myself to agree to all of it. Now, seeing Chloe casually mention that her mother had contacted Ethan, and hearing my own mom's tentative request. Five years of love and patience I'd given him seemed to evaporate in that single moment. "Mom." "You don't need his number. And from now on, this kind of thing won't happen again." I hung up. I reached over for the document, signed my name, and checked myself out of the hospital. The next day, I went back to New York and took my parents for a checkup. I was terrified that two days of anxiety over my accident might have affected their health. But in the outpatient lobby, I ran into the man who was holding Chloe's arm. Ethan saw me and looked stunned. "Ivy? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at my parents' house?" I gave him a bitter smile. It wasn't just him who didn't care about me. Even his parents hadn't bothered to wonder why I'd never shown up. "I didn't go." His face darkened. He didn't even acknowledge my parents standing right beside me. He frowned and scolded me. "Are you throwing a tantrum?" "Ivy, how old are you? I already explained it was because Chloe was in a car accident. What's with that look?" Then he took Chloe's hand and left. I stood in the middle of the lobby. People around me stared. My parents sighed. "Ivy, are you really going to marry him?" I watched Ethan's back as he walked away, shielding Chloe. My voice was laced with scorn. "Not anymore. I heard back about the Fulbright scholarship I applied for. I got it." "I'm going abroad to study. I'm leaving him."

第2章

My mom had slightly elevated blood pressure. The doctor wanted to keep her overnight for observation. After getting her admitted, I was walking down the hallway when I came across Chloe whining about how bitter her medicine was, with Ethan patiently coaxing and pleading with her to take it. "Come on, sweetheart, you won't get better without it." Chloe shook her head, refusing to drink it. Ethan sighed. "Just drink it, okay? I'll take you on a vacation when you're out of here." Chloe smiled and downed the medicine immediately. He exhaled with relief. I stood there watching the tender scene in silence, thinking about how cold his face always looked when I was sick. He never coaxed me. He'd just stare at me, completely expressionless. "Ivy, your body is your own responsibility. You're an adult. Stop being dramatic." "I'm not going to coax you. Drink it or don't." Seeing him now, gentle and soft with Chloe, I almost felt disoriented. So this was what Ethan looked like when he cared enough to coax someone. Too bad his own girlfriend had never gotten to see this side of him. Chloe finished her medicine. "Should I go apologize to Ivy? I mean, you did leave her on the train because of me." Ethan didn't hesitate. "So what?" "She knows perfectly well that you're my friend. We grew up together. Even getting jealous over something like this just proves she's immature." Hearing those words, my expression slowly hardened. I turned and went back to my mom's room. I stayed with her the entire afternoon. Mom noticed the look on my face and asked if something had happened. I shook my head. I said nothing. In the evening, my parents told me to go home. I nodded and left the hospital without staying the night. When I dragged myself through the front door, every light in the apartment was on. I could hear a man and a woman laughing. Chloe was sitting on the couch, hugging my throw pillow. I froze. Ethan didn't look up. Didn't even glance at me. He just explained. "Forgot to tell you. Chloe has nobody to take care of her, so she's staying with us for a while." Chloe leaned over to steal a piece of fruit from his hand, then turned to me with a smile. "Sorry for the trouble these next few days, Ivy. You don't mind, do you?" I took a deep breath, pushing down the storm rising in my chest. "If I did mind, would you leave?" Chloe's face went rigid. "Ivy!" Ethan whipped around, glaring at me, his voice dropping into a sharp reprimand. "Are you done with the passive-aggressive bullshit? Does everyone have to put up with your attitude?" I met his impatient eyes. "You saw me at the hospital today and didn't even ask why I was there. Now I come home and you're scolding me for Chloe's sake?" "Did you even bother to ask where I've been the past two days?" His brow furrowed. "Fine. Where were you?" His tone was as casual as if he were asking about the weather. I opened my mouth. I looked at this man I'd spent so long chasing. The man I'd bent over backwards for, even letting my own parents be hurt, just to keep him. In that moment, I felt like the biggest fool alive. He didn't actually care where I'd been. He only asked because I'd brought it up, and even that was done with irritation. If I hadn't mentioned it, he wouldn't have even noticed I'd been gone for two days. Suddenly, I didn't want to say anything at all. "Forget it. It doesn't matter. Let her stay. I don't care anymore." I was tired. I didn't want to fight with him anymore.

第3章

The next morning, I was woken by voices outside. I stepped out and found Ethan's parents had arrived. They were gathered around Chloe, showering her with concern. "How did a car accident even happen? You really need to be more careful." "If there's ever anything you can't handle on your own, just call Ethan." Ethan stood nearby with a gentle smile. "I'll take care of everything for you, Chloe." A flush of shyness colored Chloe's cheeks. In five years of dating Ethan, his parents had never once been that warm to me. And Ethan had never once looked at me with that kind of tenderness. I didn't approach them. I was about to slip away when Chloe called out. "Ivy, you're up!" My body stiffened. I had no choice but to walk over. The moment Margaret saw me, the smile vanished from her face. She shook her head and looked at me sidelong. "Chloe's a patient and she managed to get up early. But look at you. Sleeping till noon?" "This is embarrassing. Honestly, Ethan, I really think you should reconsider..." "Mom." Ethan pressed his lips together and cut her off, then walked toward me. "Do you want breakfast?" I shook my head. "No. Go ahead without me." The explosion had injured my internal organs. It was minor, but the doctor said I needed to watch what I ate for a while. Margaret heard my refusal and frowned again. "Can't even get herself to the table without being told. Honestly, how is someone like her going to fit into this family?" I took a deep breath. I didn't want to start a conflict, but I also wasn't going to stand there and take their criticism. I walked straight out the door. Ethan followed and grabbed my arm. "My mom was just trying to be nice. Why do you always have to take everything so personally?" I was silent for a moment. "Just trying to be nice?" If they actually cared about me, why hadn't a single one of them asked why I never showed up for Thanksgiving? He looked down at me. The impatience in his eyes grew more obvious by the second. "Ivy, you're going to be my wife. I need you to stop overreacting to everything." "You walking out like that is going to make Chloe feel like she's not welcome, and it upsets my mom." "Just be considerate for once." I pulled my arm free. I used to try so hard to be considerate. So when he and Chloe flirted under the guise of friendship, I was considerate enough not to overthink it. So when his mother looked down on me, I was considerate enough to swallow my pride and try to win her over. But I didn't want to be considerate anymore. "Then what counts as being considerate?" He thought for a moment. "Like Chloe. She handles things with grace. You could learn a thing or two." I let out a mocking laugh, said nothing, and walked away. I went to pick up my parents and helped my mom with her discharge paperwork. On the drive, I told them I'd be leaving soon. Mom was startled. "Today? This soon?" I nodded. "I'll be gone for two years." My parents exchanged a glance. "Have you told Ethan?" My hands tightened on the steering wheel. My voice turned colder. "No. We're not married. There's no reason to." Breaking up was something I could decide on my own. I took my parents to a nice Italian restaurant nearby. We'd just finished ordering. A familiar voice drifted from behind the partition next to us. I felt a wave of irritation. There was no escaping them. Ethan was seated with both sets of parents and Chloe, chatting and laughing, naturally attentive to everyone at the table. He pulled out a chair for Chloe's mother, spoke with the sommelier on behalf of Chloe's father, then leaned over to murmur something to his own parents. He looked like he'd always been part of the Whitman family. He not only knew everything Chloe couldn't eat, but he also knew exactly which wines her parents preferred. With me, he knew nothing. With my parents, he didn't even want to be in the same room. I tried not to pay attention. Then I heard them mention my name. Margaret's tone was dripping with disdain. "Ivy?" "I can't stand her. I have no idea why Ethan chose her over a sweet girl like Chloe." She was on a roll. "And her parents. I met them once. Tracking dirt on my floors." My parents heard every word. They lowered their heads in shame. My fists clenched so hard my knuckles ached. My chest heaved. And Ethan didn't say a word against it. He didn't even try to stop her. Margaret kept going, tearing my parents apart. I couldn't take it anymore. I shoved the partition aside and stepped into their section. My voice had gone ice cold. "You don't want me? Fine. I don't want your son either. Get it?"