Why did he lie?
Did he feel ashamed of liking me?
“Ethan!”
Ethan and I turned around.
Olivia approached.
She looked angry.
“You said you forgot! We’re about to leave,
and you bought the house she lived in! If you
can’t let her go, just find her!”
No!
Ethan couldn’t find me!
“Find her, then what? She doesn’t know what
love is.”
“Do you hate her?”
“I don’t hate her. She didn’t do anything
wrong, she just didn’t like me. But I don’t
have the courage to love her again. I can’t
try.”
What were they saying?
Why did Ethan say that again?
I knew what love was!
Even though I was eighteen when I died. I was
Even though I was eighteen when I died, I was
twenty–eight now!
Ethan said calmly, “I’m like a rose in the
garden, no different from the others. She
might like this one today and another one
tomorrow.”
No.
“I haven’t changed my phone number for the
past ten years. I answered every strange call,
just in case it was her.”
Ethan, my dad took my phone before I went
to the mental hospital.
I wanted to find you, but I couldn’t.
“Her dad said I wasn’t good enough for her,
that she’d lived in an ivory tower, with the
best of everything. She’d suffer with me. I
worked hard to prove I was good enough for
her, that I wouldn’t let her suffer. I got to
where I am because I refused to give up.”
“Now I’m at the top. If she wanted to find me,
<
“Now I’m at the top. If she wanted to find me,
she could. But she hasn’t.
Ethan, I was right next to him.
“Maybe she’s forgotten me.”
I never forgot you.
“Her dad was right, she doesn’t know what
love is. I lied to her.”
Don’t say that.
Ethan, I liked you first, I wanted to be with
you.
Ethan wasn’t crying.
But Olivia was.
“Let’s go back overseas, let’s never come
back. She’s not worth it.”
Ethan put the photo on the floor.
“Okay.”
Ethan left.
I sat on the floor, looking at the sunset alone.
I tasted tears for the first time.
Ethan, I learned to cry.
く
It turned out that losing someone really broke
your heart.
Ethan, I was dead.
So I couldn’t be with you.
Even if I found you, you couldn’t see me.
My soul began to turn transparent and could
float around.
I floated to Brooke’s house.
I saw her computer:
“Digging Up the Scandal of Tech Titan Ethan
Bell.”
“I was his classmate in college. He was good
at computer science, but he had a bad
personality. When he was tutoring a rich girl,
he seduced her and tried to become her
husband. He was thrown out after being
discovered.”
“He was recommended for grad school, but
he was reported and lost his
recommendation. He left school and went
recommenuation, ne tent Sutiuui ANU WENɩ
overseas.”
“He started his tech company with Olivia’s
help. He got to where he is because he got
rich.”
No!
How could they speak badly about Ethan!
“Brooke, please help me. Tell them that’s not
true!”
I wished I could have stood by Ethan when he
was falsely accused and lost his grad school
recommendation.
No wonder he didn’t like me anymore.
How helpless was he when he was alone and
facing the rumors?
If I had stood up, he wouldn’t have been
forced to leave.
But I abandoned him.
Ethan must have been sad.
But even though he was sad, he said he didn’t
hate me, just that he didn’t dare to love me
again.
“Brooke, please help me…”
Brooke contacted an alumnus of Yale.
“Senior, I remember you and Ethan being
classmates. What do you know about the
rumors about him online?”
“Someone took pictures of Ethan and the rich
girl, and they reported it to the school.
“Ethan found out who did it, got the guy
expelled, and the graduate opportunity back,
and gave the student a warning”
“As for Ethan and the rich girl, there was no
proof. The school wanted Ethan to bring his
girlfriend to explain, but Ethan refused. In the
end, the school had to withdraw his
recommendation to appease the public.”
“Actually, everyone knew Ethan wouldn’t
marry someone just to get rich. Olivia is his
<
Actually, EVERYONE New LunaFT WUUIUNT L
marry someone just to get rich. Olivia is his
sister. She visited him at school back then.
His parents divorced, and his sister went
overseas with his mother.”
“Someone must be jealous of Ethan, so they
started the rumors.”
“I see. Are you willing to stand up and say
something?”
“No problem. I feel guilty about not helping
back then. I owe him this.”
“Thanks.”
“What’s your relationship to him? Why are you
so invested?”
“A photo started it all. I’ll tell you later. By the
way, ask in the alumni group if anyone else
will speak up for Ethan.”
“Okay, I’ll take care of it.”
After hanging up, Brooke made another call.
“Are you a former nurse at Blackwood Mental
enito12 Lwent to ask about se
Hospital? I want to ask about someone
named Ashley Parker. Do you remember her?”
The other person paused for a while and said
slowly, “I remember. She died in the fire.”
“What illness did she have that required her
to be hospitalized?”
“She wasn’t sick, she was normal.”
Brooke continued, “Why was she sent to the
mental hospital?”
“She had autism, but she was doing well. She
didn’t like talking or interacting with people,
but her father wanted to send her. I think her
father had the problem.”
“He didn’t think his daughter was normal. It’s
normal for an eighteen–year–old to be in a
relationship.”
“She could have lived well. She was smart and
talented at art.”
“She asked me to contact someone, but her
father wouldn’t let her. So I didn’t help her.
く
She wrote a lot of letters that were burned in
the fire. If I had known, I would have helped
her.”
“Do you know what the letters said?”
“No. But I know the person she liked was
named Ethan.”
“She was waiting for Ethan to see her.”
“I don’t know who Ethan is, but I believe she
loved him.”
Brooke sat quietly in her chair after hanging
up the phone, staring at the computer.
Then, she posted the recording of her
conversation with the nurse online and wrote
a paragraph.
“When Ethan was being slandered, everyone
denied their love.
In the end, one died at eighteen, and the
other was single for ten years.
“I believe that Ashley really loved Ethan. They
had a normal relationship. The photo in the
く
I saw Olivia on the phone.
“Find the IP addresses that spread the rumors
and give them to Legal, and we’re going to
get them.”
After hanging up, I heard her say, “Ashley Parker, you can pretend to be dead! Then and
now! Why didn’t you stand up for my brother?
My brother loved you so much! How could
you let him be harassed online!”
“Ashley, he’s been waiting for you for ten
years. And you?”
