He seemed to just realize his girlfriend was still there, like waking from a dream, he withdrew the arm around Vivian Coleman’s waist and stepped back two steps.
Ethan Grant’s friends followed his gaze and also realized Talia Rhodes was still there, quickly helping him smooth things over.
"Let’s continue playing, Vivian, you have a bad stomach so don’t drink alcohol, if you lose, let’s change it to truth or dare."
"That’s a good suggestion, let’s do truth or dare."
After calming down his emotions, Ethan Grant returned to the sofa.
He thought Talia would be jealous, would throw a little tantrum with him.
However, Talia said nothing.
Her indifferent attitude actually made Ethan feel a mysterious panic inside.
He always felt that there was something different about Talia from before.
Silence spread between the two.
Ethan hesitated wanting to explain a few things, but the sound of people egging on came again from the other side.
"Vivian, you lost again, this time do you choose truth or dare?"
Ethan’s attention was drawn to Vivian again.
His gaze stuck on Vivian.
Vivian turned her head, throwing a meaningful smile at Ethan.
"Come come, here are all the dare entries, draw one." Someone took out a stack of notes.
Vivian casually picked one, and as the person opened the note, his eyes widened.
His gaze shifted back and forth between Vivian, Ethan, and Talia.
A curious girl leaned in to look, "What did you draw, let me see."
"Gasp—" The girl also drew in a surprised breath after seeing the contents of the note.
Everyone was curious.
"Quick, what did she draw?"
"Randomly choose a member of the opposite sex here to kiss." The guy reported the contents of the note and quickly glanced at Ethan.
Sure enough, as soon as Ethan heard this, a layer of frost covered his face.
The temperature of the whole room dropped to freezing point.
Vivian, however, seemed unaffected, cheerfully stood up and walked toward a handsome man not far away.
"Aaron, do you mind kissing me?"
Aaron Lynch stole a glance at Ethan, who looked like he was about to murder someone, and didn’t dare say a word.
Seeing Aaron not reply, Vivian leaned in to wrap around his neck to kiss him.
Ethan shouted in anger, unable to hold back any longer, he rushed over, grabbed Vivian’s hand, and stormed out the door.
The rest looked at each other, finally casting sympathetic looks at Talia.
Talia picked up the juice on the table and took a sip, smiling indifferently, "What are you looking at me for?"
The others quickly looked away, some drank, some chatted, pretending nothing happened.
Talia sipped her juice, her heart gradually growing cold.
In her impression, Ethan seemed indifferent to everything.
This was the first time she saw Ethan lose control .
Once she finished drinking the juice, Talia went to the restroom.
Through the door, she heard voices from several girls chatting by the sink outside.
"Ethan went crazy, left his girlfriend here and ran off with Vivian."
"Hey, that shows Vivian is who he cares about the most."
"Yeah, did you see earlier, when Vivian was about to kiss Aaron, Ethan’s face looked terrifyingly gloomy."
"Saw it, his girlfriend is really pathetic, watching helplessly as her boyfriend goes crazy over another woman."
"It’s quite pitiful, she’s just a stand-in."
"I think Ethan and Talia are close to breaking up, even a blind man can see Ethan loves Vivian."
"That’s right, I also..." The girl’s words got stuck in her throat, seeing Talia walk out from the restroom stall through the mirror, she quickly shut up.
The other two girls also saw Talia, they said nothing, bowed their heads and hurried away.
Talia stepped to the mirror, calmly washing her hands.
Indeed, she and Ethan are close to breaking up.
But the breakup isn’t initiated by him, nor because he no longer wants her.
It’s because she no longer loves him, she doesn’t want him anymore.
Returning to Ethan’s villa, it was already eleven o’clock at night.
Talia was very tired, after showering, she quickly fell asleep once she lay down on the bed.
Ethan came back the next day afternoon.
He pushed open the bedroom door and saw the wide-open suitcase on the floor, a flash of confusion in his eyes.
"What are you doing?"
Talia peeked out from the wardrobe, "You’re back, I’m planning to go back home soon."
She had a lot of stuff since she’s been living here for two years, some clothes, shoes, and miscellaneous small things could be left behind in Oakhaven, but she must pack them up and throw them away.
When she leaves, she won’t leave anything that belonged to her behind.
Right after saying those words, her gaze landed on the ambiguous mark on Ethan’s neck, she froze for a moment, then calmly looked away.
She had completely lost hope for Ethan.
So, whoever he messes around with is no longer her concern.
Upon hearing this, Ethan’s brows furrowed, "Why suddenly going back home? Still angry about last night? Going home to avoid me?"
"No, I just miss my parents, and want to go see them."
Hearing Talia’s answer, Ethan’s brows relaxed, "It’s good to go back and see them."
For these three years, Talia had never returned home.
Even during the New Year, she spent it alone.
He couldn’t possibly leave his family to spend the New Year with her, nor could he bring her home for the festivities.
He knew his mom, Mrs. Grant, would never accept such a girl without a family background no matter what.
After pausing for a few seconds, Ethan continued: "It’s just I’ve been quite busy lately, can’t accompany you back home, what date is the flight? I’ll have the driver take you to the airport."
Talia selected a few of her favorite clothes and laid them on the bed, folding them neatly and placing them into the suitcase one by one.
"No need for hassle, I’ll call a cab myself, someone will be picking me up."
Upon hearing this, Ethan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He was afraid Talia would tell him to go with her back home to meet her parents.
They had been dating for three years, if it were ordinary people, it was time to meet the parents and discuss marriage.
But he wasn’t an ordinary person.
He was the only son of The Grant Family, and the sole heir of The Grant Group.
The family gap between them was an uncrossable chasm.
Ethan knew he and Talia could never have a future together.
So meeting the parents was unnecessary.
Fortunately, Talia also understood this, not clinging onto him to take him home.
Thinking of this, Ethan once again felt in his heart grateful for Talia’s obedience and sensibility.
Last night, in a moment of impulsiveness, he left her and ran off with Vivian, he was expecting Talia to cause a fuss today, but instead, she didn’t cry or act out, making it easy for him.
In their three-year relationship, Talia never behaved like other women who checked on him, never argued with him over his flings outside.
At that moment, his brother’s words suddenly echoed in his ear.
"Keep both relationships going, if you feel guilty to Talia just buy her more gifts to placate her, women are easy to please."
Perhaps he could really consider marrying Vivian and have Talia be a secret lover.
After all, for an outstanding man with such a family background like him, an ordinary girl like Talia couldn’t possibly encounter someone like him again.
Talia loved him so much, she wouldn’t bear to leave him.
When she got back from home, he could discuss things with her properly.
Ethan said: "Then take care on the road, let me know you’re safe when you get home, and tell me when you’re back in Mirehaven, I’ll go pick you up."
Talia meekly lowered her gaze and gently replied "Okay."
She wouldn’t come back again.
She whispered in her heart.
Ethan wanted to say a bit more, but his phone rang.
A few minutes later, Ethan hung up the phone and said to Talia: "I need to head out for something, what happened last night was my fault, I shouldn’t have left you alone there, I bought you a gift, the assistant will bring it later."
Talia responded casually.
Ethan said no more and left.
Not long after he left, Talia received a message from Adrian Jennings. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel★fire.net