You Owe Me Forever

Chapter 1 Just Say You Loved Me-Once

　　The sky was overcast, and the fine drizzle seemed to weave a gray curtain between heaven and earth.

　　Two women stood by the window, their faces tense and heavy.

　　"You're really going through with it?" The woman with the short hair glanced over at the slender, pale woman beside her, eyes full of mixed emotions.

　　"Yeah."

　　"Before you make it final, maybe you should call him. Who knows, you might change your mind."

　　"It's okay, I-"

　　"I already called," Elizabeth Grant cut her off, waving the phone in her hand.

　　"Hello?"

　　Hearing the voice on the other end of the line, Scarlett Lampkin's whole body jolted. She took the phone from her friend with trembling fingers, visibly shaken.

　　"Who is it?" the man's voice came through, impatient and cold.

　　"It's... me." Her voice cracked as she forced the words out, hoarse and trembly.

　　There was a long silence. The air somehow felt still. She thought he'd hung up.

　　Then finally, Ethan Johnson's icy voice pierced through: "You've been gone for days. I thought you were dead."

　　"I..." She really was close to dying.

　　The tears came fast. Scarlett clamped a hand over her mouth, trying her hardest not to break down.

　　Three years. And every word he said still cut like a knife. She thought she'd grown numb by now... but her heart still hurt.

　　Elizabeth turned away. Seeing her like this-it honestly made her chest ache.

　　"Ethan, if it weren't for your dad... would you have loved me?"

　　"Even for a second? Did you love me at all?" she asked, clinging to even the tiniest hope.

　　What answered her was a mocking laugh, so cold and cruel it made her blood run cold.

　　"You think so?"

　　"You killed my dad with your own hands, and now you're asking me that? How do you even have the nerve?"

　　"What if... what if I told you I wasn't the one who killed him-would you believe me?"

　　"You think I'm that stupid?"

　　Scarlett stopped pushing the topic and went back to the question that had haunted her for three years: "We've been married all this time. Not even for a moment-you never loved me?"

　　"Loved you? I should get a medal for not killing you with my own hands."

　　She saw it coming. But still, it crushed her.

　　"If I die... would you feel anything? Sad, maybe?"

　　"Scarlett, are you seriously messed up? What kind of act are you pulling this time?"

　　"If you died, I'd throw a freaking party. Women like you-so full of crap-you should've been dead long ago."

　　Scarlett felt like she'd been shot straight through the heart. There was nothing left. Not even pain.

　　But she couldn't let it go. She used every bit of strength left in her: "Ethan... can you just say you love me?"

　　"You're insane."

　　Almost begging now, her voice shaking: "Please. Pretend if you have to... Just let me hear it, one last time."

　　"You're a psycho."

　　"Ethan... just one sentence. That's it. I swear... I just want to hear it once..."

　　"Beep... beep... beep..." The busy tone echoed in her ear, and she slowly lowered the phone, covering her face as tears spilled through her trembling fingers.

　　"Is a guy like him really worth all this?" Elizabeth looked at Scarlett's breakdown, her heart aching for her.

　　"Do you regret falling for him?"