CHAPTER FOUR – The Man My Ex Feared

CHLOE POV

“I came to see my little brother,” Ethan said smoothly. “But it looks like I’ve already met your girlfriend.”

Silence.

The entire corridor seemed to stop breathing.

Students who had been whispering moments ago now stood frozen, their mouths hanging open in disbelief.

“What?”

“Ethan Hayes?”

“Did he just call Julian his little brother?”

“No way…”

I blinked several times, still in disbelief I had imagined everything.

Little brother?

Julian had a brother?

My gaze shifted from Ethan to Julian.

For the first time since I’d known him, Julian looked… terrified.

Not embarrassed.

Not annoyed.

Terrified.

Like lost completely.

His face had drained of color, and the smug confidence he always carried had completely disappeared.

“E-Ethan…” Julian swallowed hard. “You weren’t supposed to arrive until next week.”

Ethan slipped one hand into his pocket, his expression unreadable.

“My schedule changed.”

His calm voice somehow sounded more intimidating than shouting.

Julian forced out a nervous laugh.

“You could’ve called.”

“I don’t owe you updates or my whereabouts”

The words landed like a slap.

Several students exchanged shocked looks.

Everyone knew Julian Hayes as the untouchable captain of the hockey team.

No one had ever spoken to him like that.

They all feared him and no one dared object to him.

Until now.

Ethan slowly looked around the crowd.

“I left the country for a few years,” he said evenly, “and this is what I come back to?”

I guess I should have known better, You will always be who you are.

Julian’s jaw tightened.

“You don’t know what happened.”

Well why don’t you tell me, but before he could speak

Ethan brushed him off, “I know enough.”

“I don’t need your explanation”

His eyes shifted toward me.

Those piercing dark eyes softened ever so slightly before returning to Julian.

“I heard you call a woman pathetic.”

Julian scoffed.

“She’s my ex.”

“And?”

Julian frowned.

“So it’s none of your business.”

A dangerous smile tugged at Ethan’s lips.

“You’d be surprised what becomes of my business.”

The atmosphere turned unbearably tense.

Even the loudest students didn’t dare say another word.

One of Julian’s teammates quietly took two steps backward.

Nobody wanted to get caught in whatever this was.

Julian straightened his shoulders.

“You’ve been gone for years. Don’t come back pretending you know my life.”

“I know enough to recognize a bully.”

His words echoed across the courtyard.

Heat rushed into my cheeks.

No one…

No one had ever defended me before.

Not my father.

Not my stepmother.

Certainly not Julian.

I didn’t know why Ethan was doing this.

Maybe he simply hated bullies.

Maybe he felt sorry for me.

Or could it be he is different from others

Come on chole don’t jump into conclusions now

Whatever the reason, something inside my chest cracked.

It wasn’t pain this time.

It was relief.

Julian noticed.

His eyes darted between Ethan and me.

Then his expression slowly changed.

Confusion.

Suspicion.

His gaze lingered on Ethan’s face.

She is mine, don’t think about it

Well let her be the judge of that

Standing in front of chole.

His brows furrowed.

“You know her?”

My heart skipped.

Ethan didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he looked directly at me.

His eyes held mine for what felt like forever.

Recognition flickered between us.

Then he simply said,

“We’ve met.”

My stomach dropped.

Julian’s eyes widened.

“When?”

“Recently.”

That was all Ethan said.

But it was enough.

Julian’s expression darkened.

He stared at me as though trying to solve an impossible puzzle.

I couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t know.

He couldn’t.

Nobody could.

Not after last night.

I turned away.

“I… I have class.”

While Julian saying we need to talk but Ethan blocked him

From holding my hand

Without waiting for another second, I hurried through the crowd.

People immediately stepped aside, creating a path for me.

Whispers followed everywhere.

“Did you see that?”

“Ethan defended Chloe.”

“What’s going on?”

“Since when do they know each other?”

My hands trembled as I pushed open the doors into the academic building.

I didn’t stop walking until I reached an empty hallway.

Only then did I lean against the wall and close my eyes.

Everything was happening too fast.

Julian had cheated on me.

Vivian had betrayed my father.

I’d spent the night with a stranger.

That stranger turned out to be Julian’s older brother.

And somehow…

He remembered me.

A lump formed in my throat.

“What have I done?”

Oh no, this is bad, very bad

“You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Nothing is bad, take it easy

I froze.

That voice.

Slowly, I turned around.

Ethan stood a few feet away.

How had he followed me without making a sound?

The hallway suddenly felt much smaller.

My heart pounded violently.

He looked completely different in daylight.

His tailored uniform fit him perfectly, and his broad shoulders made every other student seem small in comparison.

But it wasn’t his appearance that unsettled me.

It was the way he looked at me.

The way he defended me

Not with pity.

Not with judgment.

Just… concern.

With care

The way he defended me, which no one has done before

“I…” I looked away.

“I’m sorry about yesterday.”

His brows lifted slightly.

“Sorry?”

“I was drunk.”

The words rushed out.

“I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

“I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

“I shouldn’t have—”

“You don’t need to apologize.”

His calm interruption made me stop.

He took one slow step closer.

“I don’t regret meeting you.”

My chest tightened.

“I do.”

The words came out harsher than I intended.

“I don’t even know you.”

“I know.” We can work on that

“I made a mistake.”

His expression didn’t change.

“People make mistakes.”

“I don’t.”

“You’ve spent your whole life believing that.”

His words caught me off guard.

“What?”

“You apologize for everything.”

I stared at him.

“You apologized to Julian.”

“You apologized just now.”

“You even apologized while crying last night.”

I hadn’t realized.

He had noticed all of it.

“You deserve better than people who make you believe existing is something to apologize for.”

My vision blurred.

Nobody…

Nobody had ever said something like that to me.

I searched his face, waiting for the catch.

There had to be one.

People weren’t kind to me without expecting something in return.

Julian had taught me that. Vivian had reinforced it.

Kindness always comes with conditions.

“You don’t even know me,” I whispered.

A faint smile tugged at Ethan’s lips.

“I know enough.”

I frowned.

“You know I bake when I’m stressed.”

“You know you smile even when you’re hurting, just so other people won’t feel uncomfortable.”

“You know how to take everyone’s blame except your own.”

His words stole the air from my lungs.

How could someone I’d met only once notice the parts of me that the people I’d known for years had ignored?

“I don’t understand you,” I admitted.

“You don’t have to,” he said quietly.

His gaze never left mine.

“But one day, I hope you’ll understand that the way they treated you isn’t the way you deserve to be treated.”

A strange warmth spread through my chest.

It felt unfamiliar.

Almost dangerous.

Because hope had betrayed me before.

And I didn’t know if I was brave enough to believe in it again.

And before I could answer, my phone rang.

“Dad?”

I frowned.

He almost never called.

My hands shook as I answered.

“H-Hello?”

“Chloe.”

His voice sounded strained.

Exhausted.

“Where are you?”

“At school.”

“I need you to come to St. Matthew Medical Center immediately.”

Fear gripped my chest.

“Dad?”

“What happened?”

There was a long silence.

When he finally spoke, his voice broke.

“Your mother…”

My heart stopped.

“…opened her eyes this morning.”

Everything around me disappeared.

The hallway.

The students.

Even Ethan.

“My…”

I couldn’t finish the sentence.

“She’s awake,” my father whispered.

“I don’t know how long she’ll stay conscious.”

“But she’s asking for you.”

The phone slipped from my trembling fingers.

It hit the floor with a loud crack.

I couldn’t move.

For seventeen years…

Every birthday…

Every Christmas…

Every lonely night…

I’d sat beside my mother’s hospital bed praying for a miracle.

Now…

The miracle had happened.

Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face.

Strong hands gently steadied my shoulders before my knees could give out.

Ethan.

He didn’t ask questions.

He didn’t speak.

He simply supported me as the world shifted beneath my feet.

For the first time in years…

I wasn’t crying because someone had broken my heart.

I was crying because, against all odds…

Hope had finally found me.

I wiped away my tears with my trembling fingers.

Maybe today was the day my life stopped falling apart.

Maybe today was the day fate finally decided I’d suffered enough.

I held onto that tiny spark of hope with everything I had.

Because if it slipped through my fingers…

I wasn’t sure there would be anything left of me to save

Because, every time life handed me something beautiful, it always found a way to snatch it back before I could truly hold on to it.

So even as tears of relief streamed down my face, fear quietly settled beside them.

What if this miracle didn’t last?

What if my mother opened her eyes today… only to close them forever tomorrow?

I had waited seventeen years for this moment.

I wasn’t sure my heart could survive losing her all over again.

And as Ethan’s steady hands kept me from collapsing, I silently prayed that, for once in my life…

Hope had come to stay.