MERRY 6

I considered kissing his cheek just to gross him out, but I only pouted my lips in a mock gesture without actually following through. A lingering sense that Ethan Reed was watching me made it feel too cringey. Without me—and likely even Ethan—realizing it, I’d somehow let him get under my skin.

“Fair point. I’m not exactly trying to look pretty for you, anyway. Besides, it’s not like we’re in a situation where looks matter. If it’s a stalker, you should report him to the police and have him dealt with.”

Report him to the police. Have him dealt with. That incredibly practical advice shook me. Anyone with common sense would have handled it like Liam said long ago, and he was right to suggest it.

But it’s not like Ethan is threatening me or doing anything perverted. He’s just being a bit of a nuisance. He’s annoying and bothersome, but that’s it.

“Somerset. Are you really being targeted by a stalker? Is that why you don’t want to be home alone…?”

If I admitted it, Liam would let me stay the night. He might even be generous enough to let me stay until the whole thing was resolved. Of course, that would mean reporting Ethan Reed to the police. Since he’s been following me everywhere, it would be easy to get evidence and catch him.

But would that really be the right way to solve this? If I ended things like that, would I truly be able to sleep soundly?

“Nope. I was just talking nonsense because I’m bored.”

Liam clicked his tongue and ruffled my hair into a mess.

“Go home, wash up, and get some sleep.”

“My hair! I’ll get you back for this. I’m coming over again. I’ll pick your lock next time. I know someone with those kinds of skills.”

I made my declaration of war and left Liam’s place. While tidying my bangs in the elevator, I organized the order of questions I planned to ask Ethan.

I’d come up with a fairly systematic plan, but the moment I saw his face, the questions were swallowed whole. Maybe it was better not to know the truth about that day. If Ethan gave me an answer and then vanished into thin air again, I’d be so frustrated I’d end up beating my own chest. On top of being angry for a while, I’d probably end up cursing his name forever.

Trust was a luxury when it came to a man who had already left once.

Ethan was standing with his hands in his jacket pockets, watching me. Even with the night darkness as his backdrop, his blonde hair and emerald eyes seemed to glow. He looked like the kind of person who would stand out anywhere in the world, so how the hell had he managed to stay hidden all this time?

As I strode toward him, I suddenly veered off to walk past, and Ethan started following me. The fact that he barely made a sound while walking could definitely be seen as a talent for stalking. He caught up to me with a quick stride and spoke.

“Did you eat? If you’re hungry, we can go grab something. Or I can go buy it for you?”

I snorted at his friendly, almost sweet tone.

“Don’t act like that. No stalker in the world acts like that.”

“I’m not sure what ‘acting like that’ means. Care to tell me?”

“Don’t play dumb. You know exactly what you’re doing.”

Building intimacy to lower my guard. Offering kindness to melt a frozen heart. Calculated attention. None of those things have a place between us. Our relationship is such a mess that being a stalker and his victim would actually be an improvement.

Ethan was a cruel traitor to me, and I was the fool who fell for his act. Looking back, I felt incredibly pathetic for that night I first touched his hair and tossed and turned. Dammit.

I stopped in front of the green car and turned my head. I was speechless at the sheer audacity of Ethan standing right next to me.

“What about your car? Why are you following me?”

“I lent it to a friend. Give me a ride.”

Most of what I deal with regarding Ethan is absurd, but I’ve never heard of giving your stalker a ride home. He even used that bold technique he’d shown me earlier to pop the driver’s side door and climbed in before I could say a word.

I considered ignoring him and just taking a taxi home, but then I thought about how unfair it was to have my car hijacked, so I hopped into the passenger seat. If it was going to be like this, I might as well use him as a chauffeur.

“What friend? I can’t believe a stalker actually has friends.”

I leaned back against the seat and interrogated him. Since I was being forced into a car ride with him, I figured I was entitled to ask at least this much.

“A colleague.”

“Wait, is that friend a stalker too? Is there some kind of stalker community?”

“If there were, I’d have to track it down and wipe it out.”

“So you do know that what you’re doing is the kind of thing that gets a person wiped out.”

Ethan rested his hands on the steering wheel and stared at me intently. The eye contact felt awkward, so I pointlessly scratched my chin and turned my head away. The night streets outside the window overlapped with my reflection in the glass. It wasn’t like the light from the streetlamps on the bridge of my nose was actually touching me, but it felt itchy for some reason, so I scratched there, too.

The inside of the car was as silent as if sound had never existed since the dawn of time. Every minor noise from the slightest movement felt amplified, so I stayed frozen still.

It was Ethan who broke the silence.

“Give me the key.”

He sounded so entitled, like he was asking for his own property back, that I almost obeyed him reflexively. I stopped my hand from searching my pocket and shrugged.

“Now that I think about it, you’re just sitting in the driver’s seat—you can’t actually drive. Move. Get out. Take a taxi and follow me or do whatever the hell you want…”

“I can start it without a key. Though it might damage the car a bit.”

“Are you crazy?! Don’t you dare. I’m warning you.”

Whether I’d hand over the key or watch my car get trashed—the options I was given were as forceful as a threat. Reluctantly, I pulled out the car key and tossed it at him.

“You should be careful when handling sharp objects,” he advised smoothly as he caught the key in mid-air.

“I did it because I hoped you’d get hurt.”

“Sure. You know, a terrible lie is worse than saying nothing at all.”

I leaned my head against the window and pretended to look away. Soon, the engine hummed to life, and the wheels rolled smoothly. The ride was quite comfortable, as if a professional was at the wheel, but unfortunately, I couldn’t view Ethan as just a driver. He was a brazen stalker and a traitor.

My mood plummeted rapidly. I tried to clutter my mind with random thoughts to avoid being conscious of Ethan next to me, but it backfired. Pieces of our past jumped out and began to taunt me.

There was a time we used to compete over who would give the other an arm pillow.

‘Look at my arm muscles. It’s a waste not to use them.’

I was the louder one, but Ethan was the one who overwhelmed me. With sweet words he didn’t even realize were sweet.

‘I want to put your head right here and stroke it. Your hair is so soft.’

He even gave off a stunning vibe by letting his lips curl into a lazy smile. Again, without even realizing it.

‘It’s cheating to say things like that with that look on your face.’

‘I was just talking normally. I’m not sure about my expression since I can’t see it.’

I remember him touching his cheek as if he were embarrassed.

‘Don’t do that. You’re turning red.’

I pushed away the memory of the past Ethan who listened to me so easily, and the past me who had pressed my lips to his cheek. But my composure was already ruined.

I took a quiet, deep breath, rubbing my eyes which were twitching like a spasm. If I didn’t cool down, I felt like I was going to lose my mind and start screaming. Damn it. I didn’t want to get aggressive. I didn’t want to spit out words I knew I’d regret later.

Sucking on the inside of my cheek as I tried to control myself, I felt a bit miserable. Why did I have to be so rattled by a stalker? The guy following me seemed perfectly fine, so why was I the only one acting like a nervous wreck?

I needed the very advice I had given Liam. I belong to myself, but I couldn’t control myself. My brain couldn’t manage me, and my judgment felt so lost it was highly suspicious.

“Just rest. Don’t think about anything.”

Ethan soothed me in a gentle voice. He acted like he understood everything, even though he was the very culprit making my head spin. Dumbfounded, I shot him a glare.

Understand what? Thinking of me as the same naive Somerset Quinn he used to know was both arrogant and mocking. People mature as time goes by. Just as Ethan isn’t the same Ethan Reed I used to know.