She immediately shut up, frightened.
Ethan recognized the girl in front of him. “At the graduation performance,” he said slowly, “you were the one who forced Madison on stage, weren’t you?”
Sophia’s face turned pale. Ethan’s gaze fell on the resumes on her desk nearby.
Many of them were for subsidiaries under the Quinn Corporation. Ethan let out a cold laugh. “Don’t bother applying,” he said coldly. “The Quinn Corporation won’t be hiring you.”
With those words, he ignored Sophia’s instantly ashen face and left without looking back.
***
Back in the car, Ethan immediately called Madison’s number. But the phone was off.
Frustrated, he started the car. But the moment he pressed the accelerator, he suddenly realized he
had no idea where to find Madison. He knew Madison was from Southport. But other than that, did
she have relatives in Northwood? Friends outside of school? Where did she like to hang out? He
knew nothing.
During their two years together, it seemed like Madison had always been the one chasing after him, eating at his favorite restaurants, going to his favorite places, hanging out with his friends. He had never paid attention to anything about her.
A strange feeling of frustration rose in his heart. He took out his phone and said coldly, “Come out.
Let’s drink.”
At the club.
In the roped–off VIP section where the bass throbbed against velvet banquettes, Ethan had bottle service bring over a small arsenal of top–shelf liquor. But unlike every other night, he didn’t pour a
single drink.
Instead, he took out his phone, took a picture, added his location, and posted it on his social media. Then he remained restless. He kept checking his phone, but after a long wait, there was no
response from Madison.
Ethan grew even more irritable. He rarely posted on social media, but on the few occasions he had in the past, Madison had almost always replied instantly.
But this time, not only had he posted, but he’d posted so many drinks.
Madison had always hated it when he drank. Why wasn’t she reacting at all?
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Could it be… she saw the location and is coming directly?
Ethan never thought he’d be the one overthinking things like this one day.
While he was feeling annoyed, one of his friends slung an arm around his shoulder.
“What’s up, Ethan? You call us out to drink but aren’t drinking yourself, just staring at your phone.
Waiting for someone’s message?”
Everyone laughed. “Don’t talk nonsense. It’s always others waiting for our Ethan’s messages. Since when does Ethan wait for anyone else’s messages?”
Suddenly, someone noticed something.
“Speaking of which, I haven’t seen Madison lately.”
At gatherings like this in the past, Madison would always follow Ethan.
She didn’t drink, just sat there quietly with a glass of orange juice, never causing a fuss.
“Now that you mention it, it really has been a long time since I’ve seen Madison.” Everyone got interested. “Ethan, why didn’t you invite her? I haven’t seen her since she got all pretty!”
Ethan’s hand on his glass tightened sharply.
Everyone sensed something was wrong. Their tone became cautious. “Ethan… did you and Madison have a fight?”
Ethan didn’t speak, but everyone understood what had happened and quickly tried to comfort him.
“Ethan, don’t take it to heart. Girls having a little temper is normal. Especially since Madison is actually a beauty now, it’s even more normal for her to have some attitude!”
Ethan finally snapped back to reality. He looked up. “A little temper?”
“Yeah,” everyone laughed. “She’s just ignoring you on purpose, making you realize she’s angry. Don’t worry, in a few days she’ll show up in front of you on her own, and you can just sweet–talk her
then.”
Ethan’s grip slowly loosened.
Was that it?
Was she giving him the silent treatment because he’d destroyed her things over that short film? Was that why she’d disappeared these past few days? The heavy stone in his heart slowly eased. Ethan finally relaxed a little.
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For the next few days, he waited for Madison to show up on her own. On the first day, Madison
didn’t appear.
Ethan happened to run into Jake, who was bragging loudly about how he wished he’d kissed Madison back at the KTV now that he knew how pretty she was. Ethan directly punched him.
On the second day, Madison didn’t appear. Ethan, unable to sit still, ended up driving to every highly–rated taqueria and Mexican joint in the city, because Madison had once mentioned she loved a good spicy carnitas burrito.
On the third day, Madison still didn’t appear. Ethan was about to completely lose it when,
“Ethan!”
In the bar, one of his brothers suddenly jumped up, shouting. “Madison!”
Had Madison come? Ethan’s heart leapt. He immediately looked up, only to hear his brother say in a panicked voice, “Ethan, Madison… she seems to have gone back to Southport.”
