Living in Her Shadow

Living in Her Shadow

Rabbit

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I had spent six years as a secret, my relationship with Ethan hidden from my family, dismissing their attempts to set me up with a "serious" doctor. Then, a drunken comment revealed the truth: I was just a stand-in, a convenient replacement for Chloe Davis, Ethan's high-school sweetheart who had suddenly re-entered his life. Chloe wasted no time, returning with calculated malice to reclaim Ethan, subtly manipulating him while openly belittling me, culminating in a deliberately staged "accident" at a party that left my dominant hand severely injured. When I was finally hurt and bleeding in the ER, Ethan, preoccupied with Chloe, dismissed my pain to the nurse as "melodrama," a cold, brutal word that shattered what little was left of my heart. In that moment of crushing betrayal and utter emptiness, I knew I had to choose myself. I deleted him from my life, packed my bags, and, with a one-way ticket, walked away from six years of lies to reclaim my life, finding my true path with an unexpected, kind stranger.

Chapter 1 1

I had spent six years as a secret, my relationship with Ethan hidden from my family, dismissing their attempts to set me up with a "serious" doctor.

Then, a drunken comment revealed the truth: I was just a stand-in, a convenient replacement for Chloe Davis, Ethan's high-school sweetheart who had suddenly re-entered his life.

Chloe wasted no time, returning with calculated malice to reclaim Ethan, subtly manipulating him while openly belittling me, culminating in a deliberately staged "accident" at a party that left my dominant hand severely injured.

When I was finally hurt and bleeding in the ER, Ethan, preoccupied with Chloe, dismissed my pain to the nurse as "melodrama," a cold, brutal word that shattered what little was left of my heart.

In that moment of crushing betrayal and utter emptiness, I knew I had to choose myself. I deleted him from my life, packed my bags, and, with a one-way ticket, walked away from six years of lies to reclaim my life, finding my true path with an unexpected, kind stranger.

Chapter 1

Ava Chen stared at her brother's face on her phone screen. Leo looked pleased, his smile a little too wide.

"So, you'll actually do it? You'll come home this weekend? Meet Julian Vance?"

Ava sighed, pushing a strand of dark hair from her face.

"Yes, Leo. I said I would."

She was tired of the arguments, tired of her parents' hopeful hints that stretched for months. Julian Vance, the brilliant young surgeon. Their perfect match for her.

"Finally," Leo breathed out, relief clear in his voice. "Mom and Dad will be thrilled. It's about time you considered someone... serious."

He didn't say Ethan's name, but Ava felt the familiar jab. Her six-year relationship, a secret from her family, was always the unnamed shadow in these conversations.

"This guy you've been seeing, Ava, it's going nowhere. He hasn't even met us."

Ava bit back a sharp reply. Leo didn't know. He couldn't.

"Anyway," Leo continued, oblivious, "when you come down for the welcome home dinner, maybe you can bring your... friend. It's a family thing, you know. Kind of a pre-celebration."

Ava's stomach twisted. A pre-celebration for what? Her arranged future?

"He can't make it," Ava said, her voice flat.

"Too bad," Leo said, then launched into plans for the weekend.

Ava barely listened, nodding, making vague sounds of agreement until she could finally say goodbye.

She ended the call just as the loft door opened and Ethan Miller walked in, all easy charm and tousled hair.

He'd heard the tail end of her call.

"Can't make it to what?" he asked, dropping his guitar case by the couch.

Ava's mind flashed. My wedding. The thought was bitter, a desperate, sarcastic echo of her family's hopes.

Ethan walked towards her, his eyes, the color of warm whiskey, searching hers. He was too close, his scent familiar and unsettling.

"Did you tell Leo about us?" he asked, his voice soft, a little too casual.

Ava shook her head. "You know I wouldn't."

Ethan had always been clear about that. Leo was his college best friend. The bro code. Leo's protectiveness.

"He'd skin me alive," Ethan said, a smirk playing on his lips, but his eyes were serious. He ran a hand through his already messy hair.

Ava pulled away slightly, the weariness of the past few weeks, the past six years, pressing down on her.

"Ethan," she began, her voice quiet, "what are we? Am I your girlfriend?"

It was a question she'd asked before, in different ways, at different times. The answer was always the same.

He stepped closer again, his hands finding her waist, his charm turning up like a dimmer switch.

"Baby, isn't this enough?" he murmured, his lips near her ear. "Haven't we been together for six years? Don't I come home to you every night?"

He kissed her then, a deep, practiced kiss that used to make her forget everything.

Now, it just made her feel cold.

She was a secret. A comfortable arrangement. That much had been clear for a long time.

But the real reason she'd finally caved to Leo's pressure, the reason she was actually going to meet this Dr. Vance, was something new.

A few weeks ago, at one of Ethan's band gigs, the air thick with smoke and the smell of stale beer, his bassist, drunk and loose-lipped, had slurred, "Ethan, man, you only ever go for the Chloe Davis types, you know? Creative brunettes, that whole artsy vibe."

Ava, a graphic novelist, a creative brunette with a decidedly bohemian style, had felt the floor drop out from under her.

Chloe Davis. Ethan's high-school sweetheart. The one who'd shattered his heart by moving to Paris. The one he supposedly never got over.

Her entire relationship, six years of her life, might have been built on her being a stand-in, a pale imitation.

Even Ethan's fierce passion for his indie music, the very thing that drew her to him, was, according to the same drunken bandmate, fueled by Chloe's long-ago declaration: "I'll only marry a rockstar."

Ava had listened, her heart turning to ice, and in that moment, something inside her had finally, irrevocably, broken.

The decision to meet Julian Vance wasn't just about her parents anymore. It was about her. It was about finding out if there was anything real left for her, anywhere.

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