Just now, as I watched Ethan criticize me impatiently while smiling down at a text from Victoria, something inside me went cold.

Suddenly, none of it felt worth it anymore.

I didn't feel an urge to apologize. I just sat there in stony silence.

Ethan waited for a moment. When it became clear that I wasn't going to admit fault, he clicked his tongue in annoyance, grabbed his phone, and walked out of the hospital cafeteria.

I sat alone, staring blankly at my laptop screen. I had no idea how long I'd been frozen there when my phone buzzed. I'd received a voice message.

After some hesitation, I tapped to play it.

Victoria's sweet voice filled my ears. "Ethan, is Leah mad because of my mistake? Why don't you call her and ask her to come over? I'll apologize to her in person."

Ethan's impatient voice cut in. "No need! Let her sulk if she wants to. I'm not her babysitter. I don't have to keep coddling her."

"Oh, Ethan, don't say that. Women need to be coddled. If you talk like that, you'll just push Leah farther away."

Victoria sounded gentle and thoughtful, like some understanding little angel.

Ethan snorted. "I don't have time to coddle her. She can be mad if she wants. Honestly, if she hadn't helped me with that impossible case analysis back then, I wouldn't even be dating a broke student like her. She's so sensitive and cries over everything. I've been done with it for years."

At that moment, it felt like someone had ripped my heart out.

It hurt.

It really hurt.

"Seriously, Leah's just way too fragile. I've never met someone so emotional."

That was Mark's voice.

"Tell me about it. Every time I threaten to break up, she cries and apologizes first. I'm tired of it! Honestly, she'd be doing me a favor by ignoring me. That way, I can finally be rid of her for good."

Mark laughed. "Be rid of Leah? No way. She's so clingy. I bet if you don't go back tonight, she'll be crying and apologizing at your door tomorrow."

"Alright! Let's make a bet. The loser buys dinner!"

The recording ended.

I sat in the corner of the cafeteria, gripping my phone so hard that my nails dug into my palm, but I barely felt it.

So that was how Ethan saw me. For four years, he'd thought of me as a burden. Everything he'd ever done for me was just because I'd helped him out once.

Finally, the dam broke. Tears streamed down my face. I covered my mouth, trying not to make a sound.

I thought to myself, "Leah Hayes, you're really pathetic."

That night, Ethan didn't come back to our apartment in BackBay.

I didn't call him endlessly or demand to know where he was like I would have done before.

I just sat on the bed, listening to that recording over and over.

Every time I played it, my heart broke a little more.

After Mom died of cancer, I thought I'd found a new anchor—Ethan. He was the youngest candidate for attending physician at Redwood General Hospital and a star lecturer at Hawford Medical School.

It had been four years. Four years of supporting each other through everything.

Ethan had genuinely cared for me. During clinical rotations, whenever senior doctors made things difficult, he was always the first to stand up for me.

He remembered what kind of coffee I liked on night shifts, and he would order takeout for me after I pulled 36-hour shifts.

We were inseparable, like two halves of a whole.

Because of that, people envied us, calling us the "power couple of medicine".

After four years of being so close, I'd grown used to Ethan being a part of my life. I thought I couldn't live without him.

I'd imagined our future together. We would be at the same top hospital, complete our residencies side by side, get married, have kids, and build a warm home together.

I believed there was nothing that could ever come between us.

But that peace ended the day Victoria returned to Estain.

She came back when I was in my fourth year of med school.

Her father, Seth Hartfield, was the chairman of Redwood General Hospital's board. Her mother, Diana Rosales, was a renowned plastic surgeon.

Victoria had finished a master's in public health at Boskary and returned to take a hospital operations role under Seth.

She and Ethan had been engaged once, but they broke up when she went abroad.

Now that she was back, she made it clear that she wanted him again.

The first time Victoria showed up in front of me, I felt the threat immediately.

Poised like a princess, she was in a Chanel suit, Louboutins clicking under her feet. Meanwhile, I was in wrinkled scrubs, my hair in a messy ponytail, with dark circles from sleepless nights.

"So, you're Leah?" Victoria sized me up. "Ethan mentioned you. Thank you for taking care of him all these years."

Her tone was polite but distant, as if I were nothing more than a passing presence in Ethan's life.

"But now I'm back." She smiled and continued, "Ethan needs someone who can support him in social circles and help build his career. You get what I mean, right?"

At that moment, the gap between us hit me like a punch to the gut.

I was a broke student scraping by on scholarships and grants. Victoria, meanwhile, was a high-born heiress, raised in the lap of luxury.

I thought Ethan would stand by me and tell Victoria that we were together, but he didn't.

He simply said, "Victoria, Leah is a very important… friend of mine."

Friend.

He used that word.

Not girlfriend, not partner—friend.

From that day forward, Victoria began to set her plan in motion.

She "accidentally" booked two concert tickets and invited Ethan. She mentioned his research projects at board meetings to get him more resources. She even hosted weekend gatherings for doctors and left me out.

Gradually, Ethan started spending more time with Victoria.

"Her dad's the board chairman," he explained. "I need to maintain that connection. It's important for my career. Besides, Victoria's in the medical field too. We have a lot in common. Don't overthink it. It's just work."

Every time, I chose to believe him.

Every time, I convinced myself it was temporary.

Until the day I discovered that months of my research data had vanished.

Victoria asked to meet me at the rooftop garden of Redwood General Hospital. It was a staff lounge area—open and airy, with a sweeping view of the Estain skyline.

She looked fragile, almost pitiful, as she explained that the data loss had been an accident.

"Leah, I swear I didn't mean to. I just wanted to check on your research progress so I could help you request more funding from the board. I must have pressed the wrong key by mistake…"

As she spoke, her eyes reddened, tears pooling in them.

"I know you and Ethan have been together since you were in the med school. How could I possibly have those kinds of intentions? Please, don't make this a big deal. My dad just had heart surgery. He can't handle any stress right now…"

Her tears finally fell.

I relented and reached out to hold her. "Victoria, don't cry. I get it. It could've been an accident—"

The moment I reached out, she suddenly grabbed my hand, pulled hard, and threw herself backward.

"Ah!"

Her scream drew the attention of several nurses taking a break in the garden.

Victoria sat on the ground, clutching her arm while crying uncontrollably.

I stood frozen.

"What happened?" The nurses rushed over.

"I'm fine… It's nothing…" Victoria said weakly. "I just lost my balance."

But a flicker of triumphant provocation flashed in her eyes as she looked at me.

Within minutes, Ethan arrived after being notified by one of the nurses. The moment he saw Victoria sitting on the ground, he rushed to her side.

"What happened?" He crouched down to examine her arm.

"Did Leah push her?" one nurse whispered. "I saw them arguing, and then Victoria fell."

"I didn't!" I protested immediately. "She grabbed me and—"

"Leah," Ethan cut me off. There was disappointment in his voice as he continued, "Tell me the truth. We can talk this out."

"That is the truth! She pulled my hand and fell on purpose!"

"Leah, her arm is already bruised." His tone turned colder. "Why did you do this? Is it because of the research data?"

He didn't believe me. He believed Victoria.

My head was spinning, and my whole world came crashing down.

"Ethan, Victoria didn't delete my data by accident! She did it on purpose! She wanted to steal my research for her friend." I couldn't hold back my suspicions any longer.

Ethan let out a long sigh, disappointment written all over his face. "Leah, listen, I get that you're stressed, but you can't go around accusing people like this. That's not you."

He told me that just a few days ago, Victoria had come to him first, saying she felt like I was hostile toward her.

And to avoid interfering with my relationship with Ethan, Seth had even offered to excuse himself from any board decisions regarding Ethan's promotion.

"Mr. Hartfield asked me if there was some misunderstanding between you two," Ethan said, his voice sharp with accusation.

"Victoria even said that if she's making you uncomfortable, she'd request a transfer to the Oscein branch. Leah, did you say something behind Victoria's back? Is that why she wants to leave?"

I had no words to argue.

The way Ethan saw it, Victoria and Seth's "compromise" was goodwill, but my pointing out Victoria's scheming was jealousy and slander.

He didn't believe me.

In the end, Victoria only suffered a minor scrape on her arm, but that incident changed the way Ethan looked at me forever.

In his eyes, I became the petty, jealous woman who couldn't tolerate others, and Victoria became the gracious, innocent victim.

I wasn't willing to accept it. I tried everything to prove my innocence and make Ethan see Victoria for who she really was.

But she was too cunning.

Instead of exposing her, I kept getting played, again and again.