Sleeves Flowing in Spring

“You should really start putting more effort into your looks.”

Attached was a picture of the lipstick he had bought.

Too bad I had an excellent memory.

I opened Claire’s social media and scrolled back to a post from a few days ago. Just as I had suspected, it was the exact same lipstick.

[This shade is hideous.]

I scrolled up to her most recent post from earlier today.

It was a luxury gift set of lipsticks from the same brand.

[Someone got these to make it up to me. Hehe.]

…

The situation could not be clearer.

Ethan’s cluelessness had led him to buy lipstick for Claire, only for her to trash it.

So, to make it up to her, he bought her the entire luxury set.

Rather than let the rejected one go to waste, he graciously handed it down to me like some kind of pity offering. He gave me the lipstick that Claire did not want.

He probably thought that nine hundred dollars was a fortune to me, that I would be grateful.

…

Some faint rustling behind me told me that Ryan was standing there. I did not even have to turn around.

I could feel the warmth of his freshly showered skin radiating against my back.

I locked my phone screen, only to catch his reflection on the dark surface. He was bare-chested.

He reached out and casually adjusted the collar of my shirt with an almost deliberate patience.

“Soph, there’s something I want to tell you.”

He only ever called me by my nickname when he was trying to coax me.

I hummed in response.

Just then, my phone started ringing.

I was momentarily taken aback as I glanced at the screen. It was Ethan.

The moment Ryan saw the name, his gaze darkened.

“Answer it.”

“Sophie, that lipstick’s your birthday gift from me. I know you’re happy. After all, you have a generous boyfriend.”

He sounded very drunk on the other end.

“You’d better obey me from now on, got it? No one else is going to spoil you the way I do. Hmph. Soph, I know you’re an adult now, so doesn’t that mean we can finally…”

He started slurring his words, and they led to something unpleasant.

I did not particularly care. However, behind me, Ryan’s fingers suddenly began moving inappropriately.

“Did you have a little too much to drink, Ethan?” I responded absentmindedly as I held down Ryan’s wandering hand.

I glared at him.

He told me to answer the call, he was messing with me at this moment.

“I didn’t drink that much. Soph, what are you doing?”

“Just doing homework… Ow!”

I had barely managed to brush Ryan off when he bit my shoulder without warning.

“Huh? Soph, what was that? I swear I heard something.”

Even wasted, Ethan still managed to pick up on the smallest sound.

Meanwhile, Ryan’s damp black hair brushed against my neck. He was clearly in no rush to end his little game.

“Wait. I definitely heard something just now.”

On the other end of the line, the drunk idiot suddenly sobered up a little.

I mouthed at Ryan to cut it out.

He smirked and nodded.

I tightened my grip on the phone and blurted out the first excuse that came to mind, “It’s nothing, probably just the neighbors arguing.”

“Fine. Tell me you love me.”

Drunk Ethan was like a malfunctioning machine. There was no way I would say something disgusting like that.

“That’s enough. Stop…”

“Say you love me, Soph.”

“I…”

I did not get to finish my sentence.

The person pressed against my shoulder let out a soft chuckle.

It was clear enough to travel straight through the phone.

The other end of the line went dead silent, and I froze.

As if Ryan had not caused enough trouble already, he decided to make it worse.

He then ran his fingers through my hair.

“Baby, are we sleeping on the same bed tonight?”

Ethan Scott completely lost it.

I never expected such an extreme reaction, but he went insane.

First came the endless calls. Then, the flood of texts. [Who was that guy next to you?]