Chapter 4

The sound of Ethan hitting the frigid water left a bitter taste in Olivia' s mouth. This was the depth of his devotion. A devotion he would never have for her.

He resurfaced a moment later, gasping, his skin already turning blue from the cold. He was shivering uncontrollably, but as he held up a delicate silver necklace, his face was lit with a triumphant, joyful smile. It was a smile Olivia had never seen him direct at her.

Sophia rushed to him, wrapping him in a hug, cooing over his bravery.

Olivia didn't need to see any more. She turned and walked away, a self-deprecating smile on her own face. The whole situation was a joke, and she had been the punchline.

In the days leading up to the fake wedding, Ethan was barely home. He claimed he was swamped with work, but Olivia knew he was recovering from his icy plunge and spending time with Sophia.

Then, the local health department issued a city-wide warning. A severe strain of flu was spreading rapidly, and they were distributing preventative medication to stop it from becoming a pneumonia epidemic. Every household received a supply.

One morning, Olivia woke up feeling feverish and weak. Her head throbbed, and her body ached. She had caught the flu.

She stumbled to the medicine cabinet to take the pills the health department had provided. She opened the cabinet door.

It was empty. Her entire supply was gone.

Confused, she searched the bathroom, then the kitchen, her desperation growing with each empty drawer. The medicine was nowhere in the house.

Weakened by the rising fever, she put on a coat and braved the heavy snowfall, knocking on her neighbors' doors. But the outbreak was serious. Everyone had only enough medicine for their own families. No one had any to spare.

Feeling hopeless and disoriented, her vision blurring, she found herself standing outside Sophia' s house. She didn't know why she had walked there.

Just as she was about to turn away, she heard Ethan' s voice through the window. It was soft and tender, full of a concern he had never shown her.

"Don' t worry, Sophia. Just rest. I' m here."

Olivia' s heart sank. She peered through a gap in the curtains. Sophia was lying in bed, looking pale and sick. And on her nightstand was a pile of medicine bottles. Olivia' s medicine bottles.

The realization hit her like a physical blow. Ethan had taken her medicine, her only defense against the illness, and given it all to Sophia.

She watched, frozen in the snow, as Ethan, completely oblivious to her presence outside, whispered sweet nothings to the woman in the bed.

He leaned down and pressed a tender, lingering kiss on Sophia' s lips.