CHAPTER NINETEEN:ETHAN'S POV

CHAPTER NINETEEN:ETHAN'S POV


The sun peeking through my blinds tore at my eyes the moment I opened them. Picking up my phone I checked if I had a call from Liam, or at least a text but my hopes were deflated. Nothing.

I marched straight to the bathroom, freshened up like a man possessed, climbed into the waiting car, and gave the driver Liam’s address.

If he wouldn’t answer me over the phone, today, he’d answer me in person.

I wasn’t giving up, not like this.

……….

When I rang the bell, I could feel my heart in my throat. The house hadn’t changed. The soft potted plants still sat on the porch. The wind chime danced in the breeze, just as it always had. Everything was the same, except me.

And then… I heard footsteps behind the door.

“Liam,” I breathed.

He didn’t open it.

His voice came through the wood, low and tired. “Ethan, go home.”

“Not until you see me.”

There was a long pause, thick with hesitation. Then, slowly, the door creaked open.

His eyes were bloodshot, jaw clenched, shoulders taut. He didn’t step aside to let me in. He just stood there, arms folded, staring like he was looking at a ghost he wished he’d never known.

“I don’t like how you reacted,” I said softly, stepping closer. “You just walked away. No goodbye. No apology for the things you said. I only asked that you leave my room for a minute but you left Santorini, you left me drowning in silence.”

I studied his face, trying to read the emotions behind his stoic expression. Anger. Hurt. Maybe even betrayal.

“You know where I come from,” I continued, voice shaking. “You know what my father would do if he found out…”

“You think I don’t know that?” he snapped. “You think I don’t understand what it’s like to come out to people who’d rather bury you than accept you? You, of all people, should know better.”

I fell silent. He had a point, a painful one.

“You let her walk into that room and rip us apart,” he said bitterly. “You don’t have an actual plan, Ethan. You just want us to remain like this while you go ahead and marry Dinah.

But you can't eat your cake and have it.”

“I’m scared,” I admitted. “Everything I’ve ever known is tied to a version of me that doesn’t exist anymore. But I’m trying, Liam. Please.”

He shook his head slowly. “Trying isn’t enough. Not anymore.”

“Then give me time,” I begged. “Let’s keep this quiet. I’ll figure things out, I swear. Maybe things won’t even work out with Dinah. Maybe she’ll…”

“Stop.” His voice cut sharp through my sentence. “Don’t you dare pin this on ‘maybe.’ I’m not staying in a secret relationship while you play housemates with my cousin.”

His words hit like bricks.

“You want to live a double life? Do it. But don’t drag me through it. I’m a respectable man, Ethan. I deserve more than crumbs.”

“Liam, please… I can’t do this,” I said, my voice hoarse. “I’m going to lose everything.”

Liam sighed. “You won’t lose me.”

“That’s not enough.”

“It should be.”

His voice cut through the silence like a blade.

“You don’t get it. You came out years ago. You’re self-made. My father… he’d rather bury me than accept this.”

I turned to him, and the tears came before I could even try to stop them. They burned down my cheeks, hot and humiliating. I hated how small I sounded, how fragile I felt saying it out loud but it was the truth. A truth I’d spent years avoiding, locking away in a dark, crumbling corner of my mind where it couldn’t suffocate me.

Liam didn’t flinch. He just looked at me with this soft, devastating clarity in his eyes, like he was seeing every broken part of me and still choosing kindness.

“If you stay silent… what do you lose?”

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t. The words were right there, trembling on the edge of my tongue, but they tasted like fear. Like cowardice. Like every lie I’d ever told myself to stay safe, to stay hidden.

Liam stood slowly. The rustle of his coat felt louder than it should have. There was no anger in his voice now, just quiet, steady resolve like a final note in a song that had been playing too long.

“I won’t be your secret, Ethan. I deserve better, and so do you. If you change your mind, text me.”

I opened my mouth. Reached for him. Anything to stop him from walking away again. My hand hovered in the air like a half-formed apology.

But he stepped back, eyes still locked with mine, and gently closed the door between us.

And just like that… he was gone.

Maybe for real this time.

I stood there, rooted to the porch, breathing like someone had knocked the wind out of me. My heart felt like it had been scooped out of my chest and shattered across the pavement. I wanted to scream. To pound on the door. To chase after him and say all the things I hadn’t had the courage to say when it actually mattered.

But I didn’t move. I wanted him badly and I wouldn't stop fighting to get him on my page, but for now, I'll give him his space.

I just stumbled back to the car, every step heavier than the last. My vision blurred. My chest caved in on itself, each breath more ragged than the one before. My hands trembled so hard I could barely get the keys into the ignition. I sat behind the wheel and gripped it like a lifeline.

He was gone. And I hadn’t tried to stop him.

Because deep down, I was still afraid.

Still scared of what Dinah would do with the information she had. Still the scared little boy raised to believe that love like this, love that burned quietly, love that didn’t fit inside a Sunday sermon, was shameful. Damning. Worth hiding.

Later that night, I sat alone in my room, the silence so thick it felt like it was pressing against my chest. The lamp on my desk cast long, tired shadows across the floor. I hadn’t moved in over an hour. Just sat there staring at my phone.

The screen glowed coldly in the dark.

One message. Just one. But it had cracked something wide open inside me.

Diana:

You have 72 hours before I let the world know what kind of man you really are.

My grip on the phone tightened until my knuckles turned white. My heart pounded in my ears.

There it was, the clock ticking on my truth.