Eight Years Of Silence Ended When I Saw Him Talk To Her Chapter 05
Meanwhile, Evan was bent over, treating Sophie’s rash-covered arm.
Her entire arm was covered in red hives, and in some places, she had scratched the skin raw.
Evan held a cotton swab, his movements very gentle.
“Does it hurt?”
“A little.”
“Bear with it. I’m almost done.”
His phone buzzed in his pocket.
He took it out with one hand and glanced at it casually.
It was my text.
Me: [Evan, let’s break up.]
His finger stopped on the screen.
His whole body seemed to freeze.
Sophie sensed that something was wrong and looked up at him.
“Mr. Harlow? What happened?”
He did not speak.
His eyes locked on those words.
He thought he had misread them, so he read them again.
But the words had not changed.
They still said the same thing: I wanted to break up.
He exited the text message, opened our WhatsApp thread, and typed a few words.
Evan: [What are you throwing a fit about now?]
The moment he sent it, only one gray check mark appeared beneath the message.
He froze.
He sent it again.
Still one gray check mark.
He had been blocked.
Evan’s heart dropped sharply, and a strange unease surged up inside him.
On instinct, he dialed my number.
“We’re sorry. The number you have dialed is not in service.”
He called more than a dozen times.
Every time, the same cold automated voice answered.
Evan’s hands began to tremble, and his breathing grew ragged.
Sophie leaned in to look at his phone.
“What did Claire say?”
He did not answer.
He stood up and walked out into the hallway.
Unwilling to give up, Evan tried calling from different numbers, but that automated voice never
changed.
The phone slowly slid away from his ear.
He looked down at my number, his mind blank.
The number was not in service?
What did that mean?
Had I actually canceled my number just to cut things off with him completely?
Sophie followed him out and stood behind him.
“Mr. Harlow, did Claire misunderstand something?”
He said nothing.
“I’ll explain it to her. I’ll make it clear that we’re just coworkers.”
“No need.”
Evan cut her off, his voice a little hoarse.
“She won’t listen to your explanation.”
“Then what do we do? Did you two really break up?”
He did not answer.
He turned and walked back into the ER, then sat down in a chair.
Lowering his head, he looked at his phone. The screen was still lit.
In our WhatsApp thread, that single gray check mark looked especially brutal.
By the time Sophie’s allergic reaction had been treated, it was already late at night.
Evan drove her back to her apartment.
The car stopped downstairs, but he did not get out.
Sophie unbuckled her seat belt and looked at him.
“Mr. Harlow, do you want to come upstairs for a bit?”
“No.”
“Mr. Harlow, Claire…”
“Let’s not talk about her.’
Sophie bit her lip, her hand resting on the car door without opening it.
After a moment of silence, she suddenly spoke.
“Evan, I like you.”
Evan’s fingers paused.
He turned his head to look at her.
“What did you say?”
“I said I like you. I’ve liked you since my first day at the company.”
Sophie’s face was red, though it was hard to tell whether it was from the allergic reaction or
something else.
Her eyes were bright with expectation.
Evan stared at her for a few seconds.
Then he smiled faintly, without much warmth.
“Sophie, you knew I had a girlfriend, didn’t you?”
“Didn’t you two break up?”
“Even if we did, I still wouldn’t be with you.”
