With one last glance around the banquet hall, Garrett surmised that Ethan was no longer in danger of
being exposed.
“I’m sorry but I need to help my girlfriend with something. Shall I walk you to your husband?”
With a smile, he gestured in the direction of the gate. After a moment’s consideration, Janet nodded
and followed him into the garden.
Ethan was seated in one of the benches outside, his legs crossed, a glass of wine in his hand.
Garrett didn’t linger. He all but fled the scene after escorting Janet to her husband.
“What are you doing out here? Aren’t you cold?” Janet plopped down on the bench opposite Ethan’s
with a huff. Her eyes were clouded with disappointment.
She had come here for nothing. She didn’t even get to see Ethan and Brandon together.
“It’s too noisy in there,” Ethan replied softly. He took a sip of his wine as the music from the ballroom
started to dwindle down. He heaved an inward sigh of relief.
The party was finally coming to an end. Ethan glanced at Janet and found her fiddling with her fingers,
seemingly deep in thought. He walked over and held out his hand.
“Shall we go home?” His voice jolted her back to her senses. Janet nodded and accepted his hand.
There was no point in staying when Brandon had already left.
The Larson Group had pre-arranged for cars and chauffeurs to send the guests home. Wearing a
mask, Sean pretended to be the driver and opened the door for Ethan.
Janet slumped in the backseat, her eyes fixed outside the window. She remained quiet and dejected
throughout the drive.
Despite her best efforts to distract herself, she just couldn’t stop thinking about the relationship
between Ethan and Brandon. She would sneak glances at the man beside her from time to time. Janet
considered asking him once and for all, but ultimately decided against it.
It wasn’t an easy question, after all, and who was to say that Ethan would tell her the truth?
As for the man in question, he had sensed that something was bothering Janet since the moment she
had joined him back at the garden. And yet, he somehow knew that she was still unaware that he and
Brandon were the same person. Otherwise, she would have confronted him there and then. Ethan
reached over and closed the window on her side. A slight tension fell in the car, which Sean took as his
cue to slow down.
Ethan gathered Janet into his arms.
“Is there something in your mind? Perhaps something you would like to ask me?”
He always wanted to know what she was thinking, especially when her thoughts started bothering her.
They might have grown closer recently, but Ethan couldn’t shake off the feeling that Janet had put up a
wall between them. A couple of times, she had instinctively recoiled from his touch, and other times,
she would avoid it altogether.
Janet snuggled into his tight embrace and pondered her options. After some hesitation, she decided it
would be better to just ask him directly instead of repeatedly overthinking matters without reaching a
conclusion.
“You and Brandon… Are you…”
Her voice was so quiet that Ethan had to lean close to hear her properly.
“Are we what?” he prompted.
Janet took a deep, fortifying breath, then pulled back and looked Ethan in the eye. “Are you sleeping
together?”
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