Chapter 5 - The Penitent Neighbor
Three days later, a heavy torrential rain swept across the city, battering the windows of my rented two-bedroom apartment in a modest neighborhood south of the loop.
I was sitting at the small wooden kitchen table, helping Noah draw a picture of a sailboat, when a heavy, hesitant knock sounded at the front door.
I opened it, expecting the landlord. Instead, Ethan stood in the dimly lit, narrow hallway. He was completely drenched, rainwater dripping from his dark hair onto his collar. The immaculate, tailored suits were gone; his crisp white shirt was unbuttoned at the neck, his eyes bloodshot, dark circles carved deep beneath his skin. In his hands, he clutched a battered wooden keepsake box.
I immediately pushed the heavy wooden door to close it, but he jammed the toe of his mud-stained leather shoe into the frame.
"Clara, please," he begged, his voice hoarse and trembling violently. "Just five minutes. I'm not asking for your forgiveness. Just give me five minutes."
"Get out, Ethan," I said, my voice like steel. "Or I’ll call the building security to drag you out—just like you threatened to do to me."
"I deserve that. I deserve worse," he choked out. He didn't try to force his way inside. Instead, right there on the stained concrete floor of the hallway, the most powerful bachelor in Chicago dropped heavily to his knees.
He set the wooden box down and opened the lid with shaking hands. Inside lay every small memory from seven years ago—my cheap silver promise ring, sketchbooks I had left behind in his apartment, dried flowers, and the ticket stubs from our very first movie date.
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"I kept everything," Ethan sobbed, placing his forehead directly against the cold floor at my feet. "I kept it because I thought you threw me away for money, and hating you was the only thing that kept me from dying of a broken heart. I was a fool, Clara. I was an arrogant, blind fool. Please... let me look at him."
Noah walked softly over from the kitchen table, peering out from behind my waist with wide, curious eyes. "Mommy... why is the man from the restaurant crying on the floor?"
