“Sophia, I’m a woman too—I get it. You’re just trying to get Ethan to care more.”
“I’ll apologize on Ethan’s behalf. Please forgive him, okay?”
Olivia called out in her sweet, theatrical voice.
Neighbors poked their heads out to watch.
I stood behind the second-floor window, quietly observing through the glass.
When the crowd thickened and whispers grew louder,
Olivia went all in—she dropped to her knees with a thud.
“Sophia, this is all my fault. I never should’ve joined the racing team.”
“Ethan shouldn’t have taken me in just because I’m an orphan.”
“As long as you forgive me, I’ll kneel here for the rest of my life!”
Ethan arrived just in time to see the scene.
He rushed forward to lift Olivia up, but she jerked away, stubbornly staying on her knees—
as if I had framed her and Ethan, slapping a scarlet A on both of them.
When the onlookers heard the word “orphan,” their disgust turned into sympathy.
I knew exactly what Olivia was doing.
I didn’t engage. I wouldn’t.
In less than ten minutes, Olivia “fainted,”
still managing to deliver her final line with trembling devotion:
“Ethan, I’ve been kneeling so long—Sophia must have forgiven me by now… right?”