"At that time, her family strongly opposed us, and her mother kept trying to stop us from seeing each other."
Ethan Grant chuckled as he recalled, lifting his glass to take a big sip of wine.
"The more they resisted, the stronger our resolve to be together became. I didn't care if my family cut off my source of income. No money? I'd go out and earn it myself."
"So we rented an apartment outside and started living together."
The words "living together" made Mr. Sterling wrinkle his brow, giving Ethan a cold stare.
Ethan acted as if he hadn't noticed and continued speaking.
"Life was a bit poorer than before, but it was obvious—we both could make money on our own, and we were earning more and more."
"Looking at the situation at that time, if we carried on like that, our life would surely have been very happy."
As Ethan spoke, he took another sip of wine. The wine was astringent, not palatable, just like smoke—which always choked his heart and lungs.
But he liked it.
