30 Days of Passion and Revenge-Chapter 299: Ethan’s Past Revealed

"I’m going to shower!" Ethan declared without sparing Lily another glance. He pushed her off him, leaped off the bed, and strode out of the bedroom.

Lily sat back down on the chair, her hands still tingling with the lingering warmth of his chest.

She blinked her dry eyes, refusing to let her tears fall.

After a moment, Ethan’s irritated voice echoed out from the poorly soundproofed bathroom. "Lily! I don’t have any clean clothes!"

Of course, he would end up ordering her around.

Sighing in resignation, Lily opened the wardrobe to look for clothes. Inside, men’s and women’s clothes were mixed together. The women’s clothes clearly belonged to his mother, while the men’s clothes were few in number, half of them being school uniforms.

Lily pulled out the largest school uniform shirt she could find and a pair of pants and walked to the bathroom door. "I’ve got them," she said.

A long, masculine hand shot out to snatch the clothes from her hands with a rough and impatient motion.

Lily returned to the sofa to wait, her stomach growling audibly.

"Bang!"

The bathroom door swung open, and Ethan stepped out. He was wearing old-fashioned slippers, school uniform pants that were too short for him, and a white shirt that couldn’t even be buttoned all the way up, exposing much of his toned chest. The sleeves didn’t reach his wrists, looking more like three-quarter-length sleeves.

Lily’s gaze slowly traveled upward, finally landing on Ethan’s expression, which was as dark as a thundercloud. His cold, sharp features and ill-fitting school uniform created a look that could only be described as... mismatched.

"You’ve grown quite a bit," Lily remarked, her eyes meeting his frosty glare. Back then, he must have already been in high school, but he had grown significantly taller since.

"This looks awful!" Ethan huffed coldly, tugging at the shirt awkwardly. He couldn’t believe there was a day he’d have to wear his old, tattered school uniform again.

"Are you cold? Put on a coat," Lily suggested as she stood up. Her eyes briefly lingered on the embroidered school crest on his shirt. Something about it seemed oddly familiar. "This high school... I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before."

Ethan’s expression turned even colder.

Seen it before?

Their two schools were across the street, and she didn’t even remember his high school?!

Lily stared at the crest and the school’s name embroidered beneath it. It really did seem familiar...

It was as though she had seen it somewhere.

"I remember now," Lily suddenly said. "It was across from the middle school I used to attend. So you went to that high school?"

But what she remembered most about that school was its poor reputation.

At the time, her teachers used to say things like, "Don’t think you’re special just because you’re the children of wealthy parents. That money belongs to your family, not you! If you don’t work hard now, you’ll end up like the students from that school across the street!"

The teachers’ words had left a deep impression on the students.

As a result, Lily had always associated the high school across the street with negativity.

So Ethan had attended that high school... Which meant that she and Ethan had only been separated by a single road years ago?

Ethan glared at her coldly, tugging at his ill-fitting shirt as he walked over to the sofa and sat down.

"Did you see me at school back then?" Lily asked, grasping at the only connection she could think of. "But I wasn’t particularly popular back then, so how would you have known me?"

After all, they had attended different schools.

One was an elite private middle school for wealthy students, and the other was a notoriously bad high school.

Apart from being separated by a road, students from the two schools had no interaction—and usually looked down on each other.

Ethan’s glare grew colder. Did she really not remember at all?

Of course, back then, she had probably looked at him as if he were trash.

Ethan’s silence only added to Lily’s confusion. "Or... did you have a crush on me back then?"

That couldn’t be it, right?

She was in her first year of middle school then, and he was already in high school...

A high schooler having a crush on a middle schooler?

Ethan’s gaze turned icier. "Lily, when did your skin get so thick?!"

A crush on her? A girl whose eyes were always filled with arrogance, who looked down on everyone? A girl who wore a princess dress that was so hideous it had burned itself into his memory for years?

Her ridiculous assumption and his sharp tone made Lily purse her lips.

Unknowingly, Ethan had influenced many aspects of her life, including her ability to tolerate his brash attitude.

After a moment, Lily admitted honestly, "Even though I wasn’t popular at school, plenty of boys still liked me. So if you had a crush on me back then, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about."

It was true that she had been surrounded by boys during her school days. But at the time, her heart had been set on Alex Carter...

Her dream had been to become a renowned director and live in a seaside villa with Alex and her family.

No one else had ever caught her eye.

"..." Ethan clenched his fists tightly, his knuckles turning white. His glare was as fierce as if he wanted to devour her. "Who had a crush on you back then?! Who’s embarrassed to admit anything?!"

"..." Lily was at a loss for words.

It was true—Ethan had never been the type to feel embarrassed. He probably would’ve dragged her away without hesitation if he had liked her back then.

Her tragic story might have started several years earlier if that had happened.

"You hadn’t even grown up yet—flat as a board. Who’d be interested in that?!" Ethan sneered, his disdainful gaze sweeping over her now-curved figure. He tugged at the uncomfortable fabric of the school uniform, wondering how he had worn it for so many years.

Lily was struck speechless. What middle school girl had a fully developed figure?!

Staring at the cold cement floor, Lily asked hesitantly, "Then how did we meet? Why don’t I remember anything at all?"

How could Ethan have recognized her after nine years and called her by name while she had no memory of him?

Recognition?

It was him recognizing her. Back then, she wouldn’t have even spared him a glance as if he were nothing more than a pest.

The thought alone irritated him.

How had he fallen hopelessly in love with this woman after nine years?

"Lily, back then—" Ethan started to growl, but he was interrupted by her stomach growling loudly. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Lily flushed and placed her hands over her stomach, embarrassed. "What about back then?"

She was genuinely curious about how they had first met, and she needed to fill in the gaps in her memory.

"You haven’t eaten?!" Ethan barked, his glare intensifying. She had stomach problems and still dared to skip meals? What was wrong with her?!

"You haven’t eaten either," Lily countered, meeting his fierce gaze.

She had spent the whole night taking care of him, worried that his fever wouldn’t break. How could she have found the time to eat?

"Fine, I’ll go out and get us something to eat. I’ll grab you a new set of clothes while I’m at it," Lily said, standing up. Seeing him dressed like this was just too strange.

"Stop right there!" Ethan barked coldly. He pulled out his phone and made a call. "Have lunch and a set of men’s clothes delivered here within five minutes."

With that, he hung up abruptly.

"Who did you just call?" Lily asked, surprised. How could he arrange for someone to bring lunch and clothes to a place like this?

"None of your business!" Ethan scoffed coldly, leaning back on the sofa and propping up his long legs.

Why couldn’t he just speak nicely?

Lily couldn’t help but glance at his legs bent awkwardly on the small sofa. "Where did you sleep back then?"

"The sofa," Ethan replied curtly. After a moment, he added, "Or on the floor."

"On the floor?!" Lily was stunned. He had slept on the floor?

Even during her rough days at her uncle’s house, she had at least been given a small bedroom.

What kind of life had he lived? Had it really been this hard for him and his mother?

"What? Never seen someone sleep on the floor before?"

"I’ve just never seen you sleep on the floor," Lily murmured, her gaze dropping to the cold cement floor. Had he really just laid down on it? It must have been freezing...

"There’s plenty you haven’t seen."

"That’s true. I still can’t remember how we met back then," Lily admitted openly. She knelt by the sofa, looking up at him intently. "What were you going to say earlier? How did you know me back then?"

Ethan lay back on the sofa, his hands folded behind his head. His dark eyes regarded her coolly.

"Knock, knock."

The sound of knocking interrupted them.

Lily frowned. Why did this topic constantly get interrupted? No matter how often she tried, they never seemed to get anywhere.

Sighing, she stood up to answer the door. A clean-cut young man with rosy cheeks stood outside, holding a box in one hand and a set of men’s clothes in the other. He nodded politely. "Hello, I’m here to see Mr. Blackwood."

Someone had really managed to deliver these items in five minutes...

Lily stepped aside to let the man in. With a practiced familiarity, he placed the box on the dining table and approached Ethan with the clothes, an ingratiating smile on his face. "Mr. Blackwood, I’ve brought lunch and the clothes you requested."

Ethan immediately sat up from the sofa. "How long has it been since someone cleaned this place?!"

"I hired a cleaning service!" the young man protested, clearly feeling wronged. "It must be that the cleaners slacked off because no one lives here. I’ll fire them as soon as I get back!"

"And what’s with the door?!" Ethan glared at him. "Do you think this is some kind of hotel where anyone can just waltz in?!"

Someone had actually come here to fool around—was this a joke?!

"I wanted to fix it, but Mr. Blackwood, you specifically said not to change anything in this apartment. The old locks just don’t work anymore," the young man explained, looking helpless.