Unveiled: The Survivor's Triumph

Before I passed out, I grabbed Ethan's shirt and mumbled, "Was my sincerity enough? How did you handle it? Tell me."

I blacked out before hearing his answer. When I woke up, my mouth was dry, and my head was pounding.

As I tried to sit up, the thin blanket slipped off, and seeing my naked body under the sheets made my brain freeze for a moment.

I looked around the unfamiliar bedroom, unable to remember anything, just feeling the headache from a hangover.

I grabbed a towel from the bedside, wrapped it around myself, and got out of bed barefoot.

The house was big, and I could hear some noise from downstairs.

At the top of the stairs, I saw a group playing cards in the living room. They were the ones who joined the drinking session last night. Oliver was there, but Ethan was missing.

Someone noticed me and coughed, drawing everyone's attention. They all looked up at me.

They had knowing smiles, and I realized how I must look. I quickly turned and ran back to the room, leaning against the door, breathing heavily.

I figured Ethan must have taken me away last night, so I decided to call him for answers. I grabbed my phone and saw it was 2 AM.

As soon as the call connected, I heard a phone ringing from the balcony.

No one answered, and the ringing continued. Suspicious, I opened the sliding door and stepped out onto the balcony, where I saw Ethan lying on a lounge chair in a robe. In the dim light, I could vaguely see his expression. Ethan was holding a cigarette in one hand and his phone in the other. He saw the caller ID and decided not to answer.

"You're awake?" he asked, turning his head after taking a drag of his cigarette.

Seeing him in person made me hesitate, unsure of how to ask my questions.

Ethan smiled faintly, looking me over with amusement.

Already feeling awkward, his gaze made me feel even more exposed, and I instinctively clutched the towel tighter around my chest.

He chuckled softly. "Why are you so nervous? I've already seen it. You have a nice body."

I was mortified. Ethan was my benefactor, but our relationship had become awkward, mainly because of my own actions. I had done something irrational while drunk. Expecting Ethan to take responsibility would be childish, but this was just too embarrassing.

I didn't want to trap myself in this predicament. "I'm still not sober. I'll head back now. You should rest early too."

I turned to leave, but Ethan grabbed me and pinned me against the wall.

He took the cigarette from his mouth, lowered his head to an extremely intimate distance, and said hoarsely, "Since you slept with me, you have to take responsibility."

My heart skipped a beat. I hadn't felt taken advantage of, but he felt he had been.

Ethan continued, "Last night, without my consent, you clung to my neck, kissed me, and straddled me. Emily, I'm a man with normal desires. You threw yourself at me, so I assumed it was consensual. But now you want to deny it ever happened?"

I took a deep breath, my mind racing. I didn't want to discuss this, at least not while I was still hungover.

Ethan raised an eyebrow playfully. "If you don't believe me, I have a recording. I anticipated you wouldn't take responsibility, so I came prepared."

Hearing this, my cheeks blushed, and I glared at Ethan. 'He has the nerve to record it. How sneaky.'

Ethan tapped on his phone, ready to play the recording to confirm my guilt.

Instinctively, I raised my hands to cover my ears and whispered, "I don't want to hear it."

But as soon as I lifted my hands, the towel wrapped around me slipped off.