caridad solano

ethan stager was born to wealthy business mogul maddox stager, and former swedish model turned housewife, kristiana dovell. aside from living an affluent lifestyle, ethan was raised in a fairly normal househouse with his older brother nathan. it wasn't until the boys reached adolescence when the marriage turned cold. their parents began arguing incessantly about properly raising their children, and their crumbling marriage. it turned out, kris was hiding a secret from maddox for years. ethan was only nine when she admitted to her husband of sixteen years, that she was having a long-term love affair with french painter, jean bellerose. jean had worked with maddox during the early 2000s when he designed a modern look for the company. they became close, and when maddox learned about the affair, he was filled with rage against his wife, and grew mad from the betrayal of his friend. maddox blamed her for his unhappiness over the years and deemed their marriage a shame considering more than half their years spent together was devoted to someone else. but in the end, kris got what she wanted: a life in paris with the man she loved. no longer was she tied to the burden of her family, and like that, she abandoned her sons after jumping on a plane to france, never looking back.

meanwhile, despite their mother's sudden absence, ethan began to immerse himself in music. feeling partly to blame, his father did everything he could to be there for his sons. he was happy ethan found an outlet that filled the void of his mother's desertion, so he bought ethan his first gibson not long after their contentious divorce was finalized. at ten, ethan began taking guitar lessons from a local guitar-shop owner. he was a natural, and it wasn't long until he disappeared and created a world of his own, especially after realizing his mother was never coming back. throughout his teenage years, he became more of a recluse, and distanced himself from friends and even his family. the once healthy outlet turned into a crutch, and his father finally noticed when ethan's grades dropped from high a's to low d's. maddox spent too much time and money invested in the future of his sons to risk ethan failing school, so he did what any well-off, overprotective father would do and sent him to a catholic boarding school in manhattan.

ethan hated his dad for his decision, and he hated the fact his brother got to stay in new jersey. he never understood why the wealthy did the things they did, but it was the final straw that sent him into a spiraling depression. although ethan managed to make a few friends, he was still painstakingly homesick. he figured the only way to go back home was to make his father proud. he spent every night studying etiquette and learning french (though he hated the language after his mother left). he quickly became top of his class and graduated with high honors. but alas, disappointment set in when his father made nathan the youngest chair executive of his company. he was devastated, and the rejection of his father's attention turned ethan cold, and often heartless.

because of his success, ethan's father had other plans for him. he wanted him to get a college education at a prestigious university, and then work under him as an intern. but fulfilling his father's prophecy was no longer an interest to ethan. he had a full ride scholarship to columbia university, where he studied business law. he still struggled a battle between his own happiness, and his father's. but it wasn't until he met his soon-to-be best friend [info]username, a music major who reminded ethan of himself. it was then when ethan realized he was making a foolish mistake; and changed his major three semesters in. his decision to earn a degree in music came with consequences, and it ultimately caused an even greater rift between he and his father.
lucikly, he learned to deal with his father's disapproval early on, so his distance hardly mattered much anymore. during college, ethan and [info]username decided to form a small indie-rock band where they performed at local coffee shops and club venues. it was supposed to be something fun, but when ethan started taking the band seriously, their friendship began to dissolve. but when he met someone with the same equal passion, he embarked on an entirely different path. charlotte aka chuck, a fellow columbia university student, met ethan in 2013 at one of his last performances. they quickly became good friends and while she supported and acknowledged his talent, ethan sought an opportunity in her. the two of them together started a new projected, but the atmosphere between them started to change when ethan grew feelings for her. his interest in chuck created a gap in their friendship, and it inevitably led to the demise of their split.

a year later, ethan is in his last semester of college and earning his degree in music education. he works at the college as a part-time sound engineer for the theater, while currently living in sleepy hollow and working on solo projects. recently, ethan and chuck have started talking again and mutually decided to brush off their past. since patching things up, they've managed to start up a new project which is presently in the works.