I had thought that was the end of it, but I never expected that the joke was not over yet.

The next morning, I turned off the alarm and did not get up early to make breakfast. By the time I woke from a second round of sleep, it was already ten o'clock.

I was surprised that Mark had not knocked on my door in anger, wanting me to make his breakfast. Then I saw a note on the dining table.

[To Tessa Steward. Tessa, I have to go so I can take care of something. Wait for me to come back.]

Where did he go? What was he dealing with? When would he be back? All these questions entered my mind. Unfortunately, he did not explain all of these in his note.

I picked up my phone and tried to write a message to him. However, after deleting several of the messages I had written, I did not send him anything.

A few hours later, I received a short message from Mr. Hanson.

“Young lady, knowing when to cut your losses is crucial in any investment.”

I had no idea what he meant, but soon, when I saw the flood of news reports, I understood his message.

[Han Corporation's Heir Pays an Astronomical Penalty to Boost New Idol's Career]

[Mark Hanson and Sandra Lewis: Childhood Sweetheart]

[The Crown Prince of the Hanson Family Spends Extravagant Amounts of Money to Protect First Love. A Romance Worth to Celebrate]

Numbly, I read article after article.

Then I put down my phone.

So, Mark had gone back home to play the role of a prince in a shining armor for Sandra and he had paid an astronomical penalty fee so he could sign Sandra to his family’s company.

It turned out, his commitment to his dream was not as unshakeable as I had thought. I suddenly realized that for some people they did not have to endure any hardships and injustices in their lives.

I did not know how long I sat there, but when I felt something cold on my cheeks, I startled and touched my face, then I realized it was wet with my tears.

Why am I crying?

I got up, washed my face, put myself together, went back to bed and slept through the afternoon. After all, I had been so tired lately.

The next day, I messaged the landlord to let him know I was moving out.

I quickly started packing. I threw out what needed to be thrown out and packed up what needed to be filled. After I arranged to stay with a friend for a few days, I called a moving truck.

As I sat in the back of the moving van, I saw a luxury car drive by from the opposite direction. I didn’t catch the license plate, but the model looked like the one Mark used to drive. I turned my gaze away and said to the driver, “I’m ready. Let’s go.”

We hadn’t driven for more than a few minutes when my phone rang.

It was Mark.

Without thinking, I immediately declined the call.

Almost in an instant, a new message popped up on WhatsApp. "Tessa, why is the apartment empty? Where are you? Call me back!"

I paused for a moment, then typed "Goodbye" and hit send before quickly deleting Mark from my contacts list.

Perhaps, because he had achieved the outcome he wanted, Mr. Hanson was no longer interested in making things difficult for someone as insignificant as me. In fact, he even gave me a few decent job opportunities my way, like a small gesture of compensation.

I had no reason to turn them down. After all, the positions were right with my line of expertise and having a recommendation would not hurt.

I met with several HR department managers in a row and their offer was all similar.

Today, I went to my last interview at the Simmons Corporation, where I met Zeke Jeremy.

I did not expect to see him there. However, the HR manager was more surprised than I was when he realized the person who was blocking the door. "President Jeremy, what brings you here?"

Zeke nodded toward me and smiled at the HR manager. "I'm sorry. I'm here to poach a talented individual from under Mr. Simmons's nose."

Just like Mark, Zeke was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. The difference was, he actually had some real ability.

Back then, when Mark and I were still working at the Hanson Corporation, we often competed with Zeke for projects.

So, why would he go out of his way to show up here?

When he saw the confusion on my face, Zeke tilted his head and his dimple appeared as he grinned. "If you are really leaving the Hanson Corporation, why don't you work with me? After all, we are old rivals."

I never expected his offer.

After greeting the HR manager, I walked past Zeke and headed to the door.

He quickly chased after me with his long legs. "Didn't hear my offer?"

"No, thanks."

It was true that the Jeremy Family was a very wealthy family, but Zeke's company was just a startup business. Although it had gained momentum in recent years and could compete with some big players in certain areas, it wasn’t as mature as the industry giants, so the benefits it gave would likely not be as competitive as the other.

My goal was to make money. I did not want to waste my time testing the waters.

"Four hundred and fifty thousand dollars as a basic annual salary. This salary doesn't include bonuses, you will get on projects."

I stopped in my tracks. Money was, after all, my magic word and his offer was very tempting.

I turned to look at him. "Why?"

"You've managed to win a project from me before. That skill is worth it to get that amount of money." When he saw me still hesitating, he smirked and his words had a subtle edge in it. "Or, maybe, you just can't get over that jerk, Mark?"

His obvious irritation made me realize that he had always been at odds with Mark. An, offering me a high salary might be his way of getting back at him.

What a childish business tactic.

However, if that was what he thought, he was going to be disappointed. Mark never cared much about me.

Even the request that he sent me this morning had been phrased rather rudely. "Tessa, haven't you had enough of making a problem? My patience is running thin. Get back here yourself. Don’t expect me to come looking for you."

After a moment of silence, I smiled and extended my hand to Zeke. "Thank you for the offer, President Jeremy. When do we sign the contract?"

He took my hand and smiled, "We can do it right now."

The atmosphere at Zeke's company was completely different than the old-fashioned Hanson Corporation.

There was no distance between colleagues and they were easy to get along with. In fact, their enthusiasm often made me feel a bit overwhelmed.

That was why I was sitting here on the sofa at a karaoke lounge and holding a glass of wine while trying to figure out how I ended up agreeing to join this dinner party. What made me more in a daze was the fact that this was a department's celebration party for a successful proposal that I was not even involved in.

"Tessa, why are you daydreaming here? Cheer up! Come on! Cheers!"

The crisp clinking of glasses and the cheerful laughter around me brought a surge of happiness I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Without thinking, I downed more than half of my drink.

As I put down the glass, the smile on my lips hadn’t even faded when I locked eyes with Zeke, who had just walked in.

He seemed momentarily surprised to see me here, then quickly approached the table with a big smile on his face and lowered his head to say, "Are you having a good time?"

My head was spinning and for some reason, Zeke's smile looked incredibly gentle. I raised my eyebrows at him and when I was about to answer him, one of the colleagues behind me spoke up, “Of course we’re having fun! Boss, why are you coming so late?”

I froze for a moment, then lowered my head. What was I just doing? I almost mistook his warmth and thought it was directed at me.

"Well, I was doing real work, such as having meetings with clients, okay? Not like you guys." Zeke took a glass of wine handed to him by someone and drank it all in one gulp.

"What? How come you don't think we are doing here real work?" someone joked and laughed, then went over to toasted.

Amidst the lively banter, I refilled my glass. I had long forgotten that my tolerance for alcohol was a bit low.

Then, the next time I knew I was lying on the large hotel bed with a female colleague next to me and it was already noon the next day.

I struggled to sit down. Sensing the movement beside her, the female colleague opened her eyes and looked at me. After thinking for a moment, she seemed to recall the event last night. "Ah, we partied late at night and you drank too much. So, the boss got us room here."

She closed her eyes again. "Relax. He gave us a day off. Just go back to sleep."

While rubbing my throbbing temples, I could not shake the feeling that I had done something horrible and this was not a good sign. So, I gently nudged her, "Um, I didn't do something crazy last night, right?"

"No. You were doing fine." She barely finished her sentence before falling back asleep.

However, I still felt something was off. Just as I reached for my phone, a call came in.

When I picked up the phone, it was Zeke. "President Jeremy."

“Have you sobered yet? Does your head hurt?”

“It’s not too bad.”

“I’ll have someone to bring you some hangover medicine. Can you open the door when they arrive?” he asked.

“No need to trouble yourself, I ….”

Before I cut finished my sentence, he cut it, “There is something you need to be done tonight and you can’t be showing up with a headache.”

I could not refute him anymore and agree. "Okay. What kind of work will I do tonight?"

“It’s a dinner party. Get yourself ready and head home to change. Later, I’ll send you the details.”

It would never enter my mind that I would meet Mark there. After all, he always hated this kind of occasion. Even if business demanded his present, he would usually send a manager to accompany me.

His exact words were, “Schmoozing for a bit of money isn’t worth it. I’d rather spend that time to paint.”

However, there he was, dressed nicely in a suit and tie, talking and shaking hands with someone. And, if I’m not mistaken, the person he’s talking to was a big shot in the film industry. It seemed he did it for Sandra. The drama of a prince bowed his head for his love never got old.

I was silently musing when suddenly Mark looked at my way.