At the company’s annual meeting, employees were giving their award acceptance speeches.

Hayden Summer, my fiancée’s childhood friend, stood on the stage, excitedly thanking heaven and earth.

Finally, he said, “I want to especially thank one person, Jasmine Fletcher. Thank her for letting me become a father. Yes, the child in her belly is mine!”

As soon as he said that, the employees present were all shocked, while I just stood there, dumbfounded.

After the annual meeting, Jasmine came to explain to me that she really was pregnant, but she hadn’t had time to tell me yet and it wasn’t what I thought.

“That day, Hayden and I went on a business trip together. We drank too much and ended up doing something we shouldn’t have…”

“Hayden and I are very familiar with each other; we don’t have any romantic feelings. He just doesn’t plan to get married in the future because he has a fear of marriage. But he wants this child, so I plan to keep it. But no matter what, I’m still the child’s mother. I can’t just have the baby and abandon it. So I want you to wait for me for two years. After the child is born and I’ve taken care of them for a while, once the child is a bit older, I’ll stop taking care of them. Then, can we get married! “

As Jasmine said this, she looked at me with a pitiful expression.

I smiled but said nothing.

Seeing that I didn’t object, Jasmine nodded with relief and then turned to leave with Hayden.

As for me, on the way home, I ran into my female colleague, Yara.

“Zion, I like you. Can we be together?”

——

I had been with Jasmine for three years. We were supposed to get engaged next week, but unexpectedly, something like this happened.

During the time we were together, I took good care of her, holding her as if she might break, treating her delicately as if she might melt away.

Every day, I would prepare a different breakfast for her, carefully balanced for nutrition.

Even after she left with Hayden, she didn’t forget to send me messages.

[Zion, don’t forget to prepare an extra breakfast tomorrow.]

Besides being our colleague, Hayden had another identity. He was Jasmine’s childhood friend. The two of them reuniting after a long time apart might have been the trigger that brought them together.

Jasmine had a great figure and liked to wear low-cut tops. Every time I saw Hayden staring at the pale expanse of her chest in the office, I couldn’t help but feel this guy had bad intentions.

So I reminded Jasmine many times to pay attention to her clothing and not always wear such revealing outfits. It didn’t look good.

But she didn’t care at all and said to me, “Why is it that ever since I’ve been with you, I can’t just wear whatever I want? Aren’t you being a little too petty? I have the freedom to dress as I like.”

“You're just overthinking it. Hayden and I are way too familiar. We’re just buddies. He wouldn’t have any improper intentions toward me.”

All of this had been just Jasmine’s trickery, but at the time, I had believed it without question. Only now did I suddenly realize the truth but it’s not too late.

Then Jasmine sent me another message. [Oh, by the way, Hayden doesn’t eat spicy food. Don’t add chili.]

I looked at the screen and smiled foolishly. Was Jasmine thinking I was stupid, or was I really that naive?

Still, I needed to clear things up between us. Plus, I had to go back to work. Seeing each other every day, how hard could it be to prepare one extra breakfast? I’d just do it.

The next morning, I bought some breakfast downstairs and took it to the office.

After arriving at the company, I tossed the breakfast onto Jasmine’s desk.

Originally, I had planned to resign today, but after thinking it through, the one who made the mistake wasn’t me, so why should I just walk away?

Jasmine and Hayden walked into the office together, chatting and laughing.

A few minutes later, Jasmine called me into her office.

“Zion, what’s going on with you? Didn’t I tell you Hayden doesn’t eat spicy food? What is this you bought? A McSpicy Chicken Burger?

Haven’t we already reached an understanding? I’m only having this child for him, so why are you being so petty?

“I didn’t expect you to be so narrow-minded, unable to even accept a child. Besides, I already said we won’t be raising the child ourselves. What exactly are you being difficult about?”

Listening to her talk really makes me laugh, truly shameless. “Jasmine, don’t you feel ashamed saying those things? Do you think you’re some kind of surrogate, just casually having a baby for someone else? Moreover, now everyone at the company knows you’re pregnant out of wedlock and carrying another man’s child. How do you think the people at work see me? And how do you think they see you?”

“Forget it. I can’t afford to lose face over this. We’re breaking up. From now on, you can have babies for whoever you want. It has nothing to do with me.”

When Jasmine heard me say “break up,” she froze. She probably never expected me to say those words, since I had always been the one revolving around her before. How could I possibly say break up?

“Zion, don’t be stubborn,” she said. “I know this process is a bit long. After the baby is born, Hayden and I will live together with the child. Once the child is a bit older, we’ll let Hayden take over.”

Hearing her say this only made me find her more ridiculous. I smiled and said, “Forget it, this is too much for you. Let’s break up. You can settle down with Hayden and have as many kids as you want.”

After I said that, I turned and left her office. As I walked away, I heard her shout after me, “Zion, don’t regret this!”

Meanwhile, Hayden comforted her, “Jasmine, don’t be angry, don’t upset the baby. Didn’t I tell you not to fall in love or get married? Look how he treats you even though you’re pregnant. He doesn’t cherish you at all. Who knows how he’ll treat you after marriage!”

Fortunately, it was still early and there was no one else in the office lobby. Otherwise, I would have wanted to find a hole to crawl into and disappear.

After the annual company meeting, I probably became the laughing stock of the entire company. Honestly, continuing to work here no longer made much sense to me.

This was Jasmine’s family company. I had originally joined Fletcher Group through campus recruitment.

Jasmine was impressed by my academic achievements and after joining the Fletcher Group, I didn’t let her down. I was competent at my job.

At work, I helped Jasmine quite a bit, so she promoted me continuously. I rose through the ranks quickly, but I also received plenty of sideways looks from others.

Over time, we went from being colleagues to lovers.

Even though my coworkers called me a “kept man,” saying I climbed the ladder because of Jasmine, I never minded. After all, they didn’t understand. They didn’t know about the relationship between Jasmine and me.

Actually, I always thought my relationship with Jasmine was pretty good. All the changes came after her childhood friend Hayden started working at our company.

Since Hayden joined, Jasmine always brought him along for work matters and stopped consulting me. Her reason was that Hayden had studied abroad, was more experienced and had better ideas, so he could help her more at work.

This time, with everything that happened, it was inevitable people would gossip, so I decided to resign.

When I handed in my resignation to the HR department, I was even mocked a little.

“Zion, are you sure about quitting?” Zara from HR asked me.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

“You’ve only been with Fletcher Group for a short time. Getting to your current position so quickly is impressive. If you leave Fletcher Group, you probably won’t amount to much. You really don’t know how good you have it.”

Zara was Jasmine’s close friend, so of course she would defend her. I expected that.

“It’s fine. I am capable at work and it’s not like I won’t find another job after leaving Fletcher Group. Thanks for your concern!” I didn’t take her words too seriously.

“Zion, how can you be such a narrow-minded man? Jasmine is pregnant and you keep arguing with her, making her upset. Besides, didn’t Jasmine say she will marry you? Being able to marry Jasmine is your good fortune and yet you don’t cherish it,” Zara started lecturing me.

I slightly laughed. “I’m not worthy of such happiness. I can’t bear it. I’m giving way to Hayden to make things easier for them. Isn’t that great? This way, her child can grow up in a normal family. What’s wrong with that?” I said with a smile.

“I’m just trying to look out for you. With your education and experience, where else can you find a job as good as Fletcher Group? And if you marry Jasmine in the future, the Fletcher Group will belong to both of you. Isn’t that enough?”

I never cared about Jasmine’s family background. Being with her wasn’t about money. After all, I was not some gold digger like others say.

Honestly, I knew most of the disdain her friends had toward me came from her own mindset. Deep down, she probably never truly respected me, which was why her friends treated me that way.

Looking back, in those past few years with her, I had been like a loyal dog, always around her every day. When she said east, I wouldn’t go west. If she said the earth was square, I wouldn’t say it was round. But was it worth it?

“You say it so lightly. Hopefully, if one day your boyfriend brings home a child he had with another woman, you’ll think the same way.”

I threw the resignation letter onto her desk and turned to leave.

I tidied up my things at my desk and at the end of the day, I took some personal belongings with me.

As I was strolling outside the company building, the weather suddenly changed and it started to rain. I didn’t have an umbrella and got soaked by the unexpected downpour.

I quickly ran a few steps, then suddenly felt the rain being blocked.

I looked back and saw my colleague Yara holding an umbrella for me.

“Thank you!” I said politely.

Yara looked at me and smiled.

Her smile was bright and radiant. Every time I saw her smile, it made me feel warm and comfortable.

Yara smiled and said, “Zion, I like you. Will you be with me?”

“Huh?” I was momentarily stunned and didn’t respond immediately.

Then I said, “I like you too!”

Yara and I were actually college classmates, so we were quite familiar with each other. She’s a really nice person—kind-hearted and like a little sunshine, always giving people a warm feeling.

Whenever I made mistakes at work and got scolded by Jasmine, Yara would comfort me and help me fix those errors to meet Jasmine’s standards.

I often saw her feeding stray cats in the company garden downstairs, so I’d always thought she was a very caring girl.

“If you don’t mind, I’ll take that as a yes! Come on, my boyfriend!” Yara said as she leaned closer to me, holding the umbrella with one hand and linking her arm with mine, walking alongside me.

“I’ve actually liked you for a long time, but I knew before that your eyes were only on Jasmine, never giving any other woman a glance. Now it’s different. She’s done such terrible things and doesn’t deserve you. She’s the one without the blessing. I don’t want to see you get hurt anymore,” Yara said as we walked.

I was about to say something, but Yara interrupted me.

“You don’t need to say anything. I won’t give you a chance to regret this! I don’t mind if your heart still belongs to her right now. I believe it’s only a matter of time.”