Liam returned, worn out, while he held a bouquet of fresh flowers in his arms. Then, he walked toward me without any trace of guilt or apology on his face. "I brought you your favorite lisianthuses, Michelle."

lisianthuses, a symbol of loyalty and love. But they looked like nothing but a joke in Liam's arms.

As I took the bouquet from him, Liam assumed that I'd stopped being angry and began to explain himself.

He said, "Vivi has bone cancer, and her only wish is to marry me. I grew up with her, so I can't just not help her attain her wish. I'll be getting engaged to her in three days. You've always been a considerate person, so you surely understand where I'm coming from, right?"

He sounded more like he was informing me of something rather than giving me an explanation.

So, he was going to be engaged to Vivi in three days, was he? It was certainly a coincidence, as I was also preparing to leave in three days.

I nodded silently.

In the past, he hated when I threw tantrums like a spoiled princess. He told me that every time I encountered a trivial problem, I'd try to gain his attention by asking him over and over again whether he loved me. Later, I gradually mended my ways and learned to be tolerant.

Right now, I wasn't making a fuss or forcing him to tell me whether or not he loved me, and it actually made him glance at me with surprise.

"I'll be moving out to live with Vivi tomorrow. You might have to put up with living alone for the next few months. Vivi is sick, so she needs me more than you right now," he said.

I smiled and put the bouquet down. Seeing that I wasn't raising any objections, Liam moved closer to me and tried to touch my face.

I smoothly evaded his grasp. There were still obvious lipstick smudges on his shirt collar, and a sweet perfume invaded my nose, making me gag.

My rejection angered Liam, and he quickly left the apartment without saying anything else.

I, on the other hand, tossed the flowers and cake into the trash. Then, I started packing my things.

I didn't want the flowers, and I no longer wanted Liam either. I no longer had any attachments to this home that I'd lived in for six years.

After I returned to my company the next day, I sat at my station and started to print out my resignation letter.

Liam and I met and fell in love in university. He later started working at a technology company, and I followed him to that same company. I refused my parents' arrangements for me and started working with him from the bottom of the hierarchy.

After I got together with him, I'd also previously hinted at marriage. However, Liam was busy with work and always insisted that he hadn't successfully carved out a career for himself yet.

He said that he was afraid my parents wouldn't be willing to let me, their beloved daughter, marry him. He'd always told me that he wanted to establish a career before starting a family.

In order to avoid burdening him, I had no choice but to tactfully convince my parents not to mention anything about our family background to him. I was afraid that revealing anything about my family origins would put even more pressure on him.

Now, he had become the vice president of the company. The moment I found the ring in his pocket, I'd been expecting him to finally make the decision to propose to me. In the end, it'd all been wishful thinking on my part.

A colleague of mine, Lina Lindsey, walked over and saw the resignation letter on my computer screen.

"Were you not going to be promoted to technical director soon, Michelle? Why are you resigning all of a sudden?" she asked, looking slightly shocked.

I smiled and replied, "I'm going to get married soon. When that time comes, I may switch over to another company."

Lina smiled in return and congratulated me. "Why have there been so many good things happening around our company recently? I also saw Mr. Sherman's post about him getting engaged last night!

"I must say, Mr. Sherman and his girlfriend really are a good match. Apparently, they were also childhood friends who grew up together, and they had mutual crushes on each other."

I suddenly struggled to keep the smile on my face. I used my phone to check and realized that Liam had blocked me on both his main and alt accounts long ago.

Liam's main account was his personal one, and he'd blocked me on it after leaving the apartment last night.

On the other hand, he used his alt account as a business account. When I looked through our private messages, I saw that the only chat history left consisted of some ordinary messages between a superior and his subordinate.

At that moment, Liam walked into the office with Vivi in tow. The two of them stood closely to each other.

Vivi had a rosy complexion and a bright smile on her face, not at all like a sick person.

Liam then introduced her to everyone. "This is the company's new technical director, Vivi Johansen. Let's all get to know each other and work together in harmony from now on."

Lina was stunned. She looked between me and Vivi, then eventually greeted Vivi with a wave. "Hello, Ms. Johansen!"

I didn't say anything, my hands clenching tightly around my resignation letter.

Liam looked at me in displeasure. "Everyone else has already greeted the new technical director, Michelle Southwell. What kind of attitude is that?"

Vivi chuckled and extended a hand. "We'll be working in the same company in the future, so please take good care of me."

Just as I was about to reach my hand out, Liam pulled Vivi's hand back. "You're the technical director. There's no need to care about the feelings of some low-level employee. Let's go. I'll help you familiarize yourself with this new environment."

The two of them then left, leaving me standing where I was with my hand outstretched, looking like a clown.

Lina sat me down and started gossiping with me at our workstation. "You saw her, right, Michelle? That woman just now is Mr. Sherman's fiancée!

"You know the diamond necklace she's wearing on her neck? Mr. Sherman gave it to her yesterday. It's apparently worth hundreds of thousands of dollars!

"Still, Mr. Sherman's being way too obvious with his nepotism! You've been with the company for five years, and your work capabilities are obvious to everyone. Despite this, he actually gave the position that should've belonged to you to someone else just like that!"

I nodded absentmindedly. I'd been planning to resign anyway, so Vivi's sudden promotion today simply made me even more aware of just where I stood in Liam's eyes.

...

I knocked on Liam's office door with some documents and my resignation letter in hand.

"Enter," Liam said coldly.

I placed everything down on his desk, including the documents I would need to hand over after my resignation.

As Liam flipped through those documents, his expression grew darker and darker. Eventually, he lifted his head and stared at me with a contemptuous smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

He said, "Yesterday, I thought you'd mended your ways and would no longer throw tantrums willy-nilly, Michelle. But you're showing your true colors today, aren't you?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he threw the documents at me, harshly and without warning.

I dodged, then lowered my head and picked up the documents on the floor one by one.

He continued, "She just robbed you of your promotion, that's all! Vivi majored in the same field as me. I gave her the position of technical director because I believed in her capabilities. What right do you have to lose your temper?"

I neatly stacked up the documents, placed them in front of him, then replied calmly, "I'm not throwing a tantrum. I simply want to resign."

So, Liam understood Vivi's capabilities because she'd majored in the same field of study as him. What about me then?

I majored in jewelry design back in university, but chose to double-major in another field for Liam's sake. For so many years, I worked day and night to catch up to him. Yet, it turned out that my efforts were completely worthless in his eyes.

Liam glared condescendingly at me. "Shouldn't you be aware of your own capabilities? I've already assigned you under Vivi, so you can watch and learn from her in the future."

I smiled. "My time is incredibly valuable too. I won't learn about something I won't enjoy ever again."

"Fine! Go ahead and leave! Let's see what company will hire you in the future!" Liam snapped.

As he spoke, he rose from his office chair and glared at me like a vengeful demon. I simply turned and left his office.

I'd considered the six years I'd spent with him as an act of compassion toward a stray I'd picked up off the streets. However, I would never let my world revolve around him again, especially not when he wanted me to let Vivi into that orbit.