Valerie Palmer, who has been in a secret marriage with me, brings her secretary, Thomas Freeman, to the family gathering.

After she has half a glass of red wine, Thomas snatches the glass over and downs the rest.

When Thomas takes a bite out of the pickled cucumber and deems it too sour, he feeds it to Valerie right away, who swallows it without a second thought.

Having witnessed everything, I hand the divorce agreement to Valerie.

She looks at me coldly. "Is it really necessary for you to do this? Thomas is just a secretary."

I can't hold it back anymore. "You never even touched the glasses that I've used before, and yet you could eat something that was coated in his saliva?"

Valerie responds by throwing the papers in my face. "You call yourself a mature adult even though all you do is feel jealous all the time! Don't you think this is embarrassing?"

She seems to be used to not taking me seriously at all. Even now, she still thinks that I'm just throwing a tantrum.

I lower my head, a bitter smile gracing my face. "Valerie Palmer, I want a divorce from you."

After parting with Valerie Palmer on a bad note, I tossed the divorce papers to her regular secretary, Melissa Ryans, instead.

Valerie never signed them nor contacted me afterward, but that was just typical of her. After all, I was always the one caving and going back to her like her most loyal lapdog, begging to get back together with her.

She was sure and convinced that I loved her enough to always go back to her, no matter what she did to me.

However, she didn't know that I had completely given up on her this time. I was done with her and with our relationship.

…

The company successfully went public a month later. It was the culmination of both my and Velerie's hard work, and I had to be there to attend the launch no matter what.

At the launch event, Valerie moved through the crowd with Thomas Freeman, clinking glasses and exchanging toasts with the rest of the people as if they were the married couple instead.

Thomas smiled faintly at her, occasionally brushing a strand of hair from her forehead, and Valerie also casually took his arm and linked hands with him.

I turned away, trying to ignore them, but Thomas led her and approached me instead.

"What are you doing hiding here away by yourself, Mr. Hall? Don't you know that Val and I have been looking for you everywhere?"

There were faint dimples in his cheek as he smiled innocently at me while he spoke.

Meanwhile, Valerie looked down at me condescendingly and asked, "Have you realized your mistake yet?"

I remained expressionless as I said, "I never made any mistakes."

She was enraged by my attitude. "Don't you be such an ungrateful brat, Alexander Hall! I've had it up to here with your attitude!"

And yet, she was still linking arms with Thomas while saying that to me.

I looked at her and laughed in anger. "I've already given you the divorce papers. Sign it as soon as possible."

Valerie looked at me like I was a stranger. She didn't seem to think that I would have such a harsh attitude toward her.

Thomas spoke up just then. "Alright, don't get mad at her anymore, Mr. Hall. You know that Val is a lightweight drinker. All I did was drink on her behalf.

"If you really mind it that much, then I'll just disappear from your sight moving forward."

Valerie immediately defended him and said, "You were just doing your job. Alex has no right to decide whether you stay or leave."

I looked at them and felt my heart sink to my stomach. "So, she's a lightweight drinker. You're saying that your saliva can cure her hangover or something? You really love getting involved with married women, don't you?"

Thomas immediately looked at Valerie with an aggrieved expression on his face, as if I'd just killed his puppy before his eyes. Valerie immediately snatched a glass of red wine from a passing waiter's tray and splashed it on my face.

"I think you're the one who needs to cool off. It's about time you woke up."

Everyone around us immediately turned their attention to us. The looks on their faces were mocking and ridiculing.

After all, they were already used to seeing Valerie "discipline" her "subordinate" in public like this.

Nobody else in the company knew that Valerie and I were married, except for Thomas. So, in the other employees' eyes, I was just a lapdog infatuated with her, and nothing more.

The red wine soaked my hair and splashed onto the front of my pristine shirt. The cold liquid immediately woke me up from my senses.

Then, Valerie went up to the podium and began her speech.

"In view of Mr. Alexander Hall's recent harassment toward me, I have decided to remove him from his senior management position and transfer him to an administrative position instead to reflect on his actions.

"In the meantime, Mr. Thomas Freeman will be the one temporarily replacing him in his original position."

The entire room was in uproar. For a moment, countless pitying, sympathetic, and even gloating gazes fell upon me.

Thomas grinned smugly at me, his dimples deepening and making it feel as though he'd just bitten me on the neck with his venomous fangs.

Valerie left the hall with Thomas, and the people around me began gossiping amongst each other.

"See what happens when you're a pig thinking you can fly? Does Alex not have enough sense to realize that he's just a nobody who will never amount to Ms. Palmer? To think that he ever dreamed of trying to court her in the first place!"

"I don't even know how he managed to get into the senior management position in the first place. I bet Ms. Palmer's sick of playing with him already. Thomas is so much younger and more handsome than Alex anyway."

"This is basically akin to Ms. Palmer kicking Alex out of the company. She's really quite ruthless after all!"

I was first shocked by the announcement. However, I felt myself growing numb and despaired afterward.

This company was the culmination of both our blood, sweat, and tears, and yet, she just kicked me out so easily and replaced me with Thomas like this.

Still, I knew that Valerie was someone who'd always do something like this. No matter what it was she did wrong, she would still expect me to be the one apologizing to her before forcing me to crawl into a hole and stay there.

However, I was exhausted by now. I'd had enough of her.

I walked out of the hall in a daze, completely lost in thought. It suddenly began to rain, but I hadn't brought an umbrella with me. The rain streamed down my face, mingling with the tears as they washed my will away.

When Valerie and I first met, I learned she came from a poor family, so I decided to hide my background from her so she wouldn't feel inferior to me.

But now, there was no need for me to continue hiding it anymore. After all, acquiring a small company like hers was just a matter of a single word from Dad anyway.

I went back home. I had been the one to design and decorate this marital home I shared with Valerie, but she barely ever came home anymore.

A small gold pendant fell out of my shirt pocket. It had been given to me by Valerie's grandmother when she passed away.

Valerie's parents divorced when she was very young, and her grandmother raised her. We'd only been together for a very short time before she suddenly fell very seriously ill.

I secretly hired the best doctor in the city to tirelessly care for her at the hospital for two months, and during that time, Valerie and I became each other's only support.

However, fate was cruel to us, and Valerie's grandmother eventually passed away. Before she breathed her last, she held my hand tightly and gave me their family heirloom, this tiny gold pendant, and made me promise to take good care of Valerie.

Valerie was devastated for a long time. She held on to me like she was clutching at straws and said, "I promise that I'll love you for the rest of my life, Alex."

From then on, we never separated from each other from college until our postgraduate studies. We had become an indelible symbol in each other's lives, and I thought that nothing could ever separate us.

At least, that was what I thought countless times in the past.

I removed the gold pendant and placed it on her dressing table. This was something that I'd held close to my heart by wearing it around my neck.

But now, I was taking it off and setting it aside, just like how she'd set our relationship aside.

Valerie had personally recruited Thomas during the campus recruitment drive. She didn't choose any of the outstanding candidates, but instead picked Thomas, who was utterly useless except for his looks.

Even though I tried my best to dissuade her, saying that he would only harm the company, she stubbornly kept him.

Valerie made him her secretary, but he simply didn't have the abilities required for the position.

He offended a client as soon as he joined the company, and Valerie only used the excuse that he was still young and needed experience to make me apologize on his behalf.

He went from being her secretary to her personal secretary, and gradually I spent less and less time with her while they spent more and more time together.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were inseparable. At first, I only expressed my dissatisfaction slightly, but Valerie, with a straight face, told me that it was just work. She made it seem as if I were judging her by my own standards.

I found it increasingly difficult to ignore their interactions. Sometimes, it was them feeding each other at meals, sometimes it was knowing smiles exchanged, and sometimes, it was even physical contact.

Valerie started coming home later and later, and then, she simply didn't come home for several days in a row.

When we bumped into each other at the company, she would just spare me a fleeting glance. But before I could say anything, Thomas would interrupt me with his signature smile.

"Ms. Palmer is very busy, Mr. Hall."

Valerie even wanted me to hand over the proposal I painstakingly worked on day and night to Thomas, simply because she said that he needed the opportunity.

Until one day, I finally managed to catch up with Valerie after a meeting, hoping to say a few words to her. But when I stepped outside, I saw her leaning gently on Thomas's shoulder while he massaged her temples, looking like a couple in love.

I ran up to them and pushed Thomas away. Thomas looked bewildered and said, "Mr. Hall, Ms. Palmer wasn't feeling well, so I was just helping her ease her tension. You've got the wrong idea all along."

Valerie just stared at me coldly, as if I were some heinous criminal.

"Alex, when will you stop causing trouble for no reason?"

It was right in the middle of summer, but I felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured over me, chilling me to the bone.

I said, "Val, we haven't spoken in two months. And now, all you care about is defending him?"

Valerie frowned impatiently. "Don't call me so intimately at the company. What if the others hear us?"

I felt a lump in my throat. The unspoken feelings got stuck in my throat, and I forced myself to swallow back down.

Why did I feel like I was the illegitimate side piece in their relationship now?

From that day on, I avoided them completely, only seeing them for meetings when absolutely necessary.

Occasionally, I'd overhear colleagues discussing Valerie's special treatment of Thomas, and my heart would clench. I'd feel the uncontrollable pain piercing my heart like a thorn.

Valerie gradually noticed my change. That day, she returned home after a long absence and personally cooked some of my favorite dishes.

My heart melted again. I thought that perhaps she really was just too busy at work, or perhaps it was all just my imagination.

But things continued as usual. She still didn't come home for days at a time. She and Thomas were still inseparable at the company, and our colleagues continued to gossip about them.

I put down the pendant and had the housekeeper move all my belongings back to the Hall residence. I didn't take anything that belonged to both of us.

I looked at the wedding photo on the bedside table, the only one we took after achieving success in our business.

Valerie always said there would be other opportunities for other photos, but I never got that chance.

I sent a pre-written message to my dad's secretary, Jay Cabrera, and left without another backward glance.

"Mr. Cabrera, kindly proceed with the preparations for the acquisition of Palmer Group."