I came back to my senses, and spoke.

"Looks like you were smiling just fine in those photos. Didn't seem like you were suffering at all. Besides, if we break up, you can just go ahead and marry Zion tomorrow."

Joanna's breath hitched. "You disappoint me! I thought that after using his parents as practice, I can go back and see your parents with you later. Now, it seems like it was all for nothing!"

In the past, I would've thought that I truly misunderstood her, but now? I knew she was doing nothing more than leading me on with false promises.

I was about to mock her when a thin jacket was placed onto my shoulders. I reflexively covered my phone speaker with my hand.

I had come out into the courtyard to avoid my parents from overhearing, and the temperature outside was quite low.

Worried, my mother asked, "Ethan, are you fighting with Joanna?"

Behind her, my father was sat at the dinner table, but he hadn't even taken one bite. Clearly, he was concerned about me too.

Something stung sharply in my chest.

Every year, I came home alone carrying bags of gifts. I told them Joanna was busy, that she had specifically picked out presents for them and asked them not to blame her.

This year, my parents had finally suggested coming into the city for the holiday so they could visit us.

The moment Joanna found out, she flew into a rage. She said my parents were trying to mooch off me now that I had become successful. Either they went back home, or we broke up.

I knew she came from a terrible family background and had long since cut ties with her relatives, so I never forced her.

Meanwhile, she treated my parents like bargaining chips. She relentlessly looked down on them when she had no use for them, but used them to string me on when she needed to.

Thinking of that, I looked down at the phone, only to see that she had already hung up.

To that, I only sent her a message.

[It's fine. My parents wouldn't want to meet a woman as rude as you, anyway.]

The very next moment, she blocked me.

Not paying it any mind, I smiled at my parents. "Just a little scuffle at the company."

At the dinner table, I prepared to transfer some money to my parents as a holiday gift.

Instead, a notification popped up, telling me that my balance was insufficient.

There was no way I didn't even have twenty thousand in my account, but I didn't let any of my surprise show in my expression.

The moment I returned to my room, I pulled up my bank records.

There was only three thousand dollars left in the account where my salary was deposited. Several massive transactions from the previous night stood out immediately.

One jewelry store purchase at fifty-two thousand.

Two transfers to private accounts, each thirty thousand.

Finally, one last transaction of fifty thousand, billed to a five-star hotel.

Even an idiot would have connected the dots. Zion’s holiday family dinner had been paid for using my card.

Blood rushed straight to my head, and I immediately called Joanna.

She deliberately left me hanging for a full minute before finally answering with a cold snort. "So? Do you know what you did wrong?"

"Why did you use my card?" I asked coldly.

Joanna choked.

Then, Zion's voice came from the other end of the call, clearly having witnessed the exchange.

"See, I told you he'd act out if you used his card! My god, I knew that the generous act he showed at the office was fake after all. It's completely normal for a boyfriend to spend money on his girlfriend. If I had a girlfriend like you who doesn't care about money or status, I would've handed over every cent I had without hiding anything!"

Hearing his words, Joanna seemingly found her footing in the argument.

"That's right! I've never spent your money in the seven years we've been together, so what's a little now? You're the vice-president of the company. Can't you bear to spend a little money for me?"

I clutched my phone so tightly and with so much force that my knuckles turned white.

I laughed.

"Oh, I can't?

"Doesn't it hurt your conscience to say that, Joanna? Have you forgotten the amount of money I've transferred you and the amount of gifts I've given you during every holiday, every anniversary?

"I could’ve used all that money to buy a house or a car, but instead I spent it trying to make you happy! Even my parents are still living out in the countryside!

"Now, you're saying that I'm stingy?"

This time, what hurt me wasn't just some holiday stunt.

It was finally realizing how blatantly biased she was, and how she purposefully ignored my emotional needs, treating me like a court jester.

Why should I keep someone like her around?

Yet, Joanna felt no guilt whatsoever. There was nothing but annoyance in her voice when she spoke.

"Everything you did was just to satisfy yourself. I wanted none of that, and you didn't even know! Fine, I get it. You’re just picking a fight because of the holiday thing. Let me guess, did your parents talk bad about me? Before the end of the year, I'll go…"

Talking to her was like speaking to a brick wall.

Completely disappointed, I stopped her from making any more false promises. "Give me my money back right now unless you want cops knocking at your door, got it?"

She cared too much about appearances to risk public humiliation.

There was a long silence on the other end before she exploded.

"You're the one who said that your money was mine to spend, so why are you getting all twisted up now that I've done it? Do you really think I care about that tiny amount of money? From now on, I won't touch a single cent of your money even if you beg me!"

The next second, she hung up. Soon afterward, the money was transferred back to my account.

Joanna deleted and blocked me everywhere.

For the first time, I didn’t beg her to add me back. Instead, I transferred a hundred thousand dollars to my parents.

The shocked, overwhelmed expressions on their faces made my chest ache.

-

After spending a proper holiday with them, I returned to the city a day early.

The apartment was empty, but there were unfamiliar sneakers by the entrance, men’s T-shirts, a razor, and even cologne.

The place was a complete mess. Clearly, Zion had already moved in.

I clenched my fist, but I acted like I didn't see any of it. I stepped over the dirty clothes on the floor as I went to collect my belongings, suppressing my disgust.

Since money wasn’t an issue, I quickly rented a fully furnished apartment and moved in immediately.

That evening, just after I finished cleaning, Joanna suddenly called.

"Did you go back home? Where are you?"

"Yeah. I moved out."

She didn't pursue the topic, only changing it. "Why didn't you tell me to come fetch you?"

In the past, I had always indulged her in everything.

I only ever had one request. Whenever I returned from a business trip, she had to come pick me up. At least then, I could feel like someone was waiting for me.

Now, I understood that care without sincerity meant nothing.

"There's no need. We've already broken up, so it wouldn't be appropriate."

"I think you're just feeling guilty!" Joanna's voice suddenly rose shrilly, accusing me. "Zion’s family’s staying at his apartment, so he had nowhere to live. You weren't home anyway, so I just let him stay over for a few days. How could you sneak back in just to break his things?"

Then, Zion's tearful voice chimed in.

"It's alright, Joanna. So what if the limited-edition jersey you bought me got cut to pieces? So what if our photos together were ripped up? Ethan’s probably just jealous. I’ll move out and give the apartment back to him."

I didn't even need to think to know that this was some ploy by Zion to incriminate me. It wouldn't have been the first time, after all.

Yet Joanna believed him without question. She immediately softened her tone to comfort him.

"It's fine. I'll buy you another jersey, and we can take more photos together. I'll teach this jealous brat a lesson for throwing his weight around!"

The subject of her words turned back to me, and her tone became cold immediately.

"Ethan, do you just hate seeing me happy? Apologize to Zion right now, or just wait until tomorrow at work!"

Nobody knew that the cold, untouchable female CEO everyone admired treated the man she had dated for seven years with nothing but harshness and selfishness, as if I were her enemy.

After spending seven years as her emotional punching bag, I was exhausted.

Calmly, I replied, "I didn't do it. You should change your temper, Joanna. No one's going to keep on indulging you anymore."

She froze for a second, before letting out a mocking laugh.

"Since when did I need anyone to indulge me? Ethan, I got where I am today all because of my hard work, so stop giving yourself too much credit!"

Back then, she had been crouching outside a breakfast shop in torn clothes, crying from hunger.

I was the one who reached out to her, gave her a warm meal, brought her into the company, and pushed her all the way to her position as CEO.

Now, she told me that I had nothing to do with it.

I laughed self-deprecatingly. "Fine. Let's act like we never knew each other."

For some reason, Joanna’s heart skipped a beat. Her grip around the phone tightened subconsciously.

But I had already hung up.

The next day, I went to work as usual.

To punish me, Joanna summoned me into her office first thing in the morning and tore into me mercilessly. She threw a proposal in my face and demanded I redo it.

That afternoon, she unexpectedly bought coffee for the entire office while deliberately skipping over me, using Zion's name to help curry favor for him with everyone.

Back when I used to encourage her to build better relationships with coworkers, she had accused me of lowering her status and said leaders needed to maintain dignity.

I genuinely thought she just didn’t understand social dynamics, but now I realized she had understood them perfectly all along.

For seven years, she had kept our relationship secret and avoided even speaking to me at work to avoid suspicion.

Yet today, she was openly targeting me so obviously that everyone in the office kept glancing my way, though nobody dared ask questions.

That evening, we had an extremely important business meeting to attend together. Joanna deliberately brought Zion along, giving me a displeased expression the entire way there.

Once we got to the restaurant, Zion immediately plopped down at the head of the table, before ordering ice cream and all sorts of sugary nonsense from the menu.

Frowning, I reached over to pull him up. "Do you even know who we're meeting tonight?"

Zion pouted.

"Why are you being so submissive, Ethan? Joanna's the CEO, so she's already doing the other party a giant favor by coming to see them personally. If you continue acting so spinelessly, people are going to think that our company's low-class! Aren't I right, Joanna?"

He looked to Joanna for support, and she glanced over at us calmly.

I stared at Joanna as well. She would have this much common sense at least, wouldn't she?

"Zion's right."

As Joanna's words registered in my brain, my eyes widened in disbelief.

"You've spent too long bowing your head towards customers, Ethan. Don't you remember how many business deals I've clinched, even with a strong attitude?"

She had completely forgotten that I was the one who cleaned up after her messes.

At that moment, I had an epiphany.

Letting go of Zion, I nodded.

"Fine. We'll do things your way, Ms. Vale."

Not long after, the client arrived right on time. All of us went to greet him at the entrance.

Joanna immediately pulled Zion beside her and squeezed me aside before smiling brightly at the client. "Mr. Devon, this is Zion Winters, one of our company's talents."

At the dinner table, she stuffed a glass of liquor into my hand.

In the past, she had been the one who made the toasts, while I was the one who drank. This time, I didn't so much as move a muscle.

As the atmosphere grew increasingly awkward, Joanna hesitated for a second before shutting her eyes and forcing herself to drink the liquor herself like a woman on death row.

She had always hated drinking culture at business dinners, and always just watched me down drink after drink at the table.

To think the day would come for her to be the one who made a compromise.

The client knew her reputation well. Seeing her personally drink eased some of his displeasure.

Even though Zion repeatedly sat in the wrong seat, whispered constantly with Joanna during the meeting, and acted spoiled while asking her to pick food for him, the client merely frowned and endured it.

Yet, Zion only became more smug, convinced it was because he and Joanna carried enough status for them to get away with it.

That was until the final specialty dish I'd personally spent thirty thousand dollars ordering was brought to the table.

The client reached out towards the dish with his utensils, but someone else was faster. Zion casually took a piece of one of the best cuts of meat.

I froze on the spot as Zion stuffed the meat into his mouth, happily chewing away.

In our line of work, there was one unspoken rule: the final signature dish had to be tasted by the client first. Once they did, the deal was considered practically secured.

Now…

Bam!

In a fit of rage, the client slammed the table.