Samantha paused, then slowly set the ring back in its box.

She closed the lid, and the flicker of guilt on her face was already gone, replaced by that same flat, unbothered look.

"Edgar, I told you I'd have it resized."

She looked at me the way you'd look at a child throwing a tantrum over nothing.

"Blowing this up into a breakup, storming out of the house every time over these little things—it's really getting old."

My breath caught.

In that instant I remembered the night of the project's victory dinner, when I'd won a week of paid vacation in the raffle.

I'd been over the moon.

Over the moon for the three months I'd gone without a day off, for the parents I hadn't seen in two years.

But by the time I'd bought my plane ticket and my parents had already booked their own time off, waiting for me to come home for the reunion—

HR told me the prize had already been redeemed.

"Director Mason came to claim it. She said you'd authorized it, and it went to that new intern in your department, Mike Fox."

I confronted her, my eyes red.

Samantha barely glanced up before lowering her head again, indifferent.

"Oh. I must have written down the wrong name by accident."

"Then go get it back for me!"

She just kept staring at her phone, so I snatched it from her hand in a fury.

What filled the screen was Mike's photo grid on social media.

【A paid trip to a concert is honestly the best—thanks to a certain someone~】

It hit me like a blow to the head.

Trembling, I held the phone up in front of Samantha, my vision blurred with tears.

"This is what you call writing down the wrong name?"

Samantha didn't explain. Instead, with a coldness that bordered on contempt, she turned it back on me.

"It's already done. I just maximized the value."

"Rewarding a subordinate now and then reinforces my authority as a leader."

"Edgar, you've been at this company long enough. Can't you look at the bigger picture?"

Her grand, self-righteous excuses drove me out of my mind.

That was the first time I'd ever mentioned breaking up with Samantha.

Not once—not through the tens of thousands of times she'd called me by the wrong name—had the thought even crossed my mind.

I stayed at a hotel for three days and never got a single message from her softening up.

Only later did it sink in: Samantha was counting on the fact that I loved her too much.

Otherwise, how could I have forgiven her, over and over, for calling me by his name?

I'd even given up a stable job back home the moment I learned she'd broken up with her ex over long distance, crossing a thousand miles to her city to build everything from scratch again.

The day I swallowed my pride and came home, she wore an expression that said she'd expected it all along.

She took the suitcase from me and said flatly,

"Don't make a scene next time. Grow up a little."

Samantha's face in front of me now slowly blurred into her face from that day.

But this time, I didn't want to back down.

I repeated it, firm and certain.

"I mean it. Let's break up."

The door slammed shut with a crack.

Leaving behind only one line.

"You're way too worked up right now. Go cool off on your own!"

I didn't care where she'd gone.

Mike's social media had already popped up in the same instant.

【I knew it. I'm still your first choice.】

That engagement ring, like it had finally found its rightful owner, was back on her finger.

I gave the post a like.

Then I took one last look at this little apartment I'd decorated piece by piece, and softly closed the door.

The next day at work, the two of them arrived together.

The office broke into a chorus of congratulations.

I ignored it, keeping my head down over my handover work.

Since joining this company, I'd closed deals totaling over a billion dollars.

Next week I'd be promoted to Director, running a department of my own, and I'd never have to work alongside Samantha again.

I stood up with my files, and my eyes met Samantha's.

Her lips parted, like she wanted to say something.

I turned away calmly and walked off in the other direction.

"Rosalind Sullivan, here's my promotion paperwork. Take a look and let me know if anything's missing."

Rosalind from HR flipped through the file, brow furrowing.

"Your department already submitted its promotion form."

"What?"

I froze.

"Director Mason said the intern, Mike Fox, was the main contributor on that project. She requested that the promotion slot go to him, that his probation be waived early so he could step up as supervisor."

Department supervisor. That was my position. Right now.

Samantha was taking my results, my work, and using them to pave a road for her ex.

My phone buzzed.

I looked down. A message from her.

【Mike covered for us on that mix-up, and clearing it up is going to be humiliating for him.】

【Let's just call this our way of making it up to him. Your promotion can wait.】

I stared at the screen, a boundless fury churning in my chest.

Fury at how shameless Samantha was.

And even more fury at myself, at how I'd once loved her so hard I lost myself, until she stopped taking my feelings seriously at all.

Not this time, though. This time I wasn't swallowing it.

Without a moment's hesitation, I reported the fraud in Mike's promotion paperwork.

Once it was confirmed the project had been completed by me alone, her paperwork was verified and thrown out in under half a day.

The whole time, Samantha kept sending me message after message. I ignored every one.

I looked at the notification on my computer screen: my promotion application, approved.

The breath I'd been holding finally left me.

I opened my phone. Samantha had sent one last message.

【Got it out of your system now? Come home early tonight, and don't drag this out any further. It doesn't look good.】

Even now, Samantha still thought I was just jealous, throwing a fit.

I tapped my finger and dropped her into my blocked list.

Then I went straight back to the hotel where I was staying for the time being.

The next day.

After the sales department's morning meeting wrapped up, I was held back alone to go over the details of my promotion.

But when I stepped out of the conference room, the whole office had a different feel to it.

People passing by looked at me like I was something filthy, dropping their heads and hurrying off.

Snatches of conversation drifted over, indistinct.

"That's the guy who was the homewrecker, moving in on someone's girl?"

"He seemed totally normal. You'd never guess he was that kind of person…"

A bad feeling crept up on me.

Back at my desk, I picked up my phone.

The work group chat was buried under a flood of messages from Mike.

【A certain supervisor, surname James, repeatedly harassed and hit on my fiancée.

When he couldn't get anywhere, he maliciously reported my promotion application. How does someone like that deserve to work at this company!】

People started guessing right away.

【Is it E.J.?】

【I kept wondering why he was a no-show at Director Mason's engagement party. Turns out he was too jealous to even eat.】

Dozens of screenshots, all cropped top and bottom.

Mike had deleted every reply Samantha had sent me, twisting it to look like I'd been harassing her one-sidedly.

To avoid any awkwardness, Samantha and I had never gone public with our relationship.

But plenty of people had been to Mike's engagement party. Whose side they'd take was obvious.

The thing had been snowballing for close to an hour, thousands of messages scrolling past.

And Samantha, the one person at the center of it, still hadn't come forward to deny any of it.

Those chat logs were even taken from her point of view.

I couldn't let myself dwell on it. I typed fast, trying to set the record straight.

A commotion erupted at the office door.

Mike shoved past everyone trying to stop him and strode straight up to me.

Before I could react, a fist drove hard into my face.

"You bastard, going after another man's fiancée, and you've still got the nerve to show up for work!"

Searing pain, my head spinning.

I clutched my face, dazed for a long moment before I came back to myself.

My instinct was to hit back.

The moment I raised my hand, a small figure came flying at me, slamming into me hard and knocking me aside.

I caught myself against the edge of the desk, staggering.

When I looked up, Samantha, who moments ago had been hidden in the group chat, was standing firmly in front of Mike, shielding him.

Her eyes were ice.

For a hazy moment, I remembered my first year at the company.

Because I was good at the job and climbed fast, people jabbed fingers in my face and called me a connections hire who'd bought his way up.

Back then Samantha had stood in front of me just like this, her small frame closing me off from all of it, protecting me completely.

Now the blade was turned on me.

Tears slipped down my face.

I looked at Samantha and forced out a bitter laugh.

"You're not going to explain yourself?"

Not just the group chat. This too, right now.

For an instant, her gaze wavered when she saw me.

Then it went cold and resolute.

"Everything my fiancé said is true."

"Mr. James, please stop harassing me from now on."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried far enough for everyone nearby to hear.

At once the office erupted into deafening chatter.

"Oh my God, the woman herself came down and said it. That's proof, isn't it?"

"And someone like this is supposed to make Director? Whoever ends up under him has to worry about being harassed."

With her backing him, Mike hid behind her and shot me a look of open provocation.

Samantha stepped closer and lowered her voice.

"You took the promotion that should've been Mike's. He's upset."

"Let him blow off some steam. Once he's had his say, it'll be fine. I'll clear your name later, and you'll still get to be Director."

There it was again. "I'll clear your name later."

I scrubbed the tears away hard and, hands trembling, pulled up my chat history with Samantha to prove myself.

But my phone was wiped clean. Even the photo album had been emptied.

In that instant, it clicked.

Only one person knew my phone password and could have slipped out alone during the sales department meeting to get her hands on it.

To let Mike vent, Samantha hadn't just branded me a homewrecker. She'd sealed off every way out.

Nothing was left in my head but disbelief.

The muttering, the insults, buzzed in my ears.

Another message popped up on my phone.

【HR: Given the talk in the group chat, upper management intends to suspend your promotion.】

The last thread in my mind snapped.

"Enough!"

I heard my own voice, sharp and hopeless.

The room went quiet for a moment.

A thought that had been quietly buried in me came surging up, wild and unstoppable.

I grabbed the mouse, opened the company intranet, and sent in my resignation.

This place, this city, I was done with all of it!