I walked out of the company with my things and narrowed my eyes at the dazzling sun.

Was I disappointed?

Perhaps.

But more so, I felt relieved. I also found the situation a little regrettable, not for my relationship with Zenia, but for all my hard work and contribution to end up with me getting someone like this as my girlfriend.

I had lived a life of hardship with Zenia before. Back then, we had just graduated from university, and we stayed in our rental house to eat bread and drink expired milk. We dreamed ridiculous things, like becoming company presidents and eating caviar in the morning while having beef wellington for dinner.

While those days were tough, I did live happily.

When I could finally eat whatever I wanted, Zenia fell in love with a useless foreigner.

All my money ended up going into a manor in the suburbs. I had originally bought it because living and working from there would be more comfortable, and we could afford it, but in order to be closer to John, Zenia had rented a single-level apartment near the downtown area in the name of making it easier to go back and forth to work.

Zenia’s parents ended up living in the manor. As for me, I continued staying in our old rental house.

I lived alone and was with just getting by. So I put most of my things and my parents’ personal effects in the manor.

Since I no longer considered us to be a couple, it would only be right for me to reclaim all that belonged to me.

While I was on my way to the manor, I saw John’s Instagram post.

[While I can only be your husband for one day, I’ll protect you for the rest of my life!]

He also posted his wedding photo with Zenia, and the love in her eyes could be seen through the screen. I could only then remember Zenia’s indifference when she stared at me.

I laughed at myself.

She truly did not even have a single bit of love for me left.

Soon, I arrived at the entrance of the manor and pressed on the doorbell. Patrick, Zenia’s father, opened the door, and the smile on his face immediately fell. He glanced at me coolly before looking behind me before frowning.

“You didn’t bring any workers here this time. So, you didn’t buy any big furniture?”

In the past, whenever I came to the manor, I would add some new furniture to the place. One, it was to let Zenia’s parents live more comfortably. Two, I bought this manor with my own money, so there was no problem with me renovating my own place, was there?

As I looked at his aloof expression, I chose not to insult him, since he was my elder. I smiled instead. “It’s nothing. I just came here to grab my parents’ personal effects. I’m going to bring them back to my place.”

No matter what, it was not right for me to chase these two out at this moment. I needed to give them time to pack up.

Just then, Marge, Zenia’s mother, ran over with her phone in hand and a smile on her face. “Patrick, I’m telling you, the article is saying that mixed-blood children are all pretty, just difficult to raise…”

Before she finished speaking, she saw me through her glasses, and her gaze turned cold as she frowned. She mumbled under her breath, “Why is this jinx here again?”

I squashed my anger and ignored her. I pretended to not have heard her and continued saying, “Please let me in, Patrick. I’ll leave once I grab my parents’ things. They’re all pretty valuable, and I’d feel pretty worried having them around, you know?

Patrick flew into a rage. “What’s the meaning of this, Felix? My family is rich, so why would I want to take your parents’ things?! We’re busy right now, so come over in a few days!”

With that said, he slammed the door shut so hard that it nearly hit my nose.

Rage burned in my heart, and I could not calm down even after a long time passed.

I had bought this manor with my own money, and I paid for the renovations as well. In other words, these two were just living in the manor out of my good will. Why could I not enter my own manor?

But since Patrick was behaving this way, I knew that things would not end well if I tried barging in. It would be better for me to get a lawyer and deal with this.

Even so, the anger continued burning in me.

Suddenly, I remembered my parents leaving behind a pair of tortoiseshell cufflinks for me in Zenia’s company. I needed to get them back.

When I returned to the office, Zenia and John had just finished their marriage registration, and everyone was congratulating them.

Even though all of them knew that I was supposed to be her boyfriend, everyone also knew who to fawn over if they wanted to continue staying in the company. I originally did not intend to make myself look like an idiot. I just wanted to bypass this crowd, go into my office, grab the cufflinks, and leave the place. But when John brought his hand up, the cufflinks he wore attracted my attention.

I clenched my fists, and my eyes turned bloodshot.

Those were the cufflinks my parents had left for me!

Perhaps I was willing to show some respect to my elders, but to Zenia, I was not going to back down.

I rushed over, grabbed John’s arm, and brought it in front of Zenia. “What’s the meaning of this, Zenia? I told you before that my parents left these behind for me. How could you just give them away?”

John was shocked when I suddenly rushed over and hid behind Zenia. As for Zenia, she stood in front of him like a guard dog.

“Why are you suddenly throwing a tantrum, Felix? That’s rude!”

I clenched my fists and glared at John and Zenia as my gaze turned colder.

“Rude, Zenia? You gave my parents’ personal effects to your affair partner, and you’re here lecturing me about being rude?”

Just then, John jumped out.

“B-But I’m the one who married Zenia. Based on what I understand of the country’s language, affair partners are the ones who caused one side to cheat. According to the current situation, I’ve married Zenia, so you’re the affair partner!”

He then pointed at my nose and repeated loudly, “Affair! Partner!”

Those words caused me to fall silent.

The crowd gasped, as if they were praising John’s train of logic.

John immediately puffed out his chest as he stared at me.

I was livid and opened my mouth, but I did not know what to say.

When Zenia saw how John had effectively silenced me, she actually gave him a praising smile, as if making me speechless was something that made her happy.

“You should still return those cufflinks to me! My parents left those for me. Why did you give them to someone else?” I insisted.

Zenia’s eyes burned with hostility, and she said, “They’re just a pair of cufflinks and aren’t worth that much money. You just won’t let this slide, huh? Even if I crush them and throw them into the trashcan, I wouldn’t need to pay much for compensation. I don’t care about it at all. Stop acting all high-and-mighty over here when you’re just an orphan!”

Without any hesitation, Zenia took the cufflinks back from John and threw them on the floor. “I can’t believe you’d argue with me over this stupid pair of cufflinks!”

I tried to catch them, but she had thrown them too hard, so I could not save them.

I fell to the floor and watched as my cufflinks shattered to pieces. They could no longer be repaired.

Something in my heart shattered as well.

Meanwhile, as if doing this was still not enough, Zenia continued insulting me. “Just now, I received a call, and I’m already showing you respect by not yelling at you. I can’t believe that you’d act all high-and-mighty with me instead. You didn’t manage to solve the problems in the project, even now, so John got yelled at. How many times has this happened now? And to think that you’d still care about those stupid things all day. I’m telling you right now, we’re breaking up from this moment on! Leave the company now!”

I stood up and walked out while staggering. Then, I received one final message from Zenia.

[Aside from the wedding gift, you’re not getting a single thing, not even the manor or the furniture!]

As I stared at the failed message, I sighed. I was blacklisted.

I tolerated everyone, but all of them treated me like an idiot and an easy target. They kept on insulting me and taking everything that I owned.

If that were the case, there was no need for me to continue tolerating them.

Zenia… She would do well not to forget the way she humiliated me.

Because I was going to return all that humiliation tenfold.

I walked on the street with my things, and my anger burned so hotly that I did not even have the urge to cry.

Just then, someone called me. The moment I saw the number, I answered it.

“Are you done settling things?” That voice was surprisingly gentle and even managed to quell my rage a little.

“It’s basically all settled, but I might need your help for certain things.”

That person chuckled before saying, “I’m glad that you need my help. If you didn’t, I’d have to start thinking of what to buy for you as a gift. Don’t worry. If you have any problems, just call me. By the way, where are you? I’ll pick you up. I’m really worried about you just upping and leaving.”

I gave her my current location and sat down in a cafe.

It had been a long time since I met her, and I was not expecting us to meet again in such a situation. Soon, a red Porsche came to a slow stop in front of the cafe, and a gorgeous, confident woman stepped out.

“It’s been a while, Felix.”

“It’s been a while, Summer.”

Summer York was my junior from university, and we studied under the same professor. She had started her own company while she was still in university, and she was among the best in the business.

Zenia’s company did not even have the right to compete with Summer’s.

Coincidentally, both companies had been delving into special effects for movement, and motion capture as well as special effects were my specialty.

I chatted with Summer for a bit before she dragged me into her car.

“What’s this? I thought that we’d still spend some time catching up.”

“We have no time for that. I’ll spend every minute of you not yet formally registered as my employee worried. Having you registered as soon as possible is better than anything else.”

When I saw how eager she was, I felt a sense of comfort.

While I was working in Zenia’s company, everyone treated me as a servant who would happily slave away. But in Summer’s company, I could get the respect I deserved.

All the patents for the motion capture software and special effects engine were in my hands. I had never used my former company’s computer, just my own laptop. I would then transfer the finished projects to the company’s computer. As of this date, in this industry, only my software and engine could achieve a level of realism for certain difficult, highly demanding motions, like flowing water, thin hair, accurate modifications for motions, and other things.

Since I had taken all of these things with me, Zenia’s company erupted.

…

On the day I left, everyone took the projects and special effects clips I had left behind to hand over to the client, only to get only one single result.

“Rejected.”

As Zenia stared at the dozen termination requests on the table, she grabbed her hair in frustration.

“How could this be? Why were they all rejected?!”

Her eyes were bloodshot. After all, since yesterday, the dozen projects that the company had been working on had practically come to a screeching halt.

Either the ones who took over the project changed whatever was given to them without bothering to know what the clients’ requests were, which ended with them getting yelled at and having the clips bounced back, or, after they sent the finished clips to the clients, they said that they did not fit their requirements, and these clients all rejected the finished clips and terminated the contracts.

The company’s main business was in editing special effects clips and original soundtracks for games. Some big companies and highly anticipated projects had originally wanted to work with Zenia, but they all pulled their offers back.

John knocked on Zenia’s office door timidly. When he saw Zenia falling apart, he allowed himself in.

“What’s wrong, Zenia? Why are you suddenly so angry?”

At that moment, Zenia was no longer in the mood to fawn over and dote on John. The entire company was about to be unable to function, after all. With her head hung, she growled, “If you have a solution, then tell me. Otherwise, get out of my sight!”

“Zenia, I think that we can try switching industries. After all, I was a pretty good project coordinator in the past. We won’t stop functioning just because Felix is gone. You can try trusting me.”

Conflict rose in Zenia’s eyes, but after some time, she sighed and agreed to John’s request.

Alas, she failed to see the smug look in John’s eyes.