Part 3The Dust-Covered Empty Seat

The smile on Theo’s face faded. “Just because of a bangle? Lydia, when did you become so calculative?”

“That’s right, it’s just a bangle!” Eleanor said as she frantically tried to take it off. “Lydia, don’t be angry. I’ll take it off now. You can’t ruin your nine-year relationship because of me.”

She was rushing, so the bangle left a red mark on her wrist. She started tearing up.

Theo grabbed her hand. “Why are you taking it off? You didn’t do anything wrong. Eleanor’s still sick. Why are you humiliating her in public?”

I could no longer stay there. I turned around and ran out.

I heard everyone gossiping in the room.

“This young lady has quite a bit of a temper.”

“That’s right. It’s normal for men to have other lovers. She should just look the other way sometimes.”

Eleanor said worriedly, “Theo, you should chase after her. Lydia’s angry now, I’m worried something might happen to her.”

Theo snorted. “I’ve been with her for nine years. She’s thirty now. Aside from me, who would want that old witch?”

He then said loudly, “If someone is trying to play hard to get, then I have no choice but to delay the wedding.”

The bridal shop keeper sent me a photo of the wedding gown to reconfirm my order with me.

[Ms. Scott, we won’t be able to refund your deposit. You’ve come here so many times, are you sure you don’t want it anymore?]

I stared at the phone screen for a very long time. I had tried around seventeen different wedding gowns there.

Every time I sent a photo to Theo, he would only answer coldly that he was busy, leaving the decision up to me.

It turned out that one person’s hope was not enough to support a shared future between two people.

[I don’t want it anymore.]

The next day, I went to the office. There was a transfer notice on my desk.

[Because of your poor performance, you’ve been transferred to the administration department.]

Immediately after, the company announced that Eleanor had been promoted to a department head position via a company-wide email.

The proposal that I spent seven late nights on and went through fifteen versions of had become Eleanor’s work.

I scrolled to the bottom of the document. Theo was the one who approved the proposal.

I called Theo.

“I guess that you’ve seen the notice. I’m just about to look for you.”

“Theo, why is Eleanor’s name on the proposal?”

He chuckled. “Yesterday, when you humiliated Eleanor at my grandmother’s birthday dinner, she cried the entire night. I gave her this proposal to comfort her and to teach you a lesson.”

I heard Eleanor’s sobs through the phone. “Lydia, if you’re not happy about it, I can give you the position of department head.”

Theo interrupted her. “Why would you do that? This is what she deserves. Lydia, as long as you listen to me and apologize to Eleanor, the wedding will not be called off. I’ll promote you in the next cycle.”

I found this whole incident ridiculous. He had stolen my work just to cheer Eleanor up.

I said, “Alright.”

After I ended the call, I handed in my resignation letter. At the same time, I accepted an overseas offer.