4

I didn't expose him that night.

Hart Group was one of the best companies in China for our field. I had spent six months there, fighting for a permanent position. My team lead had privately told me my evaluation score was excellent and that my offer was almost certain.

When the retention list went up, I read it three times.

My name wasn't there.

My team lead pulled me into the break room when I asked why.

“Lily, did you offend someone?” she asked quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“You were on the final list. Yesterday, someone high up gave a direct order to remove you.”

When I stepped back into the office, Julian was sitting at his desk.

Of course he wasn't on the list. For the Hart heir, the internship had only ever been a diversion.

He brought me a cup of hot tea.

“It's okay, Lily. Hart Group isn't the only good company in the country. We'll keep looking. With your ability, you'll do well anywhere.”

My phone buzzed.

Vanessa had tagged me in the dorm chat.

Hart Group posted its retention list today. Did you make it, Lily?

My fiancé's girlfriend interns there too. I wonder if you know her.

She definitely didn't make it. I told my fiancé that women on the side were fine for entertainment, but he couldn't bring one into his own company.

Her offer was already decided, and my fiancé erased it with one sentence. Isn't he obedient?

My fingers tightened around the phone.

Julian knew how much I wanted that job. He knew how many nights I'd slept on the office sofa while revising project proposals. He knew my grandmother was waiting in our hometown for me to settle down and bring her to Beijing for treatment.

With one casual order, he had wiped out six months of my work.

Then he'd stood in front of me and comforted me as if he had nothing to do with it.

Steam rose from the paper cup. The heat burned my fingertips.

I threw the tea in his face.

“What the hell is wrong with you?”

The office fell silent.

Julian blinked, wiped his face with a tissue, and forced down his temper.

“I know you're upset about the job, but you need to watch yourself in public. At home, you can yell at me or hit me if you want.”

He tried to smile.

“I'll take you to dinner tonight. Don't be angry, okay?”

He still sounded gentle. As though he weren't the man who had destroyed my offer behind my back.

I no longer had a job there, so I no longer cared what anyone in that office thought of me. I swept a stack of files off the desk and into his chest.

“We're done.”

I put on my backpack and walked away.

His voice followed me, anger breaking through at last.

“You're holding this much of a grudge over those strawberry-almond roses?”

“You're taking everything out on me because I didn't buy you one bouquet. With that kind of attitude, no wonder the company didn't keep you. Maybe you should think about your own problems.”

A hard rain had started outside. Water pooled on the road to the subway station.

Whenever it rained before, Julian had carried me through that same stretch.

“Lily likes white sneakers,” he used to say. “We can't let Lily's shoes get dirty.”

I would hold the umbrella high with one hand and wrap the other around his neck while we talked about our future.

This time, I rolled up my pants and stepped into the water alone.

Rain struck my face. I lifted my head and took a breath.

My grandmother had always told me that I needed to know when to hold on and when to let go.

A breakup wasn't the end of the world.

I had seen the loss clearly enough. Now I had to stop it.