Chapter 1

After I joined my boyfriend Ethan’s company, he treated everyone with warmth and consideration.

Everyone except me. With me, he went out of his way to keep his distance.

When the team dinner moved to a new restaurant, he deliberately left me out of the group chat. “You don’t even read the messages. I don’t have time to babysit you.”

On a company hike, he kept my map and left me lost in the rain. “If you can’t keep up, whose fault is that?”

Then there was the project I’d spent half a month working late to win. Ethan crossed out my name himself and gave Sophie all the credit.

I thought he was hiding our relationship to protect his chances at a promotion.

Until the celebration dinner, when Sophie clutched my award and grabbed Ethan by the collar.

“The project’s mine. And now you’re mine, too.”

Our coworkers cheered.

“Ethan and Sophie made a bet! If she landed the project, he’d be her boyfriend!”

Ethan looked at me. He hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and kissed her.

Amid the cheers, I finally understood.

He wasn’t afraid of people finding out about us. He was ashamed to be seen with me.

I dropped my ring on the table and quit on the spot.

The next second, the private room door flew open. Ryan, our new boss, crossed the room and stopped in front of me.

“You begged me to transfer you here. Now you want to leave?”

He glanced at Ethan.

“Break up with him, and I’ll fire him today.”

The room fell silent.

The coworkers who’d been cheering a moment ago lowered their heads. Even Sophie’s hands stiffened around my award.

I looked at Ethan. My voice was so calm it surprised even me.

“Ethan, we’re done.”

His expression barely changed. He gave me a cool glance.

“Emma, you’re really going to listen to him?”

“Because I didn’t make our relationship public tonight?”

I’d asked him countless times to acknowledge our relationship.

When I first joined the company, coworkers often tried to set Ethan up with someone. Some even asked me what kind of woman he liked.

I got jealous and asked when he’d tell people about us.

“Making it public now could hurt my chances at a promotion,” he’d said. “Don’t start.”

Then Sophie began pursuing him openly.

They ate together, left work together, and even their work conversations carried a flirtatious edge. To everyone at the office, they were practically a couple.

I once spoke to Sophie in private.

“Ethan and I have been together for five years. I don’t mind you working with him, but stop telling people you’re going after him.”

She glanced at me and gave a quiet laugh.

“You should take that up with Ethan. He hasn’t turned me down. Why should I be the one to back off?”

“Five years together, and no one at work knows. Emma, don’t you think you should ask yourself why?”

Her words were cruel, but Ethan had never rejected her.

I stopped arguing with Sophie and asked Ethan to keep some distance between them.

He brushed me off coldly. “We’re on the same team. How am I supposed to avoid her?”

“Land this project, and I’ll keep my distance.”

For that promise, I worked late for more than two weeks and lived on quick meals.

The day our proposal was approved, I asked if he’d have dinner with me after work so we could celebrate.

He still said no.

“What if a coworker sees us?”

He ate with Sophie all the time, but wouldn’t let anyone see him celebrating with me.

I swallowed my disappointment. Then he reminded me, “The proposal being approved doesn’t mean we’ve won the project. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”

So I kept preparing for the presentation.

The day before it was due, Ethan announced in front of the whole team that he was giving the project to Sophie.

“She’s always been great at presentations. She’ll take over from here.”

He didn’t look at me. He didn’t mention who’d spent all those nights putting the proposal together.

He’d promised to keep his distance from Sophie if I won the project. But once I’d done all the work, he handed it to her.

Tonight, their celebration dinner had become the stage for announcing their bet.

Only then did I understand. The condition he’d given me had become Sophie’s bargaining chip.

I looked at Ethan standing protectively in front of her and realized there was nothing left to ask.

“You don’t have to make our relationship public anymore.”

I turned to Sophie.

“You won the project. You can have him as your boyfriend now.”

“Honestly, I should’ve broken up with you a long time ago.”

“Five years with you was a waste of my life.”