8
After two days of rest at home, I returned to work at Harrison Industries.
Every day, I made sure to work overtime, staying late.
When Alex arrived, it was already late into the night.
He held a takeout bag in his hand and placed it directly on the table in front of me.
“Chloe, look, it’s your favorite from that famous Italian place downtown.”
I looked at him, my face a mask of cold indifference, yet it didn’t make Alex retreat a
single step.
As if he didn’t notice my clear distaste, Alex deftly pulled out the food, thickening his
skin, and looked at me with an ingratiating expression.
“Chloe, hurry and eat. It’s best while it’s hot.”
He kept calling me by my nickname, again and again.
But it no longer stirred any ripple in my heart.
I glanced down at the food and sighed.
Five years, and he truly hadn’t cared for me at all.
“Alex Thorne, do you know? I actually never liked Italian food.”
His smiling face instantly froze, and the hand that was peeling a shrimp for me stopped.
After a long moment, he managed a strained, awkward smile.
<
“How can that be? Chloe, you always used to order Italian.”
1 cut him off without hesitation.
<3 60%
“That’s because I thought *you* liked it! But now it seems, it was probably Celeste Hayes who liked Italian, wasn’t it!”
A sudden look of terror flashed in his eyes, spreading through him. He couldn’t find a single word to explain himself.
Just then, a third voice emerged from the office.
Liam Harrison walked in, casually holding a box of spicy noodles, and immediately spoke to Alex in a sarcastic, cutting tone.
“Mr. Thorne, you’re quite relaxed. You’ve just secured such a massive project, yet you still have time to conduct reconnaissance at my company.”
“But Mr. Thorne’s intel seems a bit off. My employee here prefers spicy noodles, not Italian.”
Alex Thorne’s face turned ashen, and he left awkwardly, looking somewhat defeated.
I didn’t pay much attention to Liam’s tone; my attention was already drawn to the spicy noodles in front of me.
I swallowed.
Working overtime until late at night, I was already starving.
Just as I was about to ask Liam if he could share some with me,
He suddenly handed me a pair of forks and urged me.
“Eat up. It won’t be good if it gets cold”
I didn’t have time to question how he knew I loved this particular spicy noodle place.
The hot, spicy, and numbing flavors of various ingredients in my mouth filled me with
09:54 Thu, 19 Jun
<
pure satisfaction.
After that day, Alex Thorne didn’t show up in front of me again.
But he would send me messages daily, using different phone numbers.
Even my former colleagues were subtly trying to persuade me to return to Thorne Corp.
They said Alex Thorne had given them a strict ultimatum: they had to convince me to
come back.
When I heard this news, I was thrilled beyond words.
It wasn’t until the next day that I understood why Alex Thorne dared to ask me to return to
Thorne Corp.
After I was falsely accused of plagiarism, the project team chose to partner with Thorne Corp and the Hayes family. But somehow, their proposal failed to satisfy the project team.
Finally, Celeste Hayes shamelessly plagiarized my proposal, ready to proceed.
But my proposal was only a general outline, not a complete plan, leaving Celeste clueless
on how to proceed.
As the deadline given by the project team drew closer, and breach of contract penalties were about to kick in, Celeste had no choice but to make Alex invite me back to the
company to resolve the issue.
When Alex came to find me, Liam Harrison and I were having dinner with the project
manager.
This time, it was the project manager who had approached me, hoping to hear my interpretation of the proposal.
After I explained everything in detail, the project manager personally apologized to me, admitting they had mistakenly believed Celeste’s lies.
My ability to explain it so thoroughly clearly proved the proposal was my own work.
<
09:54 Thu, 19 Jun
59
Alex Thorne waited outside the restaurant until we finished.
After some time apart, he looked noticeably more haggard than before.
“Chloe, won’t you really come back and help me?”
I listened silently.
He spoke about how, since I left the company, nothing felt right, nothing brought him joy.
Soon, he started reminiscing about our five years together, which prompted me to cut
him off.
“Alex Thorne, this was your choice. You chose to give me up. You have no one to blame but yourself.”
He suddenly looked completely deflated, a hollow shell of himself standing there, watching me silently, his eyes filled with both nostalgia and despair.
As if sensing Alex’s distress, Celeste Hayes burst out from somewhere, pointing at me
with resentment.
“Chloe Davis, it’s an honor that we’re asking you to come back! Don’t think you’re the only
one who can solve the project’s problems!”
“Well, I’m truly sorry, but I just finalized a partnership with the project team on behalf of
Harrison Industries!”
As soon as I finished speaking, Liam Harrison and the project manager walked out of the
private room.
As they passed Celeste, the project manager gave a disdainful snort.
In the days that followed, I fully immersed myself in my work.
I delivered a satisfactory design to the project team immediately, meeting their
requirements.
Liam Harrison gave me a substantial bonus, which I used entirely to hire a renowned international specialist for my mother’s treatment.
The day Mom woke up, Liam Harrison proposed to me.
Having spent so much time together these past few months, I had gradually developed feelings for him, but that didn’t mean I wanted to get married.
After I rejected Liam, I never expected him to visit my mom in the hospital every day, subtly hinting at his heartbreak.
Two days later, my mom gave me a good scolding.
On the day my wedding was confirmed,
Alex Thorne sought me out once more.
He forced a smile on his face.
“Congratulations.”
I nodded, said nothing, and brushed past him.
Behind me, he continued to murmur, saying he had canceled his wedding with Celeste.
I vaguely heard him muttering about “regret,” about how he’d “only just realized” his true
feelings.
Too bad. I had also realized my true feelings.
The right person would always be there, waiting for me.
3days ago
