5/B เกาะร้างต้องคำสาป

On the second day of Nina Wynn and her favorite assistant, Zach Channing's "honeymoon", I wrapped up my handover work, went to HR, and completed the full resignation process.

Barely ten minutes later, a push notification popped up: "Request Approved. Nina Wynn."

"Looks like Ms. Wynn wanted him gone ages ago. Guess he finally figured it out."

"Right? Staying here was only making Ms. Wynn upset. Better to leave early. And honestly, what's he worried about? He's the CEO's husband. Even if he quit and stayed home forever, he couldn't spend all her money."

As I packed up my things, my coworkers watched me like I was the day's entertainment, their tones dripping with sour pleasure.

I was used to it.

Everyone knew Zach and I didn't get along, whereas my wife, Nina, openly favored him. She'd publicly embarrass me for his sake anytime she wanted. So they all rushed to target me, eager to win points with the beloved little assistant.

Thinking about it, a cold laugh escaped me.

"Sorry to disappoint," I said, "but I'm leaving for a better job. Another company's hiring me for double the salary. Better benefits, too."

I didn't bother staying to see their faces twist with envy. Carrying my box of belongings, I walked straight out of the office.

I hadn't even reached the front gate when my phone rang. It was Nina.

I was still considering how to explain the resignation when I answered. As soon as the call connected, she said, "I just sent you a file. Get it done within an hour."

So she didn't even know I'd quit.

I almost laughed and opened the attachment. It was the exact same major project I'd given up for Zach not long ago.

As always, Zach took the credit, and I did the work. When something went wrong, I took the blame.

At first, I tried refusing, but Nina pushed in every direction by coaxing, pressuring, and doing anything to get her way. When I stood firm, she gave me the cold shoulder and then stayed up late working on it herself, pretending she'd shoulder the burden.

I couldn't stand seeing her exhaust herself, so I finally agreed. I used to believe Nina would one day understand how much I'd done for her.

However, this time, for Zach's promotion, she'd fought with me, iced me out for three months, and not even come to the hospital when I'd been running a 104-degree fever.

Just because she wanted to force me into handing over a multimillion-dollar project I'd spent a month securing…

I realized then that something inside me had completely died.