Chapter 5

I had a week to handle the handover before I could officially leave.

I decisively booked a one-week stay at a hotel near the company.

After news of our breakup spread, I felt like my colleagues were gradually regarding me in a different light.

Maybe because they actually thought I was dead weight who had gotten in through some connections, they began targeting me.

They pushed trivial tasks like photocopying documents and making coffee onto me.

Jade knew the actual reason behind my resignation, so she would speak up for me whenever she saw someone mistreating me.

However, the rumors were getting out of hand.

Some even said that I broke up with Katherine because I managed to win Jade over and was depending on her instead.

They didn't care that Jade was already married and that she truly cared about every one of her colleagues.

People were ostracizing me even more than before.

But Katherine never spoke up for me.

She might not have noticed, or she could be letting this happen as punishment for my insolence.

But three days later, Katherine had a foul look on her face as she slammed a document onto my desk. "Victor, what kind of a proposal is this? This is a total mess!"

Puzzled, I flipped through the proposal only to find out that I was listed as the Project Lead.

But I was leaving the company soon, and I didn't take on any new projects.

I was about to say something when Mark slid in between us with an apologetic look on his face. "Katherine, it's not Victor's fault. I'm the one to blame."

When Katherine heard that, she just gave me a cold look. "Did you think I'd let you off just because Mark is offering to take the blame for you? The client found your proposal completely unacceptable, so you can forget about your bonuses for the next three months!"

I had never seen this proposal before.

But now that something went wrong, she shifted all the blame to me.

My colleagues' stares seemed to bore into me.

Some were whispering among themselves while others seemed to be gloating.

I firmly met Katherine's gaze. "I did not write a single letter in that proposal."

Lowering her voice, Katherine said to me, "You're just an ordinary employee, so it's fine if you get punished a little. But Mark is different. I just recommended him for a promotion to supervisor, so if they find out he's lacking competence right now, the higher-ups will have him demoted. Please help Mark and me out just this once."

When I saw how anxious she was to defend Mark, I knew then that it was truly over.

Mark gave me an apologetic glance, but he didn't speak up for me.

I suddenly smiled. "Fine."

I decided I would do it to repay him for drinking in my stead that one time.

Because I had taken the blame, I was blacklisted by the higher-ups and terminated with immediate effect.

I was called into the boss's office at 3:00 pm. She told me, "To be honest, Beckett, you're far too good for this company anyway."

She rescinded my resignation and converted it into a paid termination.

After signing the new contract, I thanked her.

When the workday was over, I was the last to leave.

I dumped everything on my desk into the trash can.

I had just arrived at the hotel when I received messages from Katherine and Mark, sent almost at the same time.

They said they had planned to treat me to a grand meal as compensation, and the venue would be a date-night spot.

It was a viral restaurant where they shared countless dinners for two in the past.

Every time they came back, they would explain to me that it was because the date-night dinners there had the best value for money, and they didn't have any other intentions.

But Katherine never took me there, not even once.

I could only look at Mark's social media posts in envy and listen to his rants.

I didn't respond to their messages. Instead, I took a cab straight to the airport.

Before I boarded the plane, the two were still reminding me about the date. They said they had a surprise for me.

The messages were getting annoying, so I blocked them both.

Six years ago, with flight tickets in hand, I didn't even hesitate as I headed toward an unfamiliar city, determined to forge a path in life with Katherine. Six years later, Katherine found Mark, and she no longer had a place for me in her heart.

As for me, I decided that it was time to go home.