Chapter 2

Anyone could tell the watch was worth only a few thousand dollars, but Sean was still touched. He smiled as he reached for it and nodded, his eyes glistening with emotion.

"You really put a lot of thought into this, Hannah. But I'm supposed to be the one proposing. How could I let you spend that much money on me?"

He immediately transferred 200,000 dollars to make up for what she had spent. He even sent someone out to buy a diamond ring so he could propose to her properly.

Our coworkers squealed with envy and cheered them on. I was the only one who couldn't smile.

Sean had always told me that office relationships were against company policy, especially between a boss and a subordinate.

Every time I wanted to go public with our relationship, he gave me the same excuse. As the boss, he had to set an example.

For seven years, I had put up with everything because I didn't want to get in the way of his career or his ambitions.

Yet now, just so Hannah wouldn't be embarrassed, he had accepted her proposal in front of everyone and was even going to propose right back.

As I watched them hold each other, so happy together, I finally understood. Every reason Sean had ever given me had been nothing but an excuse.

He simply didn't love me.

When you truly loved someone, you wanted everyone around you to celebrate with you.

I quietly slipped the key to the Rolls-Royce Phantom back into my bag.

Hannah noticed and sneered. "And you still claim you love Sean? You went all out on a beautiful wedding dress for yourself, but all you got him was a fake car key. What makes you think you're good enough for someone like him?"

Sean was already wearing the watch Hannah had given him. He looked at me with unmistakable disappointment, as if asking, "After seven years together, this is all you thought to get me?"

Even my coworkers looked exasperated and tried to talk some sense into me.

"Cheryl, honestly, you'd have been better off getting him nothing. Why give him a fake key? No one's going to fall for something that obvious."

A fake key?

I smiled and didn't bother explaining.

They could tell it was a Rolls-Royce key. They just didn't believe I could afford the actual car, so they assumed it was a toy.

They did have one thing right. Since when was the woman being proposed to supposed to bring a gift anyway?

I had only bought the car because Sean had once seen a video of a Rolls-Royce Phantom and said he'd die happy if he ever got the chance to drive one. I wanted to make that wish come true, so I bought one for him.

But now, I had no intention of giving it to him.

I couldn't be bothered to argue with Hannah. I pulled out a resignation form, filled it out, and walked away.

Sean had never seen me like this before, so he immediately followed me. Once we were alone, he finally tried to explain.

"Alright, I know what happened today wasn't fair to you, but all I did was hand the project over to Hannah. You'll still get the money, so what have you really lost?

"I'm not accepting your resignation. Take a few days off and think it over. You're already 35. If you leave this company, where are you supposed to go?"

He looked at me, clearly expecting me to back down. But before I could respond, Hannah called. Sean immediately hurried off to find her.

I watched him walk away, then pulled out my phone and called Dad. "Dad, cancel the project. I quit."

Dad sounded delighted. "Good. You finally came to your senses. I offered to give you a company of your own, but you turned me down and insisted on starting from scratch with some man…"

I let him ramble for a while before hanging up. With a bitter smile, I called a cab and went home.

My family had always been wealthy, and growing up, most people who got close to me wanted something from me.

I hated never knowing who was sincere. That was why I had chosen a school far from home. That was where I met Sean.

We started dating before he knew anything about my family or how much money we had. I had always been afraid that if he learned the truth, things between us would change, so I kept my background a secret.

Years later, once the company we had built together was finally doing well, I decided it was time to tell him everything. I was even planning to propose.

But before I got the chance, Sean came to me first and said he wanted to talk.