تسجيل الدخول[Ding! Host, the female lead's favorability has increased by 5 points. Current favorability: 98/100.]Molly's eyes widened."Only two points left!"She grabbed my hand."Come on, tell me what else I need to do. Should I make you barbecue ribs right now? Fried chicken? Or maybe..."I laughed."You don't need to do anything.""Huh? Then how am I supposed to get those last two points?""Let nature take its course. You can't force something like favorability."Molly pouted, clearly dissatisfied with that answer.But she didn't press the issue.Two years later, our company successfully went public.The team grew from eight people to more than four hundred.Our client base expanded from local small businesses to several publicly traded companies.Everything was moving in the right direction.The last piece of news I heard about Steven was that he'd gotten into a drunk-driving accident.Molly asked me, "Apparently he lost a leg. How do you feel about that?"I thought about it for a moment."H
"If you didn't already have those thoughts, no one could have talked you into them."His expression froze."You say Molly manipulated you, but those words came out of your mouth. That decision was yours."I rose from my chair and walked over to the window."You came up with that pre-wedding test not because Molly told you to, but because you were already worried I'd end up like Mr. Sutton's wife and damage your business."You wanted me and Molly to get along, not because you thought it was best for everyone, but because you wanted the best of both worlds while using her to test my limits."And you're not here because you've realized you were wrong. You're here because your company is falling apart, and you need me to save it."I turned around and looked at him."Am I wrong?"Steven's expression shifted several times before settling into something complicated."Nadia, you've misunderstood..."I cut him off."No, I haven't. I've just finally seen things clearly. You were never the person
Molly and I treated all of it as a joke.Then we went right back to focusing on the company.After the first client came the second.Then the third.None of the projects were particularly large, but they provided steady business.By the fourth month, the company had already reached profitability.When Molly showed me the financial statements, she looked like she'd just won the lottery."Do you know what this means? It means we don't have to live off our savings anymore! The company can finally support itself!"I watched her excitement and suddenly felt a sense of warmth.But it wasn't the same feeling I'd once had for Steven.What I'd felt for Steven had been dependence, regret, and an inability to let go.That kind of love was like a rope wrapped around your neck, tightening until I could barely breathe.What I had with Molly was different.There were no complicated calculations between us, no debts and anyone keeping score.We simply supported each other.She helped me escape.I help
Molly raised her glass."To you."I raised mine as well."To freedom."Molly and I rented an apartment near the ocean while we were abroad.It had two bedrooms, a living room, and a balcony with a view of the sea.After spending half a month enjoying ourselves, we returned home and settled in a different city.The days that followed were a blur of activity.Molly handled the money and assets we'd brought with us.She turned out to have a surprising talent for it.Probably because of whatever life she'd lived before arriving in this world, though she'd never gone into much detail about it.Meanwhile, I began preparing to launch a new company.Half a month later, the core members of the engineering team started arriving one after another.At first, Steven refused to let them go.He offered raises, promotions, and every promise he could think of, but no one stayed.They followed me not because I paid the highest salaries; they followed me because there was trust between us.And that was s
After our product launched, it performed far better than anyone expected.Within two years, we secured three rounds of funding.Within three years, the company's valuation increased twentyfold.Steven returned to the world he was familiar with.He went back to wearing custom-tailored suits.He went back to riding in luxury cars.And then he started to change.At first, it was the endless business dinners. He came home later and later each night.Then all those old friends came back.Then all those old friends came back, treating him with the same warmth and respect they'd shown before the bankruptcyAnd after that, Molly returned from overseas.Molly huffed."So, in the end, it all comes down to that jerk having no backbone."I smiled but didn't argue."What about the tech team?"Molly pressed."Don't tell me everyone in the department was loyal to you."I nodded."The company's original core technology was developed by me. Later, when the company grew, I built the entire engineering t
The plane cut through the clouds as Molly turned to look at me."I've been meaning to ask—how did you convince the entire tech team to quit? We're not talking about one or two people. It was the whole department."I slowly rotated my coffee cup in my hand and shot back a question."You don't know?"Molly spread her hands."The system only told me how your story ended in the original novel and what plotline I was supposed to follow. Honestly, I don't know much beyond that."The clouds drifted past outside the window, and my thoughts returned to five years ago.Back then, Steven wasn't the confident, successful businessman he was today.When news of the Cooper family's bankruptcy broke, the entire city treated it like entertainment.A once-powerful business empire collapsed overnight.His father was taken in for investigation, his mother was hospitalized after falling ill, and Steven went from being the golden heir everyone wanted to be around to someone people avoided like the plague.A







