Chapter 3

That night, after leaving the Gardener family group chat, I submitted my resignation to Waverly's company.

I was among the first batch of employees when the company was starting out. I accompanied her to meet clients and stayed up late working on proposals. When things were at their toughest, the two of us spent months sleeping right there in the office.

On the day the company turned its first profit, Waverly declared before every employee, "Xavier isn't just my husband. He's also the partner who stayed by my side through my lowest points."

Yet now, Waverly assumed my resignation was just another part of the game. She approved it without any hesitation, saying, "Your resignation is approved. You can come back once you're done playing, Xavier."

It was the fifth day of the stand-in husband experience, and it happened to be the company's anniversary. It was also my final day completing the handover for my resignation.

I went to the company to return my key card and hand over my projects.

In the lobby, the anniversary video was playing. I noticed that my name and all the photos of me from the startup days had been completely cut out.

There was nothing left of the footage showing me packing products in the warehouse, drinking with clients until I suffered a stomach bleed, or staying up all night revising proposals.

The video ended with a photo of Tobias and Waverly standing side by side. The caption read, "Thank you for being with us every step of the way, Mr. Lawson."

Waverly knew perfectly well I was the one supposed to attend the anniversary banquet with her, yet she had Tobias wear the custom-made suit meant for me instead. He stood by her side to cut the cake and toast the guests present at the banquet.

Every time someone mistook him for Waverly's husband, Tobias raised his glass with a smile and accepted the role readily. Waverly never bothered to correct them either.

She would probably say this if I were to confront her about it. "We've already made it to the fifth day of the game, so there's no point in stopping now."

I didn't bother entering the multipurpose room to attend the anniversary banquet. Instead, I stayed in the office to complete the final handover.

Just as I was about to leave, one of the longtime employees, who had been with us from the very beginning, spotted me. He called out to me from the multipurpose room, glanced at Tobias, who was on the stage, and asked in confusion, "Who is that over there, Mr. Shaw?"

In that instant, everyone in the multipurpose room fell silent. That was the moment the guests realized that Waverly was actually married to someone else, not Tobias.

It didn't take long for people to start whispering.

"Why on earth is he wearing the Gardner family's signet ring if he isn't Ms. Gardner's husband?"

"He moved into their marital home and showed up at the anniversary banquet acting as Ms. Gardner's husband. How is he any different than a homewrecker?"

Before the rumors took off, someone nearby whispered, "Haven't you seen Tobias' post? Xavier is the one who refuses to step aside.

"Ms. Gardner has already made it clear who she wants by bringing Tobias up onstage, but Xavier still refuses to let go, relying on the fact that they once built the company together. He's being so unsightly. He's just reluctant to let go of his status as Ms. Gardner's husband."

Having said that, the person held out his phone for several people nearby to look at the post Tobias made.

I had seen that post as well. Tobias had posted a video showing me taking back my suit with a stern expression, confronting him about moving out of the master bedroom, and walking away from the family dinner held at Gardner Manor.

It was all footage of me losing my temper. It left out Waverly saying it was "just a game" and the things she had said afterward when she held me back and told me not to take it seriously.

Tobias even included a caption with the post. "Some people just refuse to step aside, holding onto a title that no longer belongs to them."

I stared at the caption and suddenly thought of all the so-called games of the past three years. I was the one who had to cave first every time they pushed me to the breaking point. I had to be the first one to bow my head amid everyone's taunts, admitting, "It was my fault for taking the game too seriously."

Waverly's phone still contained their betting records from every year. They had bet on when I would lose my temper, whether I would really kick someone out, and how long it would take before I gave in and apologized to Tobias.

That video made me realize that they had saved every instance of my anger, embarrassment, and loss of composure over the past three years, replayed and used as fodder for their entertainment.

Before I could say anything, Waverly walked up to me and whispered, "We've already come this far with the act, so we have to see it through. Tobias is just trying to help out here, so I'm not going to let his reputation get dragged through the mud over this, Xavier."

I looked right at her and suddenly chuckled. "You'd rather ruin my reputation instead, huh?"

Waverly scowled. "You've really taken this too far this time, Xavier. If you hadn't taken the game so seriously, things wouldn't have reached this point."

I didn't engage with her any further. I just set my key card and my resignation paperwork on the front desk. "I've completed the handover."

Having said that, I walked past her and stepped into the elevator.

Waverly was finally angered by how indifferent I was. She called her lawyer over in front of all the guests. "Go draw up an actual divorce agreement! I'll make him choose in front of all of our friends on the seventh day! I'd like to see how long he can keep this up!"