Chapter 3

Liam scoffed, completely unbothered.

"Go ahead! If you have the guts to resign, I'll definitely approve it! Your talent for blowing your own horn is growing by the day."

With that, he turned and headed for the bedroom. From the resolute stance of his back, I could tell that he didn't believe that I could bear to leave him.

…

The next morning, I had barely arrived at the company when I overheard a few new hires gossiping about last night's events.

"Lennie, you had to work last night, so you weren't there to see it, but Ms. Barker was so smug!"

"She wasn't punished or scolded for messing up the banner. In fact, she even remained glued to Mr. Yarrow's side the entire night! She was even closer to him than Marissa was!"

"We need to be more careful from now on so that we won't accidentally offend her."

"When do you think she'll officially take over Marissa's spot?"

Setting my purse on the table, I answered, "Soon."

The gossipmongers went pale as though they had seen a ghost. One of them stammered out, "Marissa, we were just joking. Don't take our words to heart…"

I simply smiled in response.

At that moment, the clicking of high heels rang out, gradually growing louder as the person came closer.

Melissa walked over to me while carrying a stack of documents. Then, she purposely pitched her voice much louder so that everyone could hear.

"Marissa, please hand over the Cloud Corporation project to me. Liam says that I'll be following up on it from now on."

I took in the mocking sneer on her face, not saying a word as I sent her all the project documents, then signed my name on the project handover form.

She leaned closer and lowered her volume. "Marissa, I didn't want to steal your efforts either, but Liam insisted on giving the project to me. What else could I do?"

With that, she strode off with her hips swaying. Even from the back, one could tell the sheer smugness that radiated from her.

I turned on my desktop and printed out the resignation letter I had drafted last night before heading to Liam's office.

Behind me, the others erupted into whispers.

I could already imagine what they were saying. Certainly, it would be something along the lines of my not being able to compare to Melissa and losing to her again.

In the past, I would've been upset at hearing such comments, but now, I didn't care anymore.

When I entered Liam's office, I saw that he was briefing Melissa on the project.

A wave of amusement crashed through me, as I had been the one to report those matters to him previously. He had personally plucked the fruit I had painstakingly cultivated and was now feeding it to someone else, bite after bite.

I handed him my resignation letter.

Once he read the contents, his eyes widened.

"You're so jealous of her that you're willing to go this far?"

Till now, he still thought that I was just jealous of Melissa.

In an eerily calm voice, I replied, "Please sign it, Mr. Yarrow."

Curving his lips in a sneer, he picked up his pen. "Do you seriously think you can threaten me with your resignation?"

With a few deft strokes, he signed his name before flinging the paper back at me. "There, you have your wish!"

Having achieved my goal, I turned and left his office.

I had only just returned to my workstation when an announcement was sent in our company's group chat.

"From this day forth, the Cloud Corporation project shall be handled by Melissa Barker due to Marissa Parker's recent emotional instability. All departments are required to cooperate fully with this change."

My fingers clenched tightly around my phone.

Recent emotional instability? He couldn't even be bothered to think of a viable excuse! Clearly, he wanted to make me the laughingstock of the company.

Everyone's gaze swiveled to me, but I kept my face impassive as I replied to the message first, "Noted."

After work, Liam didn't return home. While I was waiting for him on the living room couch, I happened to see Melissa's Instagram post.

"A boss who stays up late to help me work through a project? I'm sticking with them for life!"

Scoffing, I headed straight for my bed to sleep.

…

Liam didn't return until early the next morning.

As he took off his shoes, he said, "I had to work overtime till late last night, so I slept at the office. It's been an entire day already. You've probably calmed down by now, right? In the future, don't throw a temper tantrum like this again, but since you've already resigned, let's just go with it and get our marriage certified later today. I'll support you from now on."

By the time he finished speaking, he had already made his way to the couch and was leaning over to hug me.

A sickeningly sweet smell rushed into my nose, causing sheer revulsion to well up in me. I recognized it as Melissa's favorite perfume.

My hands darted out to hold him away from me.

"Liam, let's break up."