He sat up and looked at me, asking a question. I looked away, feeling nervous. I didn’t know why he made me so uneasy, especially since I hadn’t done anything wrong.“I haven’t forgotten our agreement,” I said. “The problem is my family keeps pushing me to get married because of my age. My parents are getting older, and I don’t want them to worry about me.”Whenever my parents called, they’d ask me to get a boyfriend. I didn’t have anyone in mind, but I didn’t want them to worry about me anymore.Nardy stayed quiet for a moment after hearing me out. Then he said, “You can find a boyfriend, but until you do, we’ll keep our relationship.”I felt frustrated and wanted to say no, but I realized that asking him to end things just because he gave me money was unfair. So, I agreed.“Okay, we’ll end things once I find a boyfriend.”It wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but at least he gave me an escape from the relationship.He looked at me seriously, accepted the new deal, and then turned over to
I was past the age of blindly chasing love, but my parents still wished to see me married, and I couldn’t bear to disappoint them. I wanted to settle down with a good man too.I had already wasted seven years of my youth on Leonard, and I couldn’t afford to waste any more time. My ex-classmates were all married with kids. Even Creza had found a boyfriend, leaving me as the only single one left. Sometimes, when I felt down, it hit me that I had no one to confide in. It made me feel like the loneliest person on earth.I didn’t dream of being swept off my feet by a Prince Charming. All I wanted was a reliable man who could offer me a listening ear when I needed one.I decided I had to find a way to talk to Nardy about this. Though he had suggested an open relationship, I wasn’t planning to stay in something like this for long.Just as I was lost in thought, the sound of running water stopped, and Nardy walked out of the bathroom.
“I didn’t do it for you. Rodel has done a lot of things that are harmful to the company. There was no way I’d allow him to stay.”Just when my heart was brimming with excitement, Nardy’s words hit me like a bucket of cold water.So, it wasn’t because of me at all. He didn’t come for me. He was already planning to get rid of Rodel because of his actions. I guess it was all just my wishful thinking.Feeling a little deflated, I looked away and murmured, “Oh, I see.”Nardy turned to look at me but didn’t say anything else. The silence between us grew thick and heavy, and my chest felt tight with unease.Everything I had planned to say to him just evaporated. The words stuck in my throat.The silence dragged on. Just as it reached a suffocating point and I was considering leaving the car, Nardy spoke again.“You asked me out because of this?”As usual, his expression was unreadable. I had no idea what was going on in his mind.I suppressed my disappointment and answered in a flat voice, t
When I said that, everyone turned to look at Conrad, realizing that he was trying to ruin my reputation.Conrad noticed all the eyes on him, and his face changed slightly, as if he felt guilty. But he was the department head, so he quickly regained his confident look.“So what if you called to ask for leave? Since I didn’t approve it, that means you skipped work. You’re fired, Shayeen. You have ten minutes to pack up and leave!”Conrad was determined to fire me. The small guilt he showed earlier was gone now.My anger grew because I knew he was just trying to punish me. Thinking about the condition he had suggested over the phone the day before, a sarcastic smile appeared on my face as I spoke coldly, “Did you reject my leave because I didn’t agree to your disgusting request? It’s a shame Joyful Success has someone like you as a department head. You’re a disgrace to this company!”“Stop making thing
When I woke up at night, Creza had already come home. She was surprised to see me coming out of my room.“Why are you back so early? Don’t you have to work overtime?”I stretched and yawned, answering her, “I took the day off today.”“You took the day off? What? Is the sun rising from the west or something?”Creza stared at me in shock.I nodded but stayed quiet. When she saw the sad look on my face, she started looking at me suspiciously.“You didn’t come home last night. Where did you go?”My face froze at her question, and I answered a bit guiltily, “I was working overtime.”“Working overtime? Who works all night overtime? Tell me the truth. Did you…” Creza stopped and raised her eyebrows, meaning she knew exactly what I was hinting at.Her unspoken question was clear.My face turned bright red when I realized Creza knew what I had done. I s
“I won’t leave without an official notice from HR. I’ll still go to work tomorrow!” I said coldly, making sure he heard every word, before hanging up the phone.After venting my anger, I finally felt some relief. After all the nasty comments from my colleagues and the endless work from my awful boss, I couldn’t take it anymore.I looked at Nardy, who was sitting next to me, still as stone. To my surprise, he didn’t react at all, as if he didn’t even hear my conversation.What’s going on with him? He’s smart enough to understand what Conrad was asking for based on what we argued about earlier. Why isn’t he reacting?Does this mean he doesn’t care at all? I felt upset thinking about it, but then I realized that maybe it made sense he didn’t care. After all, we were just sleeping together.Once I calmed down, I started to feel anxious and regretful for saying everything I did earlier. Wha