Chapter 3

One hour later, I arrived at the office all by myself. But as soon as I stepped into the workspace, I heard my colleagues whispering among themselves.

"Hey, I just saw that newbie get out of Mr. Carpenter's passenger seat. She even twisted her ankle getting out, and he just carried her upstairs in his arms like it was nothing!"

"Does this mean that he's already dumped Tamara?"

"Definitely. Have you ever seen him give her a ride in all the years she's been here?"

"Tsk! He's making his favoritism way too obvious."

However, when they saw me approaching them, they hurriedly nudged each other and scattered.

I walked straight toward my office, only to find Stella already sitting in my seat. I frowned and asked her, "What are you doing here?"

Stella pointed innocently at the nameplate on the desk and replied, "Jason told me to sit here."

I saw that my name on the nameplate had already been replaced by hers, even though the job title remained exactly the same.

Jason appeared to hand an employee handbook to Stella before turning to leave.

I called out to him at once, "Don't you think you owe me an explanation for this, Jason?"

Jason didn't even look back. He replied coldly, "I told you not to refer to me by my first name at the company."

Stella immediately jumped to her feet and said urgently, "I think you should explain things to her, Jason. If not, Tammy's going to misunderstand us."

There was a pregnant silence for a couple of seconds.

Finally, Jason turned toward me and pointed at the desk closest to the toilets. "That's your new place."

More and more colleagues gathered around us outside the office, eager to watch the drama unfold.

I suppressed the rising tide of grievance in me and forced the word out of my mouth.

"Why?"

Jason couldn't even be bothered to explain it to me himself. He simply glanced at the general manager, Dustin Barnard, who immediately pushed himself through the crowd.

"Let's not get worked up, Tamara Nielson. Stella's work represented our company in a competition and just won a major international award.

"Sure, you've been with the company for ages, but your position should ultimately go to someone more deserving."

What work?

My chest tightened. I immediately snatched the portfolio from Dustin's hands and flipped through the pages one by one—it was all my work.

It was the work that I had produced after a whole month of sleepless nights, and I had sketched every single design by hand. Yet, the signature at the bottom right corner was Stella's.

My eyes widened with disbelief. I turned to Jason and demanded, "Did you do this?"

He was the only one who could have entered the study and taken my manuscripts without my knowing.

I continued, "You gave my designs to Stella and put her name on them?"

His expression barely even changed when faced with my accusation. He just stood beside Stella and said nonchalantly, "Does it matter? It's not like the outcome would change anyway."

His tone was completely flat and devoid of any emotion, as though everything I just said was to a brick wall, stirring up none of his emotions at all—because he genuinely didn't care.

But I cared.

"This is my work! I poured my entire life into this! Of course it matters!" I finally snapped, yelling at him.

Dustin lowered his head and fell silent. My colleagues also gave me sympathetic gazes.

However, Jason still remained unmoved. He simply turned to Dustin and said, "She's too emotional and unsuitable for this job. Suspend her for now."

I let out a bitter laugh as tears splashed onto the floor.

"Suspend me? Listen here, Jason Carpenter. I quit!"

I then yanked off the employee ID badge, slammed it hard onto the desk, and turned to leave.

…

Dark clouds gathered overhead as I took a cab home. The summer breeze felt chilly against my face, and I suddenly remembered that it had also been the same overcast, rainy day when I confessed my feelings to Jason.

We had been in a situationship for a long time back then, yet he never took initiative to make the first step toward me. Eventually, I couldn't keep my feelings to myself anymore and confessed to him first.

To my surprise, he vanished for three whole days and nights after my confession. But just as I was about to give up on the relationship, he suddenly appeared at my doorstep, completely drenched from the rain.

He then explained that his parents' divorce had made him emotionally avoidant since childhood, leaving him afraid to face his own feelings. But for my sake, he decided to be brave just this once.

I could never forget the words he spoke as he slipped a stainless steel ring onto my ring finger.

"I'm not good with sweet talk, Tammy, but I'll prove my love for you through my actions. One day, I will replace this stainless steel ring with a huge diamond one and give you the best life I can ever give."

His eyes were sincere and glistening with unshed tears, and since then, I quit my job to fully devote myself to helping him build his business.

Stella once got indignant on my behalf and asked, "But Tammy, there are hundreds of big companies vying to hire you with your high qualifications and impressive track record. Why even bother going to work at his tiny startup?"

I smiled at her then, feeling lucky that I had a best friend who stood up for me and a boyfriend who truly loved me… But little did I know that somewhere along the way, they had gotten closer and closer to each other.

I felt the raindrops landing on my face. They were cool on my skin.

I took off the stainless steel ring, the one that I had stroked and caressed countless times, and just tossed it out of the car window.

"Sorry, but can you please take me to the hospital instead? I'll cover the extra fare and increase the tip."