Chapter 3

John pulled out the chair beside him and waved me over with a smile. "Come sit, Zach. Vivian ordered all the food according to my tastes. I just don't know whether you'd like it."

Practically everything on the table was raw seafood and heavily seasoned food.

Due to the injury to my right kidney, I could not take too much salt, much less drink alcohol.

I had a waiter give me a bowl of plain congee.

The moment Vivian heard it, she scowled and said, "This is a custom-made menu. Don't cause trouble to the chefs at the last minute."

Right after she finished speaking, John bit down on the steak and frowned. "It's quite tough."

Vivian immediately called the manager over. "Get another steak ready. He has a weak stomach. The meat needs to be more tender."

The manager apologized profusely before taking the steak away.

I stared at the cutlery I had not touched and suddenly found the entire situation ironic.

I sat through an entire day's worth of checkups and simply wanted to hear Vivian comfort me a bit, only for her to suspect me of wanting money from her.

But the moment John found the steak tough, she did not want him to take even another bite.

The old wound on my waist started hurting, and I got up to go to the washroom.

As I leaned against the basin, I took a painkiller, and I only left after my complexion looked better.

Vivian never asked me whether I was hurting. She just checked the time. "You're a man. Could you stop being so delicate after your follow-up? We're surrounded by important partners today.

"Don't make them think that you couldn't even sit through a meal."

John hurriedly defended me, "Zach is different from me. He has always been determined to prove himself and isn't used to people taking care of him. But I've always had a weak stomach.

"Vivian always remembered it, and she's even more attentive about it than I am."

Halfway through the meal, the lights in the banquet hall suddenly dimmed, and the promotional clips for the new energy overseas expansion project started playing on the screen.

The moment I saw the first data being displayed, I clenched my fists.

I had worked on that project for a full year.

Back then, my old wound had started acting up. In spite of the pain, I went to four cities before I finally secured the most important thing of all—the overseas channel.

Every diagram and number in the proposal had been verified by me. I worked countless nights over them.

Yet when the promotional video ended, John was listed as the person-in-charge.

Vivian stood up and announced to everyone, "Since Zach's old wound is acting up, he will be resting at home. From today on, John will take over the project fully."

Everyone clapped, and they started congratulating John, but no one ever asked me whether I was willing to hand over the project.

I got up and turned to Vivian. "Who told you that I was backing out? I was the one in charge of this project right from the start. He has never even worked with the most basic data. How could he replace me?"

Vivian then shoved the project transfer agreement to me. "John needs a chance to get back on his feet, and you're just resting for the time being. Once you recover from your injury, you can start anew."

I stared at her. "What if I don't want to rest?"

Vivian's expression sank. "Do you want to die for a single project? You can't use your wound as leverage to fight for things with John. You keep saying that you're independent, but you won't even give up on one project."

I almost laughed in exasperation. "Your idea of independence is for me to give my hard work to someone else?"

Vivian's patience ran out. "Stop making yourself sound so important. The project was able to be launched because of the Marsh family's funding and connections, not because of you.

"If you're no longer married to me, those partners won't bother looking at your proposal."

Everyone in the banquet hall fell silent.

I stared at her and suddenly remembered the hardest days when she was building her business.

In order to secure the first investment for her, I only slept between three to four hours a night for half a month.

Back then, Vivian had said, "Without you, there would be no me today."

She had become successful, but all my contributions were being dismissed as opportunities handed to me simply because I was her husband.

She did not like me spending her money, yet she stole my project and destroyed my path to earn my own money.

Then, she casually told me that she could support me financially.

I stopped arguing with her. I simply picked up the pen and signed my name at the end.

Vivian sighed in relief, very clearly. "That's more like it. I'll go with you for the follow-up tomorrow, and let's end all the talk about the project."

I put the pen back on the table and left.

Soon, I heard clapping behind me.

As the door swung shut, I saw Vivian pinning the brooch of the person-in-charge on John's chest.

All the all-nighters and exhaustion I experienced while working on the project over the past year had earned me nothing but the sight of them standing together on stage while everyone congratulated them.