Chapter 2

I was in a deep sleep until noon the next day. I walked out of my bedroom, intending to look for something to eat, when the aroma of food drifted from the kitchen.

Austin was busying himself around the dining room, laying the table with a spread.

"You're up," he said, flashing me a now-rare gentle smile. He placed the final dish onto the table. "I took a day off from work to spend time with you. Take a seat. I made them all myself."

I stood frozen in my spot for a few seconds before heading over. Austin seemed like a completely different person, enthusiastically placing food on my plate. "This is your favorite. Go on. Try it."

Staring at the scallops on my plate, I felt the urge to let out a sarcastic smile. Six years, and he still couldn't remember that I had a shellfish allergy.

I saw the sweet corn buns on the side and reached out to take one, but Austin slapped my hand away. "Don't touch that. They're a gift for someone."

Seeing the shift in my expression, he quickly softened his demeanor. "I mean, Maeve, there's so much food on the table for you to choose from, except for these corn buns…"

I ignored him and began scrolling on my phone. Unsurprisingly, I saw Carmen's latest post. It read, "I'm craving sweet corn buns. I miss the ones I had back in Samona!"

So, the man who had barely touched a cooking pan in all his life had prepared a spread just because of a single social media post. I ate a few bites and rose to my feet. "Forget about it. I'm done eating."

During the evening, I heard noise from the garage. Austin had returned, probably from delivering those buns.

My phone buzzed, and it was a message with a photo attached from Carmen.

In the photo, Austin stood tall in a crisp suit, holding an elegantly wrapped gift box and posing for a selfie with Carmen in front of an office building.

She recalled the message shortly after, but not before I caught a glimpse of their intertwined hands in the corner of the frame.

She texted, "I'm so sorry, Maeve! I didn't mean to send that to you! So sorry to bother you."

By now, I was numb to her showy, thinly veiled gloating. I simply kept my head down and focused on revising my resignation letter.

Just as I was about to close my laptop, I heard incoming footsteps from behind me.

"The wedding's coming soon, Maeve," Austin casually said. "I'm free today, so let me take you to try on the dress you picked that day."

What he didn't know was that I didn't want to marry him anymore.

"Forget it."

He frowned at my indifferent response. He swept his gaze across the living room and landed on a copper basin in the corner. "What's that?"

In the copper basin lay a few charred scraps of paper—remnants of the gilded wedding invitations. They were the lingering traces of my fury, still untouched, waiting to be cleaned up.

His phone rang at that moment, and then came Carmen's feignedly fragile voice. "Mr. Cooper, I don't feel so well… I think that there was something wrong with the desserts earlier. I'm at the hotel now… Could you come over?"

Austin quickly grabbed the coat strewn on the couch, panicked. He told me, "Something came up at work. I'll take you to try on the gown another day."

A self-deprecating laugh escaped from my lips as I watched his retreating figure. He had spent all this time talking, yet he was still trapped in his own world, blind to every hint I had dropped.

...

That afternoon, I dressed neatly and headed to the office, ready to clear out my desk. The human resource team had already approved my resignation.

The department director stopped me. Her eyes conveyed her deep regret as she said, "Maeve, you're the best team member I've ever mentored. Why are you leaving so suddenly? If there's anything, you can tell me, and we'll figure it out together."

Looking at the supervisor who had supported me every step of the way, and remembering how attentively she had cared for me over the years, I felt a wave of bitterness rise in my chest.

I pressed my lips into a thin smile. "I'm fine. I just felt that it was time for a change of pace."

After packing up my things and walking out of the office building, I passed by a restaurant that had gained popularity after going viral online.