Chapter 5

Now, they were following Martin around, swaggering in front of me and acting like they owned the place.

"What's the matter? Why aren't you moving? Do you expect us to do it for you, former team leader?"

Martin looked at me mockingly, deliberately emphasizing the last three words.

I clenched my fists.

That locker had originally been reserved exclusively for me, but with just one word from Martin, it had been turned into a shared locker. Meanwhile, he had an entire locker to himself, one that was several times larger than mine.

Before I could say anything, Martin raised his hand. The few coworkers who had switched sides picked up the urn and threw it to the ground. It hit the floor with a heavy thud before rolling twice toward the wall.

Just then, Wrenley suddenly walked over with a darkening expression. "What are you all standing around for? Don't you have work to do?"

Instantly, all the onlookers scattered.

Seeing Wrenley's displeased expression, Martin quickly shifted the blame onto me.

He complained, "I only came over after hearing an argument. I didn't expect to find him trying to put some broken urn he'd brought from God knows where into the shared locker. I heard from the others that it's an urn for someone's ashes. It's no wonder the others had a problem with him putting it in there."

Hearing this, Wrenley glanced at the urn. A slight hint of hesitation flashed across her eyes.

After a moment of silence, she finally spoke. "You really shouldn't keep something like that in the shared locker. Just put it in the corner for now. Make sure it's kept far away."

As she spoke, she grimaced slightly in disgust. She then leaned over and whispered something to Martin. He shot me a smug look before walking away.

Once Wrenley was sure Martin was gone, she took out her phone and transferred 200 dollars to me.

She then said, "Use this money to buy Jasmine some supplements. I'll go visit her at the hospital in a couple of days. Even if you're preparing for her funeral, you shouldn't settle for such a cheap urn. I've been paying you such a generous salary. Where have you been spending all your money?"

Where had I been spending it?

More than half of the five thousand dollars she'd given me had gone toward buying her all kinds of gifts. Another portion had been deducted through baseless fines all because of Martin. By the time I got my pay, there was barely anything left.

And now, she had the nerve to ask where it had all gone.

The sheer absurdity of it was laughable!

If it hadn't been for Mom's wish to see me get married and my desire to build a happy life with Wrenley, I would never have endured so much humiliation or watched her take Martin's side time and time again.

Now that Mom was gone, it was time to end this little game she'd been playing under the guise of love.

With that in mind, I looked straight into her eyes and said, "Wrenley, let's break up."

Just then, a deafening boom suddenly erupted outside. Fireworks exploded across the sky, forming the words, "Happy Birthday!"

My expression darkened.

Ignoring Wrenley's shocked reaction, I continued, "This relationship should have ended a long time ago. You don't need to keep making excuses to deceive me anymore. You're free to treat Martin however you want, openly and without hiding it."

Once Wrenley recovered from her shock, she snapped, "What kind of tantrum are you throwing now? Is this because I didn't go see Jasmine? She was fine at the hospital anyway. Besides, you were there taking care of her, weren't you?"

"Haven't I told you countless times? This is all part of my plan! I've been doing everything for your sake since the beginning. I haven't had a single selfish motive. Why can't you understand that? Not only do you refuse to understand me, but you're even breaking up with me to threaten me!

"How could you even have the heart to do that?"

Have the heart?

She was the one who had no heart! My conscience was absolutely clear.

The pendant Mom had given her might not have been worth much, but it had held Mom's heartfelt affection for her. Yet, Wrenley had casually given it away to Martin. She hadn't cared about the sentiment behind it at all.

Thinking of this, I replied coldly, "If you truly are doing all this for my sake, then let's break up. Starting today, we're done. We'll go our separate ways."

The moment I finished speaking, Wrenley lifted her hand and slapped me twice across the face.

Her eyes reddened as she began to speak in an icy voice.