Chapter 5

Matthew's POV

I nodded at Bradley, saying, "I'm sorry, Bradley. I never should have come in between you and Julia. I wasted five years of your time. I'll give her back to you now. I hope that you can forgive me."

I then placed two documents on Julia's desk—a resignation letter and a divorce agreement.

Julia shot me a disdainful look.

"You want to resign and get a divorce?" she asked, scoffing. "Are you sure that you can bear to leave the company and me? Your tactics are as underhanded as ever, Matthew. Are you trying to use reverse psychology on me? What a joke."

She then grabbed the resignation letter and divorce agreement, tore them to shreds, and threw them at my feet.

Julia assumed that I was just scheming against her, but I truly wasn't. My feelings for her had always been genuine, but she never believed me.

I shook my head, saying, "I'll talk to HR myself. As for the divorce agreement, I suggest that you sign it as soon as possible. There's not much time left."

Julia was briefly stunned. "What do you mean there's not much time left? What are you plotting now, Matthew?"

She scoffed before continuing, "Don't tell me that you're actually going to die soon?"

She was right. My life was going to end soon. I wondered if my death would please her. But I didn't want to waste any more of my time on her, so I turned around and left the office. I closed the door behind me, sealing her fury inside.

Meanwhile, Bradley had left the office with me. He stood in front of me and blocked my path as I waited for the elevator.

"Don't be mad at Julia, Matthew," he said. "If you care about this position so much, I'll tell Julia to give it to you."

"Sure," I replied.

It was obvious that Bradley hadn't expected me to accept his offer. The way the color drained from his face was rather amusing.

I grabbed a fistful of his collar and said with a smile, "Your tactics are still as amateurish as ever, even though so many years have passed.

"However, they are effective on Julia. I'm going to need to trouble you to use these tactics of yours to convince her to divorce me as soon as possible. I just want to stay as far away as possible from you scums of the earth."

I emailed the HR department before leaving the company with my belongings. Truth be told, I didn't drop by the company that day because I was really looking forward to being named the head of the planning department, especially since I was going to resign soon.

I just wanted closure, since I had contributed greatly to the company over the last few years. However, Julia and Bradley ruined my wish.

…

The house was cold and quiet when I returned home. It was completely empty.

I suddenly felt like I was starving, so I ordered several food deliveries and gorged myself. It didn't take long before I started throwing up. I even began to hack up blood near the end.

As I stared at the fresh blood on the floor, for the first time, I came to the stark realization that I truly didn't have much time left. Anxiety gripped my heart as I unlocked my phone and dialed Julia's number. It didn't take long for her to pick up this time.

"Haven't you caused enough trouble in the day?" she snapped. "What the hell are you doing now?"

My heart turned cold at the disdain in her voice. My stomach started twisting even more painfully. Powering through the pain, I said, "Let's talk about getting a divorce, Julia."

Julia called me a lunatic and told me to die somewhere far away from her before hanging up on me. My calls wouldn't go through when I tried again.

She had plenty of time to waste, but the same couldn't be said for me. In the end, I decided to message Bradley.

"Convince Julia to divorce me. I'll reveal your secret if you don't."