Chapter 3 Love I Was Never Allowed to Claim

Nicholas did not come looking for me until that afternoon. He pulled me into the stairwell, shoved his hands into his pockets, and stared at me sternly.

"Paige Thomson, are you seriously threatening to break up with me just because I won't post some stupid clarification on the company forum? Since when did you start pulling these pathetic, manipulative stunts?"

I glanced at my watch. "It's 2:30 p.m."

He frowned, clearly confused.

I gave him a faint smile. "I texted you at 12:40 p.m. You were on the fourth-floor terrace with Chelsea. You saw my message, but you waited almost two hours before coming to talk to me."

I met his eyes. "I guess even breaking up with me wasn't important enough to interrupt your lunch break with her."

Nicholas opened his mouth, then closed it again.

The anger on his face faded, and his tone softened. "Chelsea and I work in similar fields. We have a lot in common, so of course we have things to talk about. That doesn't mean anything is going on between us."

Just then, the stairwell door swung open, and Chelsea walked in.

From her expression, she had clearly heard what he had said. She stopped in the doorway, her smile fading. "You're right, Nicholas. I guess there's nothing special about us after all."

He immediately looked flustered. "Chelsea, that's not what I meant."

"It's okay." She lowered her eyes. "Making Paige feel better is more important. I'm nobody, really."

Then, she turned to me, looking hurt. "Paige, if my friendship with Nicholas bothers you that much, I'll stay out of your way. I'll quit my job and move back home."

Nicholas' expression darkened.

He turned on me, his voice rising. "Is that what you want? You want Chelsea gone? You want me to cut off all my friends so my entire world revolves around you?"

He glared at me. "What the hell do you think I am, Paige? Your pet? Your property?"

Before I could say a word, he grabbed Chelsea's hand and pushed open the stairwell door. "We haven't done anything wrong. She's the one being jealous and paranoid. If anyone should leave, it's her."

He did not even bother to keep his voice down. Despite the people watching, he kept holding Chelsea's hand as they walked away.

I followed them out, only to be met with stares and whispers from my coworkers.

"Did you hear? Paige posted something on the forum, too. She's claiming Nicholas is secretly her boyfriend."

"Seriously? How shameless can she get? She sees a happy couple and decides to ruin things because she's jealous?"

"Apparently, she Photoshopped pictures of herself holding hands with Nicholas. She even made up some ridiculous story about him confessing his love under the northern lights."

"Oh, that's nothing. She claims Nicholas once saved her from getting hit by a car and had to have part of a rib removed because of it. Who even makes up lies that detailed?"

I kept my head down and walked past them.

Everything they were laughing about had actually happened. Those were memories I had treasured for years, and now the entire office was treating them like some ridiculous fantasy I had made up.

…

When I got back to my desk, I found sticky notes covering my monitor, chair, and nearly everything else.

"Delusional creep."

"Pathetic fantasy girl."

"Get a life."

As if that was not enough, anonymous coworkers kept sending me pictures of Nicholas and Chelsea together. My phone buzzed nonstop, and every new photo felt like another slap in the face.

Somehow, I made it through the rest of the workday.

When it was finally time to leave, I headed for the elevator. But just as I was about to step inside, a coworker stuck out her leg to block my way. "The elevator's full. Take the next one."

I glanced inside. Nicholas and Chelsea were standing against the back wall, their heads close together as they talked about where to go for dinner.

There was plenty of room, so I stepped in anyway.

"There's still space," I replied quietly.

The woman deliberately pressed against me. "Where? Can't you see how close they are? There's no room for you to squeeze yourself between them."

A few people snickered.

Chelsea looked up, smiling. "What's so funny?"

When the coworker pointed at me, Chelsea's smile immediately disappeared. Her eyes grew watery, and she spoke in a wounded voice, "Guys, please don't say that about Paige. This is all my fault. I should've handled things better between the three of us."

She sniffled, then added, "Actually, I already handed in my resignation this afternoon."

Then, she looked straight at me. "Paige, are you happy now?"

She made it sound like a noble sacrifice, but all she was really doing was making me look like the villain.

Before anyone could respond, Nicholas said gently, "You've done nothing wrong. You shouldn't have to give up anything for someone who doesn't matter. Besides, I need a new assistant. Since you've already resigned, why don't you come work for me?"

He then reached past me, roughly shoving my arm aside to press the button that opened the elevator doors.

The others immediately started praising him for being so thoughtful. Nicholas ignored them, took Chelsea's hand, and led her out.

Just before the doors closed, Chelsea glanced back at me.

For a split second, I caught the smug look in her eyes.

She had gotten exactly what she wanted.

The elevator doors slid shut, but the mocking only got worse.

"Well, Paige, I guess we should thank you. It took a delusional stalker like you to finally push the real couple into making things official."

"Now they won't have to sneak around on the fourth floor anymore. They'll be working in the same office, playing house all day."

Everyone burst into laughter.

I stood there silently, listening as they made fun of me as though I was not even there.

…

When the elevator reached the lobby, someone shoved me from behind.

I stumbled out and fell hard onto the polished floor. My bag slipped off my shoulder, spilling everything across the lobby.

As I scrambled to gather my things, a ring rolled out of a hidden pocket in my bag.

It was one of a matching pair Nicholas had traveled all the way to Averia to have custom-made.

I still remembered the day he had gotten down on one knee and slipped mine onto my finger. He had looked up at me with that familiar smile and said, "Paige Thomson, you're stuck with me now. I'm never letting you go."

But on our first day back at work, I wore my ring while Nicholas took his off. I had watched him slip it into his pocket the moment he arrived at the office, as though he could not wait to hide it.

After that, I had stopped wearing mine, too.

I picked up the ring and stared at it in my palm, remembering how happy I had been when he had first given it to me.

Back then, I had believed every word he had said.

Now, I could not even bring myself to put it back on.

I got to my feet, walked over to the nearest trash can, and dropped the ring inside.

If being with Nicholas meant hiding our relationship like it was something shameful, then I did not want any part of it anymore.