Chapter 1

I, Perry Camelot, forced a smile and said, "You guys have fun. I'll sit this one out. I still have a contract to finish, and the client is waiting."

With everyone watching, I turned around and walked out.

I heard Gina Harlington's sarcastic voice from behind me.

"Seriously? What a cheapskate. He can't even bear to give up an old watch."

Mike Garson whined, "Ms. Harlington, do you think Perry is mad at me?"

"He wouldn't dare," Gina said confidently.

Once I left the hall, I took a deep breath.

It felt like a huge weight was pressing down on my chest.

I never expected Gina to humiliate me in front of everyone for the sake of her secretary.

What did I even mean to her?

Back in my office, I finished my work mechanically.

I then called my best friend.

"Liam, is your company still hiring?"

He immediately sounded interested.

"What? You're thinking about switching jobs? You're always welcome here. Honestly, you're way overqualified for where you are now."

Liam Knight and I used to be coworkers. Back then, I willingly turned down a promotion opportunity.

Gina had been starting her own business at the time, and she begged me to help her.

For her sake, I gave up my career and became her most trusted assistant.

After years of growth, the company had become quite successful. Yet somehow, I had become one of the least welcome veterans in the company.

Gina thought I was too old and out of touch with the times. She no longer entrusted me with important work.

Some people even secretly mocked me for living off my wife.

Meanwhile, Liam's career had taken off. He was already the general manager of his company.

On the drive home, the faint mark around my left wrist where I had worn my watch for years was painfully obvious.

A bitter ache welled up inside me.

Gina had personally fastened that watch around my wrist on our wedding day.

She told me she had chosen it carefully, saying it could keep me company in her place whenever she couldn't be by my side.

I had treasured it ever since and never taken it off.

Yet today, Mike had casually asked for it, and she told me to give it to him.

After ten years of marriage, it seemed I had nothing left.

If that was the case, there was no reason for me to keep wasting my time by Gina's side.

As soon as I got home, Gina called.

"I'm not coming home for dinner tonight. We're having a company dinner, so just grab something for yourself."

I replied calmly, "Got it."

"It's only a watch. Do you really have to be so petty? If you like it that much, I'll buy you another one later."

Before I could say anything, Gina hung up.

She was right. It was only a watch.

If her heart was no longer with me, why should I keep obsessing over a watch?

I smiled bitterly as I opened a cup of instant noodles and poured boiling water into it.

Gina worked incredibly hard and often forgot to eat.

I always went out of my way to cook good meals for her and made sure she ate, but she always said it was too much trouble and insisted that instant noodles were enough.

We always kept instant noodles stocked at home, but I never let her eat them.

In the end, I was always the one who ate them.

Once, the entire company had to work overtime to meet a deadline.

There wasn't enough time to order food, so the company handed out instant noodles to the employees.

When Gina saw the cup of noodles on Mike's desk, she immediately lost her temper.

"Perry, how could you give Mike something like this? It has no nutritional value. He's one of the company's key employees!"

Before I could explain, Gina took Mike to a five-star hotel nearby for a buffet meal.