Chapter 2

Early the next morning, I ran into Derek in the hotel lobby. His face was dark as a storm.

He had clearly tracked down my hotel reservation to find me.

"Fiona, are you done throwing your tantrum?" He grabbed my wrist, brows drawn tight, his voice full of blame. "All this over one necklace? You blocked everyone, and now you want to break up. When did you become so impossible?"

I said nothing. I just quietly clenched the hand hanging at my side.

That was not it.

It was not about a necklace. What I could not take anymore was five years of him always choosing her over me.

Every time the three of us went out for dinner or a trip, Vivian would claim the front passenger seat as if it were hers by birthright.

Once, when I was drenched in sweat from period cramps, Derek had made me a cup of hot tea. Vivian said she was thirsty, picked it up, and drank the whole thing. Just like that.

Every time I tried to push back, Derek would pat my head with a helpless sigh. "Fiona, Vivian's just clueless. She doesn't mean anything by it. Let it go."

But I did not want to be the bigger person anymore. I did not want to be the one who was always told to be understanding.

When I stayed silent, Derek took it as guilt.

He let go of my wrist and straightened his tie. "I'm giving you three days to cool off. After that, apologize to Vivian like a good girl. And don't throw around the word 'breakup' so easily."

With that, he turned and walked away, fully confident I would do as I was told.

I stood there watching his back, so calm that even I was surprised.

Back in the hotel room, I started packing. My eyes landed on the faded band on my ring finger.

Derek had bought it for ten dollars at a flea-market stand when his business was at its lowest, a promise of the future.

Vivian had once sneered that it looked cheaper than a soda can tab. I had treasured it like it was priceless.

Five years I had cherished it. I never even took it off to shower.

Now I realized that the cheap thing was not the ring. It was me.

Without expression, I slid the ring off, dropped it into the toilet, and flushed.

As the water swirled and vanished, my thoughts slowly settled into clarity.

All these years, I had been living for other people's approval. It was time to live for myself.

I opened the laptop I had brought with me and sat down to handle my work transition.

The moment the laptop connected to Wi-Fi, Messages opened automatically. Unread notifications began piling up in the corner of the screen.

Derek had forgotten that his messages were still synced to this laptop. The notifications came from a group chat Kyle had created for the three of them.

Kyle had sent a voice message, his tone dripping with glee. "Derek, my sister's all bark and no bite. I bet you anything she'll come crawling back to apologize to Vivian within three days."

Vivian had sent a tearful emoji. "Derek, maybe just give the necklace to Fiona instead. If you two break up because of me, I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life."

Seconds later, Derek replied, "Giving it to her would be a waste. She can't tell real from fake anyway. I once gave her a knockoff designer bag that was laughably bad, and she carried it around showing it off to everyone like it was real."

I stared at those words on the screen, and every breath I took hurt.

Every birthday, Derek would bring home a designer bag, but the poor craftsmanship always gave it away as a counterfeit.

I had noticed, but seeing how pleased Derek looked, I could not bring myself to call him out. I told myself he was young, that someone had ripped him off because he did not know designer bags.

Now I knew. It had been deliberate all along.

I logged out of his account, cleared every trace of the login, and submitted my resignation on the spot.

I did not want to spend another second at Derek's company.

When everything was taken care of, I pulled out my phone and scrolled to the very bottom of my contacts, to a dormant profile picture that had been dark for three years. I sent a message: "You mentioned your research institute abroad was still hiring. Does the offer still stand?"

The reply came almost instantly: "It does. You're welcome anytime. I'll come get you."