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Home / Romance Short Story / Leave Her in the Dust / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of Leave Her in the Dust: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

12 Chapters

Chapter 1

The moment the message was sent, my girlfriend, Joanna Vale, replied with a single question mark.When I didn’t answer, she called me immediately."What are you flipping out about now? Zion forgot to block you this time, so I knew you'd overthink it. After he's shown so much improvement, can't I show him some encouragement as the CEO? The kid's out there trying to build a career, and now he just made a joke after feeling the warmth of society. How could you turn it into some big issue?"Stop trying to threaten me with a breakup. It's tasteless."She'd never minced her words with me, and it was always a matter of winning a debate or making me admit defeat for her.This time, I couldn't swallow it anymore.The improvement she talked about? All of it was just taking my achievements and giving the credit to Zion, turning him into the best performer in the team.I laughed coldly and asked, "Don't you hate social obligations with colleagues the most, Joanna? Since when did you become

Chapter 2

I came back to my senses, and spoke."Looks like you were smiling just fine in those photos. Didn't seem like you were suffering at all. Besides, if we break up, you can just go ahead and marry Zion tomorrow."Joanna's breath hitched. "You disappoint me! I thought that after using his parents as practice, I can go back and see your parents with you later. Now, it seems like it was all for nothing!"In the past, I would've thought that I truly misunderstood her, but now? I knew she was doing nothing more than leading me on with false promises.I was about to mock her when a thin jacket was placed onto my shoulders. I reflexively covered my phone speaker with my hand.I had come out into the courtyard to avoid my parents from overhearing, and the temperature outside was quite low.Worried, my mother asked, "Ethan, are you fighting with Joanna?"Behind her, my father was sat at the dinner table, but he hadn't even taken one bite. Clearly, he was concerned about me too.Something s

Chapter 3

This time, what hurt me wasn't just some holiday stunt.It was finally realizing how blatantly biased she was, and how she purposefully ignored my emotional needs, treating me like a court jester.Why should I keep someone like her around?Yet, Joanna felt no guilt whatsoever. There was nothing but annoyance in her voice when she spoke."Everything you did was just to satisfy yourself. I wanted none of that, and you didn't even know! Fine, I get it. You’re just picking a fight because of the holiday thing. Let me guess, did your parents talk bad about me? Before the end of the year, I'll go…"Talking to her was like speaking to a brick wall. Completely disappointed, I stopped her from making any more false promises. "Give me my money back right now unless you want cops knocking at your door, got it?"She cared too much about appearances to risk public humiliation.There was a long silence on the other end before she exploded."You're the one who said that your money was mine

Chapter 4

Back then, she had been crouching outside a breakfast shop in torn clothes, crying from hunger.I was the one who reached out to her, gave her a warm meal, brought her into the company, and pushed her all the way to her position as CEO.Now, she told me that I had nothing to do with it.I laughed self-deprecatingly. "Fine. Let's act like we never knew each other."For some reason, Joanna’s heart skipped a beat. Her grip around the phone tightened subconsciously.But I had already hung up.The next day, I went to work as usual.To punish me, Joanna summoned me into her office first thing in the morning and tore into me mercilessly. She threw a proposal in my face and demanded I redo it.That afternoon, she unexpectedly bought coffee for the entire office while deliberately skipping over me, using Zion's name to help curry favor for him with everyone.Back when I used to encourage her to build better relationships with coworkers, she had accused me of lowering her status and sai

Chapter 5

Zion blinked innocently and voiced a question on purpose."What's wrong, Joanna? Was it something I did? Should I spit out the food? I'll do it right now!"Joanna's expression darkened as well, while the client shouted, "If you keep this man around, there's no need for us to continue!"I immediately stepped in to smooth things over. "Please don't be angry, Mr. Devon. He's just an intern who doesn't know better. I'll have him apologize!"Zion acted personally wronged, tearing up immediately. "You're just using this chance to get back at me… Fine, I'll apologize!"Joanna instantly flew into a rage for his sake and stood up with a flourish. "You're the one who wants to ask for partnership, not me! Our company won't allow you to bully us like this!"She proudly dragged Zion away, once again leaving me behind alone to clean up after the disaster she caused.Had she completely lost her mind?Mr. Devon, the head of Nextech, was one of our company's core clients. Losing him alone would

Chapter 6

In the past, even a random holiday card from her was enough for me to be happy for days.Now, for the first time, that trick no longer worked. Joanna froze briefly before her face flushed red with anger. "Aren't you getting a little full of yourself, Ethan? You've done nothing but give me attitude since you've come back! Are you really so hung up over what I did?"Fine, tell your parents to come to the city, and I'll give you gifts too so you can live out your little vain fantasies! Is that good enough for you?"I thought that you were the only person I didn't have to force an act around, but now even you're pushing me. I'm disappointed in you!"I was just about to fire back when Zion suddenly pushed open the office door."Alright, stop making mountains out of molehills. The relationship between Joanna and I goes beyond romance. It's not what you think!"Then, he grabbed my hand. "From now on, we're brothers!"His act made my skin crawl, and I shook him off immediately.T

Chapter 7

Joanna was struck dumb by the document on her face. It slid to the ground, papers scattering everywhere.She stumbled, yet she didn't dare to say anything. She only bent down silently to gather the pages. The moment she flipped through the file, her eyes widened in shock."W-What exactly did I do wrong, Mr. Hart…?"Seeing her dumbfounded expression, Zion snatched the document. The second he saw the contents, he blurted out, "Demoted from CEO to department director? On what grounds?"His voice was so loud that everyone nearby heard it clearly, and they all burst into whispers.The chairman glanced at Zion, before turning to reply Joanna's question. "Hmph, you should know the answer yourself! Do you need me to repeat what you said to Mr. Devon? They told me that I forgot my roots, and that I hired an arrogant CEO. Not only have they cancelled business with us, they even told their associates to pull their investments too!"I’m already showing enough mercy by only demoting you, Jo

Chapter 8

She clearly assumed the chairman had arrived in a hurry and hadn’t had time to make proper arrangements.The very next second, the chairman said warmly, "That's not for you to worry about."He walked towards me, before handing me a brand-new appointment letter from his briefcase."Ethan, you are now the company's new CEO. Work hard, alright? You've always been my favorite!"After that, he gave a few more instructions before I saw him out.When I came back, my colleagues crowded around me and congratulated: "Congrats on the promotion, Mr. Yates! Today's a great day! Not only did we get rid of that slacker Zion, but you got a promotion too. Shouldn't you treat us to a meal?""Yeah! How about the barbecue place we went to for team building?"I had climbed my way up from the bottom myself, so I understood something very clearly.A good team atmosphere was the foundation for good results.Not to mention, most of these employees had been personally trained by me. I’d always put ef

Chapter 9

One of our mutual friends suddenly messaged me, complaining nonstop.[Bro, this kid is going to be the death of me! Joanna called me and told me she wanted to introduce a talented employee to me. I figured even if he wasn't at your level, he'd at least be somewhat decent, right? But this kid's a total nightmare! He plays games in the office all day, interrupts everyone else’s work, and even orders people to bring him tea and coffee!]I immediately realized who he was talking about.[...Zion Winters?]The reply came instantly; at that point, it was clear he had held back the frustration for ages.[YES! HIM! You know that weirdo too?! I've tried to hint at Joanna that he's no good, but she kept on insisting that I gave him a chance, so I couldn't refuse… Can't you help me talk your wife out of this?]My eye twitched. [We broke up ages ago, man.]Confused, my friend asked. [You did? But Joanna told me that you guys were only having a small spat. She even said that you're the one wh

Chapter 10

As I got closer, I realized the two people standing there were Joanna and Zion.Joanna looked unbearably smug."And you said you didn't want to win me back! You secretly went to see Mr. Devon behind my back just to recover the losses I caused, didn’t you? You could just be honest about it!"Zion smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Ethan, Joanna and I happened to spot you while we were eating nearby. So, I thought I should just come here and drive you home."For some reason, seeing the two of them together gave me the same suffocating feeling as stepping into sticky glue.The good mood I had instantly vanished."Where's my driver?" Under normal circumstances, unless I specifically told him otherwise, he should’ve been waiting here.But Zion had already reached for my car keys."What's the need of having a driver when I'm here? I told Joanna to tell him to leave. Hey, did you change your car? What happened to that junky old one you used to drive? If Joanna hadn’t told me, I

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