All Chapters of This Time, I Walk Away: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

At the next morning's meeting, Neil placed a cup of warm milk in front of me. "Still mad?" I did not answer. He pulled out the chair beside mine and sat down, then touched the side of the cup with the back of his hand. "It's still warm. Drink it before it gets cold. Otherwise, your stomach will start acting up again, and you'll say I never take care of you." A few people around the conference table laughed. "Mr. Waller really knows how to make peace. Gabriella, you should forgive him already." Neil glanced at me, one eyebrow raised. "You hear that? I'm giving you an easy way out. Don't make this more complicated than it needs to be." Across the room, Shelley stood beside the projector with her laptop held against her chest. Her eyes were still slightly puffy from the night before. The moment she noticed me looking at her, she rushed to explain, "Gabriella, Mr. Waller only took me to the hospital last night. Please don't misunderstand." Neil tapped his fingers against th

Before the launch began, Neil pressed a cup of warm milk into my hands. "Forget about last night. Once this is over, we'll go look at wedding venues." He reached for my hand and turned the ring until the diamond sat neatly in the center of my finger. His thumb brushed over the stone my mom had left me. "Stop letting an intern get under your skin. You're the one I'm marrying." I had waited seven years to hear those words. Even after everything that had happened, I still found myself nodding. Maybe some part of me wanted to give our relationship one final chance. A few minutes later, the launch began. At the center of the stage, the host introduced Shelley's special mystery box and opened it before the audience. A moment later, the result appeared on the large screen behind him: Neil Waller's Unconditional Favor—One Time. The reporters immediately started teasing her, "Ms. Vaughn, what exactly can you ask for with that kind of prize? Could you make Mr. Waller your boyfrie

By the third day without hearing from me, Neil was still going to work as if nothing had changed. When Shelley entered his office carrying a cup of coffee, he was sitting behind his desk going through the project files I had left behind. Beside him sat a cup of warm milk, untouched and already cold. "Mr. Waller, you haven't had breakfast yet?" Neil did not look up. "Leave it and go." Shelley hesitated. "I already took the ring off. We can explain everything to the reporters too. If Gabriella's still upset, I can apologize to her myself." Neil stopped turning the page. "Where is she?" Shelley blinked. "I don't know." Only then did he lift his head. "You were always finding excuses to message her before. Now you suddenly don't know where she is?" Her face paled. "I only contacted Gabriella about work." "Really?" Neil picked up his phone and tossed it onto the desk in front of her. Several messages were still open on the screen. 'Mr. Waller says you've always been th

Neil stayed in the south for another two weeks. Every day, he would wait outside my office. On some days, he brought breakfast; other days, flowers. Sometimes, he arrived empty-handed, just walking a few steps behind me as I headed to work. I never asked him to leave, but I never acknowledged him either. The calmer I became, the more restless he seemed. In the past, I would have cried, demanded answers, or clung to his sleeve until the fabric wrinkled beneath my fingers. Now, I treated him like someone whose presence had nothing to do with me. On the sixteenth night, I worked until after midnight. When I finally walked out of the building, Neil was still waiting in his car. He had fallen asleep against the seat, exhaustion written across his face, with a velvet ring box still clasped in one hand. As I approached, his phone screen lit up. A message from Shelley appeared. 'Mr. Waller, I resigned as you asked. When are you coming back?' Neil opened his eyes almost