All Chapters of Underground Girlfriend? Fine, You're Single Now: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

By the time I finished getting my ankle wrapped at the first aid station, Malcolm was already gone. The admin running the event handed me a bag of medication."Mr. Ridgeway asked me to give this to you. He said once you're bandaged up, you can take a cab back to the office yourself."I asked quietly, "Where is he?""Ms. Leclair's blood sugar dropped. He took her to the hospital."I looked down at my swollen, shiny ankle, and the last bit of hope I had left fizzled out.Back at the office, I'd barely lowered myself into my chair when Savannah posted in the group chat."Thanks for staying with me during the checkup, Malcolm! I'm totally fine now. Don't miss tonight's dinner, everyone!"The replies came immediately."Mr. Ridgeway personally went with her? Who wouldn't be jealous of that kind of treatment?""Some people can't even finish a hike without falling behind, but Ms. Leclair pushed through to the summit even when she wasn't feeling well. Talk about night and day."I clos

Chapter 2

At midnight on the dot, I sent the revised draft to the work group chat. Malcolm didn't reply. But a second later, my phone buzzed with a photo from Savannah.In it, she was leaning against Malcolm's shoulder, still wearing his jacket. He had his head tilted slightly toward her, listening to something she was saying, looking more patient than I'd seen him in a long time.Then came the follow-up message."June, don't bother waiting. Malcolm isn't coming to see you tonight."I stared at the words and suddenly found the key card sitting on my desk laughable.The next morning, Malcolm pulled my draft up on the conference room screen. "The Stellara project will be led by Savannah. June will assist."My head snapped up. "I put that proposal together on my own."Savannah, seated to his right, gave me an apologetic smile. "I just got back and need a project to get up to speed on the market. Don't worry, execution will still follow your lead."I looked at Malcolm. "From the initial clie

Chapter 3

That afternoon, the Stellara client specifically requested me at the pitch meeting. The smile on Savannah's face dimmed slightly."The client wants to meet the lead creative. That should be me."The account manager looked uncomfortable. "They've seen June's previous work and specifically asked for her to present."Malcolm glanced at me. "Then you'll both go."Savannah flipped through the files and asked softly, "I'll present, and June handles Q&A. Does that work?"Before I could answer, Malcolm had already agreed. "Fine."At the pitch meeting, Savannah got less than ten minutes into my draft before she mixed up the core data. The client cut her off on the spot."Ms. Leclair, who built this user model?"The color drained from her face. I took the mic and walked them through the model again from the top. The furrow in the client's brow gradually smoothed out."That's more like it. Going forward, Ms. Arden will be my point of contact on this."Savannah didn't say a word the enti

Chapter 4

I shook her hand off. Savannah stumbled back two steps, then slapped me across the face.My ear rang. She lowered her voice. "That's a reminder not to covet what isn't yours."I slapped her right back, but Malcolm pushed the door open just in time to see Savannah fall against the lockers. He crossed the room in two strides and seized my wrist."June, what the hell are you doing?"Savannah held her face and cried. "Don't blame her. I told her you didn't like her, and she just couldn't handle it."Malcolm's grip tightened instantly. "Apologize to her.""She hit me first.""Enough."He shoved me back. My lower back slammed into the corner of a locker, and the pain doubled me over on the spot. Malcolm reached out to steady me, but the moment he saw coworkers flooding in, he pulled his hand back.Someone noticed the handprint on Savannah's cheek and immediately called HR."June's been out of control lately. Stealing projects, pushing people, and now hitting someone.""This can't

Chapter 5

Savannah picked up the copyright certificate. "That's impossible. I came up with this proposal after I got back."The official flipped through the documents. "The core model was registered six months ago under June Arden's name. Ms. Leclair, the version you submitted to the client has an overlap rate of over 80 percent with the registered content."No one in the conference room said a word. The people who had just been calling me out quietly lowered their heads.Malcolm took the file and turned to the last page, where a full creative timeline was laid out. The earliest draft predated my time at Ridgeway Corp entirely."Why didn't you tell me?" he asked."I told you the proposal was mine.""I'm talking about the copyright registration.""Back then, you said the company was gearing up for a funding round and that all core assets needed to stay in-house." I looked at him evenly."I was afraid to tell you."The color drained from Malcolm's face, bit by bit.Savannah rushed to exp

Chapter 6

"June."Malcolm stepped in front of the car, his gaze landing on the contract in Corbin's hands. "You're going to Apex Strategies?"Corbin shut the car door. "Mr. Ridgeway, she's Apex Strategies' Creative Partner now. I'd appreciate it if you addressed her accordingly."Malcolm didn't acknowledge him. He just stared at me. "You know Apex and Ridgeway Corp are competing for the Cloudtop project.""I do.""So, you blew up the Stellara situation and jumped ship to Apex? Is that what this is?"He still believed I'd left out of spite, maybe even calculated revenge.Corbin scoffed. "Mr. Ridgeway, instead of looking into how she was treated at your company, your first instinct is to accuse her of leaking trade secrets?""This is between me and her.""I thought you two were never together?"Malcolm's expression darkened. I pulled the car door open. "Corbin, let's go."Malcolm grabbed my hand again. "Come back with me. I'll give you back the title, the project, the credit, all of it.

Chapter 7

The Cloudtop project team called an emergency review meeting that same day. The lead projected the photo onto the screen. "Ms. Arden, we need you to explain your relationship with Ridgeway Corp."Before I could speak, Malcolm walked in. In front of both Apex Strategies and the client, he said, "The apartment in the photo is mine."The lead asked, "Why was Ms. Arden there?"Malcolm swallowed hard. "Because she's my girlfriend."The room went silent. I looked at him, but the satisfaction I'd expected to feel never came.The lead pressed further. "How long have you been together?""Two years.""If this was a normal relationship, why did Ridgeway Corp issue a statement claiming Ms. Arden had been unilaterally harassing a senior executive?"Malcolm's expression hardened. "That statement was never finalized.""But Ridgeway Corp never retracted it, either."It finally hit him that a private admission behind closed doors wasn't going to cut it anymore.Corbin slid a file across the

Chapter 8

Three days later, the Cloudtop final review took place. Savannah showed up as Ridgeway Corp's representative, her suspension clearly already over.Corbin leaned in and murmured, "The Ridgeway board thought swapping the lead creative would hurt their bid, so Malcolm kept her on."I wasn't surprised.Before taking the stage, Savannah made a point of walking up to me. "Malcolm only went public about you to manage the PR fallout for the company. You don't actually think he wants to marry you, do you?""Ms. Leclair, worry about your own pitch."She smiled. "I've already reworked your model. Even with the copyright registration, there's nothing you can do about it."Ridgeway Corp's presentation barely made it halfway before the client called a stop."Ms. Leclair, your core data is pulled from an overseas report that's five years old. It's no longer applicable to the local market."Savannah's composure slipped. "There's updated analysis in the next section.""The updated analysis is

Chapter 9

The first thing Malcolm did after his suspension was release the full investigation results. Ridgeway Corp's official website acknowledged that the Stellara project's core creative concept belonged to me, rescinded my disciplinary record, and issued a formal apology.The three projects where my name had been stripped were also updated with the correct credits. The same coworkers who had accused me of sleeping my way up started sending messages."June, I'm sorry. We were misled.""Were you and Mr. Ridgeway really together? Why did he never say anything?""Savannah's been fired. Are you coming back?"I didn't reply to any of them.The same day the apology went live, Savannah filed an internal report against Malcolm for abuse of power, claiming he had funneled company resources to his girlfriend. She was trying to drag him down with her.But the investigators pulled the approval records from the past two years. Every project I'd led had the lowest budget, the smallest team, and 30

Chapter 10

Malcolm waited downstairs until dark. By the time I got off work, the cardboard box at his feet was soaked through with rain.He walked over and held his umbrella above my head. "I packed everything up. Take a look, and I'll throw out whatever you don't want.""Throw all of it out.""The mug too?""The mug too."He looked down at the broken pieces inside the box. "I always figured that as long as I came home, you'd be there. You could get mad, you could threaten to break up, but you'd always get over it in a few days."I didn't say anything."At the team hike, I saw you hurt your ankle." His voice turned rough."I assumed you could make it down on your own. When you texted me, I was taking a photo with Savannah and didn't want a coworker to see, so I didn't reply.""I know.""You knew?""Because every single time, you figured I could tough it out on my own."Malcolm's eyes reddened. "June, I'm sorry. Can you give me one more chance?"I was quiet for a moment. "I'm not goin

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