All Chapters of The Eighty-Ninth Time, I Did Not Look Back: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

第1章

The shower went quiet.I stood by the table, still clutching the jeweler's bag.Inside was the necklace Olivia had been wanting for months.To afford it, I'd eaten the same thing for lunch every day for two weeks: bread that was about to expire.Her phone buzzed again.Another message from Daniel."Don't push him too far. What if he snaps and breaks up with Olivia?"Ethan answered almost immediately, "He'd never leave Olivia. The most he'd do is sit outside all night and come back the next day to apologize."I stared at the messages, my fingers turning cold.Just last night, I'd sat outside that door until dawn with my knees numb from the cold.I'd spent the whole night blaming myself. To them, it was all a joke.The bathroom door opened.Olivia walked out in a towel, her wet hair falling over her shoulders and her eyes still hazy from the steam.She spotted the phone in my hand and raised an eyebrow."Reading my messages, Chris? You've gotten bold."I held up the screen."So every tim

第2章

I went straight to the office.At four that afternoon, my manager called me into his office.The proposal I'd spent three nights preparing for the southern district project was sitting on his desk.The first page was covered with red marks."Chris, how could you submit a proposal this sloppy?"I picked it up. One glance told me something was wrong.The main pricing figures had been changed, and two pages of the client's requirements were gone.I forced myself to stay calm."This isn't the version I submitted. Someone tampered with my computer."A knock came at the door.Daniel walked in carrying a cup of coffee.We'd been friends since college. For four years, I'd saved him seats and brought him lunch.During finals, I'd shared the notes I'd stayed up all night putting together.When we graduated and he couldn't find an internship, I'd even passed his résumé along to my manager.I'd thought we'd be friends for life.Then my manager looked at us."Who was the last to leave last night?"

第3章

The next day's presentation was another disaster.When I reached the slide with the market projections, the numbers were gone. In their place was a photo from the bar.Olivia was leaning against Ethan with her head on his shoulder while he smoothed her hair.They looked like a couple.And beneath the photo was a message meant for me."Anyone who truly loves me would come running the moment he saw this."The entire room fell silent.Then the client exploded. He got up and walked out.My manager hurled the file at me."Chris, you're suspended for a week. Daniel will take over the project."The papers struck me across the face and scattered to the floor.I barely felt it.Olivia knew how much this project meant to me. She'd done it anyway.I bent down and started gathering the pages.Behind me, someone muttered, "Letting your love life interfere with work like this is humiliating."Daniel sat in the back row with his head down, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter.My phone buzzed.

第4章

On the third day of my suspension, I went back to Olivia's apartment to pack my things.There wasn't much to take.Two shirts. A few books. My razor.And an old tin.Inside it was my mother's brooch.I was 17 when she died.As she lay in her hospital bed, she pressed the old brooch into my hand."Chris, when you find someone you truly love, give it to her."Years later, I gave it to Olivia. She called it old-fashioned, but she still closed her fingers around it carefully.Back then, that had been enough for me.Now the tin was empty.I searched the drawer three times. Nothing.Then laughter drifted in from the living room.Olivia was back and she wasn't alone.Ethan and Daniel were with her, along with the same people who'd laughed at me at the bar.Olivia's expression changed the moment she saw my suitcase."What are you doing?""Collecting my things."She scoffed, "You need a suitcase just to collect your things? What is this, another one of your attempts to walk out on me?"Daniel l

第5章

Olivia stood in the hallway, staring at the closed door.Any second now, Chris would come back. He always did.He would apologize, calm her down, and act like leaving had been his fault.But the hallway stayed silent.Suddenly uneasy, Olivia rushed to the door and yanked it open.The corridor was empty.The only sign of Chris was a trail of blood leading from her door to the elevator.Daniel stepped out behind her."Olivia, he's angry. He'll be back in a couple of days."She turned and gave him a look so cold that he immediately shut up.Then she marched over and grabbed him by the collar."Were you the one who sabotaged his report?"Daniel went pale."It was a joke."Slap!Olivia slapped him across the face, snapping his head to the side.Everyone froze.Ethan frowned."Olivia, what are you doing?"She released Daniel and turned on Ethan."Why did you drop the brooch?"Ethan's expression darkened."So what if I don't like him? You seemed to enjoy the show."Olivia froze.Because he wa

第6章

When I woke up, I was in a hospital outside Boston.I had a stomach bleed, a low-grade fever, and four stitches in my palm.After leaving Olivia's apartment that night, I'd dragged my suitcase to the side of the road and waited there until I could hail a cab.I told the driver to take me to a nearby city.Only after I got into the car did I realize my hand was still bleeding.Then I tasted blood in my mouth.After that, everything went black. By the time I opened my eyes again, I was in the hospital.The next day, someone from HR at my company called about the investigation.I got straight to the point. "I'm resigning."The person on the other end paused."Chris, don't be impulsive."I looked out the window.The sky outside was bright blue."I'm not being impulsive. I'm just done."Done with that job.Done with those friends.And done with Olivia.Silence stretched across the line."Send me the paperwork."After hanging up, I changed my phone number.Then I sat on a bench in the hospit

第7章

I spent the next month working at my professor's studio.I drafted plans, made revisions, and delivered documents.My stitches were removed, and little by little, my stomach got better.Life in Boston felt slower.After work, I'd stop at the little restaurant downstairs for mushroom soup and toast.Before long, the owner knew my order by heart."Extra cream, right?"I nodded.Olivia hated cream. She always said it was fattening.As I sat there with steam warming my face, I realized something.There were plenty of things I liked. I'd just spent so long giving them up for her that I'd forgotten.Olivia showed up again that Friday. It was the third time she'd come to see me.She was leaning against her car when I came downstairs, dressed in ankle boots and a trench coat, her lips bright red.The moment she saw me, she smiled."Chris, this place of yours is a dump."Same sharp tongue as always.I walked right past her.She hurried after me."I drove four hours, and that's the attitude I ge

第8章

My professor told me what had happened to Daniel.He didn't know anything about our history. To him, it was just office gossip."That Daniel guy from your old firm had some nerve, altering project files and taking money from a competitor."My fork stopped halfway to my mouth."Taking money?"He nodded."Apparently, Ethan's family arranged the deal. Their company won the southern district project afterward."Suddenly, everything made sense.It had never been a joke.Daniel hadn't sabotaged me just to entertain Olivia.And Ethan hadn't done all this simply because he disliked me.They'd taken advantage of Olivia's stupid little games to sabotage my career.When I returned to the studio, Olivia was waiting on the bench downstairs.She looked exhausted, like she hadn't slept in days.The moment she saw me, she stood up."Chris, I found out what really happened.""I know."Her eyes turned red."Ethan lied to me. He said they were only keeping you busy. He never said anything about the proje

第9章

Three months later, I got an email from my old company.My suspension had been overturned, and the company had paid the bonus it owed me.My former manager even called and asked me to come back.I refused.He was silent for a long moment."Chris, the company failed you."My answer was simple. "It's in the past."After we hung up, I donated the bonus to the hospital where my mother had spent her final days.I included a note with the donation."The brooch is gone. Let this money save someone else in my mother's name."Olivia called when she found out.I answered.For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.Then she asked, "You donated the money?"I didn't answer.She kept talking. "I made a donation too. With my own money, not yours.""Thank you."She laughed softly."You're so polite to me now. Polite enough to make me want to slap you."That made me laugh.Silence fell again.When she spoke next, she sounded almost nervous. "Chris, did you just laugh?"I said nothing.Her voice immediatel

第10章

Two years later, I was still in Boston. My professor and I had opened our own architecture studio, and the grand opening drew quite a crowd.My old manager sent flowers.Daniel eventually sent me an apology.I never replied.Ethan eventually came back and begged to see Olivia.She refused to see him.I heard all of that from other people.Olivia herself rarely contacted me anymore.But every year, on the anniversary of my mother's death, she made a donation to the hospital in my mother's name.She always left the same note."May she rest in peace, and may you be well."Near the end of the grand opening, the receptionist came over and told me someone was waiting outside.I went to see who it was. Olivia was standing in the hallway.Her hair was short now. She wore a pale coat and held a bouquet of white lisianthus.She offered me the flowers."Congratulations on the opening."I took them."Thank you."She smiled."Do I seem like a better person now?"I studied her for a moment.Her tong

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