Todos os capítulos de Our Time, On the Clock: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 9

The 4,000 dollars had barely gone through when Callum Walker's secretary, Leon Barrymore, sent over a payment confirmation.Attached was a document titled "Annual Personal Time Usage Statement."January: wedding anniversary dinner, ninety minutes. He showed up thirty-five minutes late, then spent forty-six minutes on the phone with Mia Garfield. We actually talked for nine minutes. Ninety minutes deducted from my allowance.May: I was hospitalized with a high fever. He stayed in my room for six minutes. That same night, he spent four hours in the ER with Mia, who was running a low-grade fever of 37.2°C.August: sex, twenty-one minutes. Afterward, craving his warmth, I held on to him for two extra minutes. Those two minutes were itemized separately.Nobody had bothered to fully rename the attachment. Its original file name was still there: "Mrs. Five Hours: Annual Allowance Summary."I stared at those words until my vision blurred. Only then did I understand that that was what eve

Callum glanced at Mia. "Mia, watch your language."His tone wasn't harsh.Mia stuck out her tongue and casually picked up his water glass for a sip. "I just didn't want Tatiana to get the wrong idea."Callum didn't stop her.I looked at the two of them and suddenly wanted to ask one last question on behalf of the woman I'd been for the past six years. "Why?"Callum looked up. "Why what?""Eating with me, visiting my family, going to the hospital, you time all of it. But when you take Mia jewelry shopping, to the movies, out for late-night snacks, you never keep track."Callum didn't dodge the question. As if he were assessing a case, he gave me the clearest answer possible. "Mia is a lawyer the firm is investing in heavily. Her growth translates into results and creates long-term value for the firm."He paused, and his gaze swept across my face. "You currently have no professional output. The time you spend waiting for me has no commercial value."The last faint thread still t

At three in the morning, Callum pushed open the front door. He called out for me, but no one answered.The desk lamp in the study was on. The divorce agreement lay flat on the desk, with the 4,000-dollar bill and the wedding ring's pawn ticket tucked underneath it.Callum picked up the divorce agreement first. When he saw the signature at the bottom, his face slowly darkened.He still believed I was trying to scare him. Six years ago, I'd dragged my suitcase out the door too, and in the end, he'd brought me home from the train station. This time would probably be no different. Once I calmed down and he readjusted his schedule, everything would be resolved.Callum dialed my number. All he got was a recording saying the phone was switched off.He immediately called his secretary, Leon. "Did she get in the car?"Leon hesitated a while before replying, "Mrs. Walker didn't take the car I arranged.""Why didn't you report that to me?"The line went quiet for a few seconds. When Leon

Three weeks after the divorce agreement was signed, I started translating documents at an expat-run law firm.At first, Janice Claydon, the lawyer in charge, only had me organizing files. Then, before one meeting, I noticed a discrepancy in the disputed clause between the two language versions of a contract. I caught it just in time to stop a settlement agreement that could have cost the client millions.After Janice read my analysis, she asked what I used to do."I was a lawyer."The words came out a little rusty, as if that part of my life were already far behind me.She handed me a cross-border arbitration case and had me try my hand at a preliminary opinion. I stayed up two nights straight and reopened my notes from six years ago. The instincts I'd once known so well slowly came back to me.After I submitted the opinion, Janice applied for an internship spot on my behalf.Before the review results came back, the school suddenly received an email report. It accused me of stea

A year later, I passed the bar transfer exam and came back home with the project team.When I walked into that familiar law firm again, there was a new face at the front desk. Callum Walker's name was still on the list of partners on the wall, but the management committee section had been left empty.Before the meeting began, he pulled out my chair for me himself. "Ms. Tatiana Merriott."It was the first time he'd ever addressed me that way.The two of us represented opposing parties on the deal at the table. Over two hours of negotiation, he made no concessions, but he didn't make a point of going easy on me either.Afterward, he gathered his documents and politely asked if I needed a ride."The company has a car.""All right."He didn't look for another excuse to follow me.Later, I heard from a former colleague that Mia never came back after she resigned. No one at the firm dared use the name "Mrs. Five Hours" anymore.Callum was as busy as ever. His private consulting rat