Chapter 2

The phone in my bag suddenly buzzed.

A message from Francis.

"Michelle, you really went too far tonight."

"Sylvia's felt guilty about you this whole time. She begged me to bring her along, just so she could make things right with you."

"Do you have any idea how much you hurt her, treating her like that today?"

Yes, Francis knew perfectly well what had happened between me and Sylvia.

Before him, I'd been in three relationships.

Every one of them fell apart because Sylvia stepped in.

The first was the guitarist in the school band. He chased me for half a year before I finally said yes, and by the second month he got drunk at a party and kissed Sylvia in front of everyone.

The second worked at the coffee shop off campus. Half a year in, he broke up with me, and the iced Americano that used to appear on my desk every morning started showing up as a latte on Sylvia's.

Every time, Sylvia cried and apologized to me.

She said she never expected it to happen, that she was only trying to test whether they truly cared for me.

I believed her.

I believed I just had bad luck with men, and that she'd happened to help me see the truth.

But the third time, I still found myself hiding the relationship from Sylvia on instinct.

He was the senior colleague who trained me during my internship.

He came from money, handsome and easygoing, and once he'd made up his mind about something, he never looked back.

I really liked him, and I trusted him.

Trusted him enough that I didn't need anyone to test whether his feelings were real.

But a year in, he still knelt down in front of me with red eyes.

He said he'd fallen hopelessly in love with my best friend, and asked me to let him go.

Sylvia stood beside him, sobbing, clutching my hand as she pleaded.

"Micky, what do we do? If your senior and I end up together, can we still be friends?"

I slapped both of them across the face.

Then I grabbed my suitcase and left that city that same night.

I patched up my battered heart with endless work.

Love had gone badly, but my career turned out to be a pleasant surprise.

I let myself sink into the joy of everything going right,

until Francis walked into my world.

Ours was half an office romance. He was at the branch office, I was at headquarters.

Now and then our work overlapped.

Over time, we ended up together.

In all my years, he was the first man who made me want to walk into marriage.

But now, reading his messages come in one after another, all I felt was how absurd it was.

"I know there's a misunderstanding between you and Sylvia."

"But at the end of it all, if she hadn't stepped into those relationships of yours, how would you ever have met me?"

I stared at that message several times over.

Then I opened my banking app and transferred twenty thousand into Francis's account.

Three minutes later, he called.

Behind him, a smooth stream of piano music drifted from his car speakers.

"Michelle, what are you sending me money for?"

"For the gift you bought."

There was a pause on his end.

"That was a present from me. When did I ever say you had to pay for it?"

The words had barely left his mouth when I heard Sylvia's small, timid voice in the background.

"But Francis, didn't this necklace cost thirty thousand when you bought it?"

Her voice was faint, but I caught every word.

My own voice was calm.

"It was thirty thousand. But you wore it, so it counts as used now. There's a depreciation fee."

"Also, I booked that restaurant tonight, and I paid the bill in advance. Your and her split shares are already deducted in that number."

"Oh, right. If it makes you uncomfortable, just transfer the money straight to him. You don't have to give it to me."

When I finished, his end went quiet for a good while.

After a moment, Francis's voice came through, laced with anger.

"Michelle, what exactly are you trying to do?"

Watching the streetscape blur past outside the window, I kept my voice level.

"Nothing. I just think from now on we should keep things clear between us, so it doesn't get ugly for everyone in the end."

With that, I hung up on him without another word.

Back home, I showered first.

Then I sat down at my computer and opened the work I still had one last step to finish.

Half an hour later.

The moment I dropped the file in the team group chat, it exploded.

"Holy crap, you finished already?? And polished up everyone's sections too?!"

"Micky's amazing! No wonder they say Team B is the lucky bunch. Ever since Micky joined the company, even the way the higher-ups look at our department got friendlier!"

"Wait, isn't it your birthday today, Micky? Why are you still working?"

I was in the middle of replying in the group.

Then a private message from my manager popped up.

"Michelle, the data looks great. Your work has always been something I can count on."

"That matter from before, have you given it any more thought?"

She meant the request I'd made last week, asking to transfer to the branch office.

At the time, she'd been stunned to hear it.

The branch office was out in the sticks, and it served a lower-tier market.

Even if the position bumped me up a level, the prospects and ceiling there were nowhere near what headquarters offered.

She'd told me right then to think it over again.

Back then, all I'd been thinking about was getting a little closer to Francis.

Now that it came up again, everything inside me had changed.

"I've thought it through. I'm not going."

"There's also one more thing I need to ask of you."

……

The sound of a key turning in the lock suddenly came from the door.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. An hour had already passed since I'd gotten home.

I stood and headed for the living room, ready to have a real talk with Francis.

I'd barely taken a step out.

Then Sylvia's soft, coy little cry reached my ears.

"Wow, Francis, your place is gorgeous."