Ashes of a Bloomed Heart

At noon, I returned to my desk to pack up my things.

An asteroid figurine sat on the table. It was Vernon who carved it for me after graduation. Back then, he even said that I would be his whole world.

I let out a self-deprecating laugh. I gave the figurine one last glance and finally decided to take it along with me.

I held a box of my belongings. I was about to leave when Peggy suddenly hurried into the office, looking panicked.

"My apologies, everyone. The necklace I wore today seems to have gone missing. Could everyone please cooperate for a quick search?"

Everyone in the office began whispering to each other.

"I saw Ms. Cahill's necklace earlier when she first came to the office. The diamonds on it were huge! So bright and sparkly!"

"I think Ms. Cahill was being nice about it. I bet someone got greedy after seeing that necklace, so they stole it!"

"My goodness! We actually have a thief in our office. No wonder my biscuits and snacks kept going missing from my table!"

Vernon stood next to Peggy. After ordering security to block off all exits, they began searching everyone.

Once it was my turn, I set the box down so I could cooperate with the search. Clearly, Vernon was momentarily startled upon noticing the asteroid figurine at the very top of the box. However, he still asked security to dump all the contents of the box onto the floor.

Everything fell to the floor with a loud crash. The figurine was completely smashed to bits.

It was like my relationship of six years with Vernon. Once there were cracks, things between us could never be fixed again.

A few guards started going through the contents on the floor. Suddenly, Peggy covered her mouth and gasped. "My necklace!"

Her gasp of surprise drew everyone's attention. All eyes fell on me, and everyone began criticizing me behind my back.

"Oh my! It was Avril who stole the new director's necklace! If Mr. Floyd hadn't blocked the office exits, she would've been long gone with it!"

"I never expected Avril to be that kind of person! We really can't judge a book by its cover. All the new director did was take Avril's promotion. She's so petty!"

"Avril's really narrow-minded. I never realized she would do sneaky stuff like that. I'm glad she's already resigned. Otherwise, I'd be nervous to work in the same room as her!"

I turned extremely pale. I definitely did not steal Peggy's necklace. Someone had tampered with my things once I left to submit my resignation.

Fury was written all over Vernon's face as he picked up the pink diamond necklace from the pile of junk. He looked extremely disappointed in me.

"Avril!" Vernon yelled my name furiously. I looked over and noticed he had stepped all over my things. He even stomped hard on the shattered pieces of the asteroid figurine.

As soon as I looked up, Vernon slapped me without a word. "Apologize to Peggy! Why did you steal the necklace I gave her?"

At that moment, I lost all hope. Vernon was still holding the million-dollar necklace he had given to Peggy, and the cheap figurine he had given me was crushed under his foot. The figurine wasn't even worth a fraction of the necklace.

Tears instantly welled up in my eyes. Sure, my colleagues had misunderstood me. But Vernon and I had dated for six years. His slap had left me heartbroken.

Vernon actually didn't believe me.

Seeing that I hadn't responded, Vernon dragged me toward Peggy as if I was nothing but trash. He snapped at me, "I asked you to apologize! Explain why you stole her necklace!"

A satisfactory glint flashed through Peggy's eyes. But very quickly, she pretended to frown before reaching out to pull me up from the cold floor.

I shook Peggy's hand off. I clung to my last shred of pride as I got to my feet.

Although my eyes were brimming with tears, I stood tall and yelled, "I didn't take the necklace! There are surveillance cameras in the office. I want you to show the footage so I can prove that I'm innocent!

"Besides, it's just a diamond necklace! It's nothing to me!"