Ashes of a Bloomed Heart

"That's enough! Stop causing a fuss!" Vernon covered my mouth before dragging me outside the office. He pressed his hand against my mouth and nose so hard, as if he were trying to suffocate me.

I heard Peggy chuckling with my colleagues in the office. She remarked, "Since I found my necklace, I didn't end up losing anything.

"Avril and I are colleagues, so I've decided to let it slide. I'll buy afternoon tea for everyone later. Thank you for cooperating with our search!"

Vernon seemed terrified that I would expose my relationship with him in front of everyone. So, he led me to the pantry.

"Tell me! What are you actually up to? No matter how angry you are, you shouldn't go overboard." Vernon said while pinching his temples. He seemed extremely troubled by the incident.

I was gasping for air. There were dark bruises on my face where he had gripped hard.

"When did you become like this? You're lucky that Peggy was generous enough to forgive you. I want you to apologize to her immediately!"

"I won't apologize to her. If I didn't steal her necklace, why should I take the blame?" I glared at Vernon.

He asked when I had changed. Well, I wanted to know when he became someone I no longer knew.

Peggy entered the pantry. She filled a paper cup with some hot water and handed it to me.

"Avril, have some water and calm down. I know you're holding a grudge against me now, but you shouldn't be so rash next time."

I didn't accept the cup of water. However, Peggy got burned by the hot water in the cup and ended up splashing the water onto my arm.

"Oh! It burns…" The hot water scalded Peggy's finger. Vernon hurriedly led her to the tap and placed her finger under the running water.

As for me, I was dressed lightly. The hot water had soaked through my chiffon top, scalding my arm instantly.

I went to the restroom to handle the burn on my own. Very quickly, red blisters began forming on my left wrist.

Despite the pain, I returned to my workstation to pack my things. Suddenly, Vernon appeared and grabbed my wrist, causing me to hiss in pain.

Clearly startled, he let go of me and asked awkwardly, "Are you okay?"

I was slightly amused. My cheek had turned red from Vernon's slap. Peggy even scalded my wrist on purpose.

Vernon's feigned look of concern made me want to throw up. I shook his hand off before tossing the things that had fallen onto the floor into the rubbish bin.

Vernon seemed like he was about to say more but decided to walk away. All he said was, "You were too rash today."

After picking up all my scattered belongings on the floor, I headed for the office's surveillance room. I wasn't about to let Vernon and Peggy slander me for nothing.

However, I came to a standoff with the employee in the surveillance room.

I mentioned that I wanted to check the surveillance footage from the morning in the office. However, the employee stopped me and said I had no right to check the footage.

I realized that my employee account had been blacklisted and deleted. Clearly, Vernon was behind this. He was already determined to take Peggy's side and was certain that I had stolen her necklace.

I smiled bitterly. I never knew that the stoic Vernon could be blinded by love.

Very quickly, I remembered that this tech company belonged to the Walkers. I decided to hurry home and meet Dylan.

I returned to the apartment where I had lived for the past six years and moved all my belongings out of the place.

At the same time, I wiped out all traces of my relationship with Vernon. It was like I had just taken out the trash in my life.

At night, another delivery man dropped off a premium burn ointment. All I did was toss it onto the table.

Before leaving, I gave this empty apartment one last glance.

The next day, I booked a flight ticket to Paloria. I also handed over all my unfinished work and gave some instructions to the ex-colleague who had taken over my place.

On the third day, I wheeled my luggage into the airport. Before boarding the plane, I sent a breakup message to Vernon's alternate account.