Loving Her Was My Only Mistake

Samantha paused, then slowly set the ring back in its box.

She closed the lid, and the flicker of guilt on her face was already gone, replaced by that same flat, unbothered look.

"Edgar, I told you I'd have it resized."

She looked at me the way you'd look at a child throwing a tantrum over nothing.

"Blowing this up into a breakup, storming out of the house every time over these little things—it's really getting old."

My breath caught.

In that instant I remembered the night of the project's victory dinner, when I'd won a week of paid vacation in the raffle.

I'd been over the moon.

Over the moon for the three months I'd gone without a day off, for the parents I hadn't seen in two years.

But by the time I'd bought my plane ticket and my parents had already booked their own time off, waiting for me to come home for the reunion—

HR told me the prize had already been redeemed.

"Director Mason came to claim it. She said you'd authorized it, and it went to that new intern in your department, Mike Fox."

I confronted her, my eyes red.

Samantha barely glanced up before lowering her head again, indifferent.

"Oh. I must have written down the wrong name by accident."

"Then go get it back for me!"

She just kept staring at her phone, so I snatched it from her hand in a fury.

What filled the screen was Mike's photo grid on social media.

【A paid trip to a concert is honestly the best—thanks to a certain someone~】

It hit me like a blow to the head.

Trembling, I held the phone up in front of Samantha, my vision blurred with tears.

"This is what you call writing down the wrong name?"

Samantha didn't explain. Instead, with a coldness that bordered on contempt, she turned it back on me.

"It's already done. I just maximized the value."

"Rewarding a subordinate now and then reinforces my authority as a leader."

"Edgar, you've been at this company long enough. Can't you look at the bigger picture?"

Her grand, self-righteous excuses drove me out of my mind.

That was the first time I'd ever mentioned breaking up with Samantha.

Not once—not through the tens of thousands of times she'd called me by the wrong name—had the thought even crossed my mind.

I stayed at a hotel for three days and never got a single message from her softening up.

Only later did it sink in: Samantha was counting on the fact that I loved her too much.

Otherwise, how could I have forgiven her, over and over, for calling me by his name?

I'd even given up a stable job back home the moment I learned she'd broken up with her ex over long distance, crossing a thousand miles to her city to build everything from scratch again.

The day I swallowed my pride and came home, she wore an expression that said she'd expected it all along.

She took the suitcase from me and said flatly,

"Don't make a scene next time. Grow up a little."

Samantha's face in front of me now slowly blurred into her face from that day.

But this time, I didn't want to back down.

I repeated it, firm and certain.

"I mean it. Let's break up."

The door slammed shut with a crack.

Leaving behind only one line.

"You're way too worked up right now. Go cool off on your own!"

I didn't care where she'd gone.

Mike's social media had already popped up in the same instant.

【I knew it. I'm still your first choice.】

That engagement ring, like it had finally found its rightful owner, was back on her finger.

I gave the post a like.

Then I took one last look at this little apartment I'd decorated piece by piece, and softly closed the door.

The next day at work, the two of them arrived together.

The office broke into a chorus of congratulations.

I ignored it, keeping my head down over my handover work.

Since joining this company, I'd closed deals totaling over a billion dollars.

Next week I'd be promoted to Director, running a department of my own, and I'd never have to work alongside Samantha again.

I stood up with my files, and my eyes met Samantha's.

Her lips parted, like she wanted to say something.

I turned away calmly and walked off in the other direction.