When I Went Home

In Hollow Creek, there was an old custom: if you turned thirty and still were not married, the community chair would arrange for you to come home and meet potential matches.

When I told Marcus about it, he laughed coldly.

“What kind of backwoods tradition is that supposed to be?

“Constance, I said I would marry you, and I will. But pressuring me is something else.”

Then he took out the ring and casually handed it to Hannah.

She accepted it with a blush.

“I was going to propose,” he said. “But since you want to act like this, maybe we should cool off for a while.”

The ring I had waited years for was handed to someone else like it meant nothing.

For a moment, I just stood there, stunned.

Marcus walked out of my office with an easy confidence, the corner of his mouth lifted in a victorious smile.

Hannah held the ring out to me.

I did not take it.

“Keep it,” I said. “Wasn’t it meant for you anyway?

“You wear it. It suits you.”

Her face went pale.

I showed her to the door.

Before closing it, I said, “Tell Mr. Vale that he and I are done.”

By the time Marcus Vale came home from work that night, I had already packed two large suitcases.

He stopped short when he saw them.

"Why did you come home without waiting for me?"

There it was again.

He had a way of turning the page all by himself, as if nothing had happened, and then expecting me to step down from whatever anger I had and keep playing the role of the loving girlfriend.

But I did not want to play along anymore.

"Didn't your little assistant pass along my message?"

His brow tightened at once, as if I had touched a nerve.

"I'm trying to talk to you properly. Do you have to be sarcastic?"

"Hannah is from your hometown. You're the one who asked me to bring her into the company. Why are you acting like this now?"

He was not wrong.

Hannah Price was from the same mountain community as me. The community chair back home had always told those of us who left for the city to look out for one another.

So when she graduated and could not find work, I brought her into our company.

At first, she was sweet and obedient, and I was happy to mentor her.

Then I began noticing the way she looked at Marcus.

I knew that look well.

Back in school, Marcus had been the kind of man girls stared at from across hallways. I had seen countless women look at him that way.

But Marcus had never looked back.

So I treated Hannah's crush as a young woman's passing fantasy and did not make a fuss.

Then her mistakes at work became more frequent.

Once, after I corrected her in passing, she did not argue. She simply stood there crying while I spoke.

Marcus could not take it.

For the first time, he yelled at me in front of the whole company.

"She's just a young girl. Say a few words and let it go.

"Why are you acting like some big executive in front of a girl from your hometown?"

I laughed in anger and refused to back down.

"Do you know how many messes the rest of the company has cleaned up because of her?"

He waved his hand like it did not matter.

"Fine. Then Hannah can be my private assistant."

He looked around at everyone watching.

"From now on, if anyone has a problem with her, come directly to me. Don't gossip behind her back.

"If you can work, work. If you can't, get out."

He walked ahead as if he had won a battle.

Hannah followed behind him, and even her back seemed to glow with worship.

Now, Marcus stood over me again.

Somewhere along the way, he had stopped judging things by right and wrong. With me, everything had become a contest.

He was no longer the man who once said to me in a tiny rented apartment, "You're the only person I'll ever be willing to lose to."

I glanced at my phone. My flight confirmation was still open on the screen.

I was going home soon.

I no longer had the energy to argue.

"You're right. I was being dramatic."

"It won't happen again."

For a moment, his expression turned blank.

I supposed he had prepared himself for me to demand when he planned to marry me, to ask why he and Hannah were so unclear with each other.

He had not expected me to admit defeat so calmly.

After a few seconds, he threw out, "Suit yourself," and left.

He did not come home that night.

The next morning, I went to work as usual.

I could let Marcus go, but Joya Era was the company I had poured all my effort into.

Even if I left, I still had to arrange what came next.

Besides, I would still receive stable dividends every year.

I was considering who I could promote to the front line so I could guide things remotely when Riley Brooks, the sales manager, appeared at the elevator with a terrible expression.

She was one of the company's earliest employees and had followed me through countless pitches and projects.

I had never seen her look so defeated.

"Ms. Rivers, last night we sent Mr. Vale the quote for review. Ms. Price said he was asleep and that she would handle it."

"But she accidentally sent the client our bottom-line cost sheet along with the quote."