The next morning, I reached out to Luke Gilbert's other shareholders and arranged the transfer of my shares.
On my way past, I stopped by the company to collect the things I'd left there long ago.
What I didn't expect was to be stopped at the office door by a round-faced girl, bristling with righteous indignation.
"Office hours start at nine. Showing up now means you're late!"
"And this is Mr. Gilbert's office. You can't just walk in."
I rarely interfered with Luke's work, but everyone in the company knew I was the firm's other founder.
Half of Luke's office had always belonged to me.
Since when was I not even allowed inside?
Theo Fox, the assistant standing nearby, hurried over to smooth things over.
"Vice President, please don't take offense. This is Lola Bennett, the secretary Mr. Gilbert hired recently."
"She doesn't know who you are, that's why she stopped you."
Lola.
Little Moon.
The realization of who stood in front of me shifted something in my expression.
At my words, Lola stuck out her tongue.
"So you're the legendary Vice President big sister."
With that, she went bouncing into the office like a rabbit.
"Sunshine, the Vice President big sister came to work! But her spot's already taken up by my stuff. Should I give it back?"
Inside, Luke was in the middle of a video conference.
Interrupted like that, he didn't get angry at all. Instead, he gave a helpless little laugh.
"Why are you still so loud about everything? I've told you, an office isn't the great outdoors. Mind your manners."
Lola immediately wrapped herself around his arm, voice dripping with affection.
"I didn't mean to."
The way they leaned into each other, as if no one else existed, sent a sharp pain through my chest.
I drew a deep breath and walked in.
Sure enough, my spot was buried completely under Lola's collection of figurines.
Yet years ago, when all I wanted was a single little doll on my desk, Luke had called me childish.
Seeing me come in, Luke smoothly slid his arm out of Lola's hold.
"Maya, what brings you here? You haven't come by in so long. Little Moon... Lola didn't have anywhere to sit, so I let her use your spot for now."
I looked at him quietly.
So he'd kept the other woman right under his own nose all along, while I, his fiancée, knew nothing.
I said nothing. I simply swept everything off the desk that didn't belong to me.
Lola's face shifted at that, but she quickly broke into a grin and added me on social media.
"Vice President big sister, I'm Mr. Gilbert's personal secretary now. If you ever need anything, just come to me."
With a probing curiosity, I accepted her request and opened Lola's feed.
And what I saw made my pupils tremble.
On my mother's death anniversary, when I'd stayed alone at the cemetery until late into the night, Lola had posted a photo of Tokyo Tower.
"Met up with my online guy. He's so good-looking. One look and you can tell he's my man."
While I was simmering stomach-soothing porridge for Luke, Lola posted a photo of herself sleeping in a tent.
"Unlocked a new memory: spending the night on a mountaintop with the person I love. Honestly so blissful."
When I was doubled over in agony from appendicitis, lying on the operating table at the hospital.
Lola posted a photo from the summit of Mount Everest.
"He says he feels lucky to have met someone who fits him so perfectly in this lifetime. Such a shame I came along a little too late."
Something churned in my stomach, and the pain stole the breath from my lungs.
None of these posts showed Luke's face. Anyone who didn't know would never connect them to him. But I knew exactly who she was talking about.
Everything matched that forum thread.
And Lola's most recent post read:
"The man I love is about to get married. He says he owes her too much, so he has no choice but to marry her."
"He promised that before the wedding, he'd take me to Iceland first, for a wedding that belongs only to us. One last bit of madness."
The photo showed two hands with fingers laced together, both wearing wedding bands.
And that man's hand, I recognized in a single glance. It was Luke's, because of the unmistakable scar across the web of his thumb.
That scar came from the day a pane of glass had suddenly fallen in the school hallway, and Luke had shielded me, the shards slicing his hand.
Beneath the post, coworkers who knew nothing of the truth were actually mourning the tragedy of their love story.
An employee I got along with secretly messaged me.
"Vice President, are you really not going to do something about Lola? She's just a secretary, but she struts around like she owns the place. When Theo commented 'knowingly being the other woman' on her post, she went crying to Mr. Gilbert, and he actually took her side and chewed Theo out!"
I tugged weakly at the corner of my mouth and typed back:
"There's nothing I can do."
After all, this company would soon have nothing to do with me.
Lola went out to make coffee, leaving only Luke and me in the office.
He came over and wrapped his arms around me from behind, his voice low and intimate.
"Baby, you haven't come to keep me company in so long. I've missed you."
Back when the company had just been founded, we'd shared a single office.
In the most passionate days of our relationship, we could never hold ourselves back.
He'd press me against the one-way floor-to-ceiling window, pin my hands to the glass, force me to look out at the world below, telling me he'd love me for the rest of his life while moving against me with a fierce hunger.
And I had never been able to resist his closeness, coaxed into it again and again, time after time.
But this time, I reached out and pushed him away.
Luke frowned. His gaze fell on Lola's desk, and understanding dawned on his face.
"So you're upset?"
When I didn't answer, he pulled me back into his arms.
"Baby, don't read too much into it. She's the daughter of a business partner. She insisted on tagging along to inspect a project."
"I had no other option, so I gave her a secretary position. She's young, doesn't know any better. Don't stoop to her level."
As he spoke, he gently stroked my ring finger, his tone tender.
"You know that in ten more days, it's our wedding."
"I'll give you the grandest wedding, build a happy home with you. There'll be nothing between me and any other woman."
The office heating was running, yet my hands grew colder and colder.
The man in front of me suddenly felt terrifyingly like a stranger.
If I hadn't seen those posts, I might have truly believed him, and walked foolishly into that wedding hall.
Never knowing that the man making these promises was planning another wedding, with another woman.
