4: 4
After leaving the company, I went straight to the hospital for a follow-up.
The doctor read my report, and his face was grave.
"The stomach damage is worse. No more alcohol, take your medicine on schedule, and stop pushing through it."
I nodded, then pulled up my exam records from five years ago.
The doctor added something.
"Fertility is something a couple should test together. Mr. Abbott's results back then weren't great either. There was no reason for you to carry all that pressure alone."
Five years ago, afraid of hurting Karl's pride, I never told Silvia.
I carried the shame of being called barren by myself, for five years.
Back at the marital apartment, the living room was full of relatives and company staff.
Silvia was in full swing, spraying spit as she said I was jealous of my husband's success and had gone to the company to steal documents.
Janice still had that resized jade ring on her finger, yet her mouth was busy speaking up for me.
"Autumn just felt her contributions had gone unseen and acted on impulse. Everyone, please don't treat her like a real thief."
She shoved me back into the mud all over again.
The relatives pointed and muttered.
"Living off Karl all these years and still eyeing company property. How shameless."
"Can't even have kids, and this petty on top of it. The Abbotts really got unlucky."
I didn't argue.
I just opened the video on my phone.
There was a phone in the corner of the company showroom filming behind-the-scenes footage of the exhibition setup, running on time-lapse the whole day.
Before I left, I'd gone to get the photo album, and while I was there I copied that footage.
The picture wasn't sharp, but you could make out the lounge area.
After going through the file cabinet, Janice had walked over to my coat, said she was fixing my collar, and let her hand rest at the pocket for a good two seconds.
The living room went silent.
Janice's face went white, and the tears came right on cue.
"I just touched your clothes, and that proves I planted it? Autumn, you're set on driving me out, aren't you? Fine, I'll quit. The company's yours and Karl's anyway, nothing I say will ever be believed."
Silvia rushed to shield her.
"Quit? Why should you? Some people can't keep their own hands clean and want someone else to take the fall! Karl raised her all these years and raised an ungrateful wretch!"
Karl pushed the door open and steered them out.
He poured warm water and set my stomach medicine in front of me.
"Take your medicine first. I've already handled the company matter."
He opened his laptop, the online meeting already set up on the screen.
Client reps, store managers, early suppliers, all online.
"For the briefing in a bit, just say what's in this script."
I glanced at it.
The script avoided the word "steal," but it wanted me to admit I'd lost control emotionally, taken the files without permission, and apologize to the company and to Janice.
Karl's tone softened.
"Just read it out. I'll keep the talk outside under control. I'll get the ring back, Janice moves out tonight, and this ends here."
I pushed the script away.
"She's changed her story twice, and you won't even look into it. You've already gone and confessed my guilt for me."
He pinched the bridge of his brow, the last of his patience nearly gone.
"The files were found on you. That's a fact. Janice didn't call the police, she agreed to call it a misunderstanding to outsiders, she's already backed down. Don't push your luck."
I stared into his eyes.
"So something I didn't do, I have to bow my head and own up to it, just because she's willing to let me off?"
"I'm asking you to clear up the company's trouble first. You're the boss's wife. Do you really want to see clients questioning the company over a family matter?"
I took the divorce appointment slip from my bag and pushed it in front of him.
"I won't be, from now on."
Karl's face went terrifyingly dark.
"Over a few days of this, you want a divorce?"
"My mother's dowry is on someone else's hand. You couldn't make it to her memorial. Her belongings got thrown out, her signature got torn by you. And now even my good name has to give way to your company. Which of these is a small thing?"
He gripped the slip, his voice tight.
"The ring can be recovered, the album can be repaired, the display board can be redone. Let's finish the briefing first. We'll talk about divorce once you've calmed down."
I took out the house keys, the company spare keys, and the supplementary bank card, and laid each one on the coffee table.
I left the asset reconciliation list too.
"I don't want these. Whatever needs settling, we'll settle when we file the paperwork."
Janice came out of the guest room, wearing a heartbroken look.
"You got through the hardest years, and now that life's good, you'd divorce over something this small? Isn't that a waste?"
I gave her a flat look.
"In the hardest times, he still knew I was his wife. Now that he has you people, staying here would be the real waste."
Karl blocked the doorway.
"No one leaves tonight. We finish the briefing first, everything else we talk through slowly."
I nodded.
"Fine. You wanted me to explain myself in public, didn't you? Let's start now."
The meeting opened.
I didn't read the script.
I held my phone up to the camera and showed my mother's transfer record from back then, along with the video of Janice reaching into my coat pocket.
"The company never figured out who planted the files, but it wants me to admit I took them without permission."
"This meeting today was meant to make me bow my head. So I'll ask just one thing. On what grounds?"
The meeting channel erupted.
Janice panicked.
"You can clear your own name, so why drag the clients into it? Do you feel nothing for everything Karl poured into this?"
Karl reached to shut the meeting down, then froze the moment he saw the transfer amount.
He had always thought the operating funds came only from pawning the ring.
He never knew my mother had put in her retirement savings too.
I closed the meeting and pulled up my suitcase.
Karl chased me to the elevator and clamped down on the handle.
"You blew this open in front of the clients, and now you're leaving. Who deals with the mess that's left?"
I let go and left the whole case to him.
Before the elevator doors closed, he still thought I was throwing a tantrum.
"If you leave today, don't wait for me to come get you again."
I looked at him through the narrowing gap.
"I waited for you."
"I waited the day of my mother's funeral. I waited on the anniversary of her death too."
"From today on, I'm done waiting."
Half an hour later, I stood at the ticket gate of the high-speed rail station and opened the task terminal for the first time.
The first-stop information popped up on the screen.
【Harlan City, seventy-two-hour stay. Next stop: not yet disclosed.】
I powered off my old phone and dropped it in the trash.
Karl, holding his own phone, finally realized it.
He didn't even know which city to go to, to look for his own wife.
