As if deliberately trying to provoke me, Dale added Maisie to the company group chat the very next day.
【Our new design director. Everyone, say hello.】
Maisie introduced herself with easy confidence. After a long pause, the HR manager ventured a careful question：【What about Director Pruitt?】
Dale said nothing. The chat went dead silent.
It was Maisie who stepped in to smooth things over. 【Director Pruitt is heading to Jeju Island to set up our wedding venue, so I'll be covering her duties for now. Looking forward to working with all of you!】
Her bright, bubbly tone got the chat buzzing again.
But I stared at that line of text and could only let out a tired breath.
Maisie had boxed me in.
If I resigned now, it would look like I was slapping her in the face. And it would make it obvious that Dale and I had fallen out.
I stared at the screen for a long time, then muted the chat.
Fine. I'd do what Maisie said. I'd finish putting together their wedding, and then I'd leave.
Five days later, after letting Kevin know, I flew to Jeju Island.
The island was beautiful. It did lift my mood, at least a little.
I put together a team on the ground. Every detail of the venue layout and staging went through Maisie for confirmation.
She was easy to work with, responsive, quick to communicate.
Everything went so smoothly it didn't feel real.
Until one night, Maisie sent me a bridal gown sketch, brimming with excitement.
【Edith, Dale designed this wedding dress for me himself — isn't it beautiful?】
I tapped the image open. Staring back at me was the latest version of my own bridal gown design.
But I had deleted that file……Then it hit me. I had once sent Dale the version I was most proud of, the one I thought I'd finally gotten right.
I had never been this angry. The rage sat in my chest like something physical, pressing outward.
I grabbed my phone and dialed Dale's number.
The line rang and rang, and finally picked up just before it would have cut to voicemail.
Before I could say a word, his voice came through, lazy and unbothered.
“What?”
I paused, fighting to keep the tremor out of my voice.
“Dale. Why did you give that wedding dress design to Maisie?”
A beat of silence. Then, carelessly：“What does it matter? It's not like you'll ever use it.”
I clenched my teeth. For the first time in front of Dale, I let the composure crack.
“That's still mine. You don't get to just hand my things to someone else.”
“Dale, that design is mine. Did it ever cross your mind what Maisie would think if she found out what that gown actually meant?”
After another stretch of silence, his voice dropped, cold and hard.
“Then don't let her find out.”
“Unless you're trying to ruin this wedding.”
The line went dead.
My mouth hung open. For the first time, the boy I had spent ten years raising had become someone I didn't recognize at all.
He could take what was born from our past and give it away, then turn around and threaten me as if it were the most natural thing in the world……
The day before the wedding, Dale and Maisie flew in.
It was the first time I had ever seen a design of mine made into a real gown.
It was beautiful. Even more beautiful than I had imagined it would be.
Maisie took my hand, asked me to come with her for the fitting.
I had no reason to refuse.
But the moment we stepped inside the dressing room, her face changed.
She flung my hand away, snatched up a pair of scissors, and slashed the gown to shreds.
I froze for a second. Before I could stop her, she kicked a stool over, slapped herself hard across the face, and dropped to the floor.
Before I could even process what had happened, the dressing room door was kicked open.
