"Are you finally sorry now?" Yvonne asked.
"It's too late for apologies. I'm really mad, and it's not going to be easy to make it up to me.
"I have to go to my parents' house for something, so I won't be home tonight."
Right after she said that, I heard Jim ask, "Yvonne, should we get a cat or a dog?"
The call ended abruptly.
A cat? A dog? Yvonne did not like pets.
She was just using her parents as an excuse to go pick out a pet with Jim.
She'd always claimed she was allergic to pet dander and couldn't have pets. To make things work with her, I even rehomed the dog I'd had for eight years.
Now, she was out choosing pets with Jim.
Love sure could change people.
I set aside my jumbled thoughts and led my team to our new company to discuss our pay and benefits.
My teammates took turns confessing to me. "You know, we've always thought Yvonne wasn't that nice, but you liked her so much, so we didn't want to say anything."
I could not help but give them a sad smile.
I thought back to when I first met Yvonne.
Back then, she was just a sweet, simple girl in her crisp white school uniform.
However, she was cruel to me, lying to me left and right about other people.
I knew I was partly to blame since I had let her get away with too much. Whatever she wanted, I was always there, ready to give in.
All it took was a slight pout, and I would do anything for her, even the impossible.
I did not realize she would start to think she could do anything and I would still stay.
Even when she messed up, she would not back down. If I did not sweet-talk her, she would just keep fussing.
It had gotten to the point where I could no longer take it.
My constant habit of letting things slide had only given her more chances to hurt me.
I kept thinking she would change, but I guess I was just being too naive.
I stayed quiet and quickly changed the subject. "Let's drink! We're not going home until we're totally drunk tonight!"
Everyone cheered at that.
We drank, sang our hearts out until the sun came up, and then, we all headed home.
I dragged myself home, tired to the bone. I opened the door, ready to crash, but Yvonne was sitting on the couch. She was supposed to be at her parents' place, but she had waited for me until the break of dawn.
She smelled the smoke on me and stepped back, looking annoyed. "I've told you I hate the smell of smoke. Why do you keep smoking? Don't you care about what I say?"
I just laughed at that.
She had said she hated smoking, and I quit my decade-long habit just like that.
However, what about her?
I thought about that taunting video Jim sent me not too long ago.
In the video, he spoke carefully. "I'm sorry, Yvonne. I didn't realize you hated cigarette smoke. I won't smoke anymore."
Yvonne gazed at him with warmth in her eyes. "Silly, you can smoke if you want. It's not the smoke I hate. It's the cigarette butts. I don't like cleaning them up."
She caught the cigarette butt from Jim's hand. "But if it's yours, I don't mind."
Thinking about that, I took a few steps back. "Weren't you supposed to be away tonight?"
Yvonne handed me a glass of water, sounding a bit upset.
"I was worried about you being alone at home. What if something happened?
"See how nice I am to you? I stood in line all night to get your favorite limited edition album, hoping to surprise you. Meanwhile, you were out all night having fun and didn't even come home."
I used to worry about her all the time.
If she did not answer a text within thirty minutes, I would call her repeatedly to make sure she was safe.
This time, I had not texted her all day. She must have felt something was off and came home.
I looked at the limited edition album she bought. It was definitely something I would like.
However, I did not open it.
Yvonne liked mixing the bitter with the sweet.
'I don't want to be tricked again,' I thought.
Yvonne did not realize I was upset. She thought she could just do something nice and I would forgive her, like always. She said, "Come on, stop sulking. Don't be so grumpy.
"You blamed Jim for something and got him in trouble. I'm not mad about that anymore, but you should still give him that big project.
"He's really good at what he does. If you hadn't been so hard on him, he wouldn't have had such a tough time.
"Just agree, and we can forget about the pay cut."
That was when it hit me.
That was why she came home early today and bought me the album.
It was all for Jim.
She was always so kind to Jim, putting on a show and going out of her way to be nice to him.
I could not help but sneer. "Very nice."
Yvonne smiled and wore a knowing look. She was not surprised at all, because I usually gave in to her.
"If you weren't so jealous, not liking Jim's posts and telling your team to badmouth him, we wouldn't be in this mess.
"Enough! I won't waste my breath on you. Just go and give him the big project."
I took off my work badge and tossed it at her. "Just giving him one project isn't enough. He can take my entire job too!"
