"I meant it when I said we're breaking up. Let's just end it here."
Robert paused, then slowly set the ring back into its box.
He closed the lid, and the guilt drained out of his face, leaving behind that same flat expression.
"Annie, I told you, I'll have it resized."
He looked at me the way you'd look at a child throwing a tantrum.
"Breaking up over little things like this, threatening to walk out every time—it's honestly so pointless."
My breath caught for an instant.
In that moment, I remembered the night of the project's celebration dinner, when I'd won a week of paid vacation in the raffle.
I'd been overjoyed.
For the three months I'd gone without a single day off. For the parents I hadn't seen in two years.
But just as I'd booked my plane ticket, just as my parents had taken time off and were waiting for me to come home for the reunion—
HR told me the prize had already been claimed.
"Director James came and redeemed it. He said you authorized it, and it went to that new intern in your department, Claudia Fox."
I confronted him with red-rimmed eyes.
Robert only glanced at me, then lowered his head without a care in the world.
"Is that so. I must have written the wrong name by accident."
"Then go get it back for me!"
When he just kept staring at his phone, I lunged forward in fury and snatched it from his hand.
What filled my eyes was Claudia's grid of social media posts.
【Getting paid to go to a concert feels amazing. Thanks to a certain someone~】
It hit me like a blow to the head.
Trembling, I held the phone up in front of Robert, my vision blurred by tears.
"Is this what you call writing the wrong name?"
Robert didn't explain. Instead, with an attitude bordering on cold indifference, he turned it around on me.
"It's already done. I'm just maximizing the return."
"Rewarding a subordinate appropriately strengthens my authority as a leader."
"Ann, you've been at this company long enough. Can't you look at the bigger picture?"
His pompous, self-righteous words drove me out of my mind.
That was the first time I brought up breaking up with Robert.
Even after he'd called me by the wrong name ten thousand times over, the thought had never once crossed my mind.
I stayed at a hotel for three days and didn't get a single message asking me to come back.
Only later did it dawn on me—Robert was banking on the fact that I loved him too much.
Otherwise, how could I have forgiven him, time and time again, for calling me by the wrong name?
I'd even given up the steady job back home the moment I learned he'd broken up with his ex over the distance, crossing a thousand miles to his city to start over from scratch.
The day I lowered my head and came home, his face wore an expression of expectation fulfilled.
He took my suitcase and said flatly:
"Don't make a scene next time. Be more mature."
The Robert in front of me slowly merged with the Robert from that day.
But this time, I didn't want to bow my head.
I repeated it again, with certainty.
"I mean it. Let's break up."
The door slammed shut with a bang.
He left behind only one line.
"You're way too emotional right now. Go calm yourself down!"
I didn't care where he'd gone.
Claudia's social media post had already popped up, right on cue.
【I knew it. I'm still your first choice.】
That proposal ring slid back onto her finger, as if it had finally found its rightful owner.
I tapped a like.
Then I took one last look at this little home I'd decorated piece by piece, and gently closed the door.
The next day at work, the two of them arrived together.
The office broke into a chorus of congratulations.
I ignored it and kept my head down, handling my handover work.
Since joining the company, I'd closed deals worth over a hundred million in total.
Next week I'd be promoted to director, running a department of my own, never having to work alongside Robert again.
Picking up my files and standing, I met Robert's eyes across the room.
