Company retreat.
Louis Barnes drew the dare card—and kissed my girlfriend of seven years.
Vivienne Delaney froze for a split second, then cupped the back of his head and kissed him back.
The room went dead silent. Every pair of eyes swiveled to me.
They expected me to explode.
Instead, I started clapping. "Nice one. Go ahead—give us an encore."
——
Vivienne's body went rigid as she turned to look at me.
Still breathless in her arms, Louis murmured, "Vivienne... you taste exactly the same."
Confusion and fury flickered across her eyes, as if she couldn't believe what she'd just heard. Then her gaze sharpened. She shoved him away.
"Ethan, Louis and I are just friends. I—I thought he was you for a second..."
Vivienne was the boss. Nobody dared contradict her.
Someone rushed to her defense: "Ms. Delaney's had a lot to drink. Mistaking someone is perfectly understandable."
I looked at Louis Barnes—his full lips still gleaming, those striking brows and dark eyes.
I had to admit, there was a passing resemblance.
He shot me a provocative smile.
The message was clear: So what if you've been by her side all these years? I'm back now, and she's mine.
I let my lips curl. "The mood's right. Want me to book you two a king suite?"
Vivienne's expression changed instantly.
"Ethan Carter! It was just a game—don't blow this out of proportion!"
"Louis and I broke up ages ago. There's nothing between us. He just joined the company. I'm the only person he can rely on. Can you stop being so petty?"
An awkward ripple passed through the room.
Everyone here was a professional. Everyone had clawed their way up on their own.
Nobody had ever heard of someone who couldn't survive in the workplace without a personal patron.
Louis offered a gentle smile. "Vivienne, don't say that about Ethan. He's not the petty type—right, Ethan?"
I said nothing.
Strange looks passed between the onlookers. Anyone with eyes could see Vivienne's blatant favoritism toward Louis. No one could figure out why she was the one acting angry when she was the one in the wrong.
I saw it in her eyes—that calculating scrutiny, the look of someone who'd already mapped out the next five seconds.
She was bracing for my meltdown.
And in the past, she would've been right.
The moment Louis Barnes entered the picture, I'd go off like a lit firecracker. Vivienne had grown used to it—watching my hysteria with cold, detached eyes.
Afterward, she'd toss me some gift, drop a careless word of concern, and I'd grovel my way back to forgiveness like clockwork.
I'd lost count of how many times we'd fought over her since Louis came back to the country.
At our worst, I stormed out and didn't come home.
She sent one text: Where did you put the necklace I always wear?
And just like that, I went crawling back.
Every cold war ended the same way—me sitting alone in the dark, piecing myself back together, then going to her with my voice low and my pride lower, begging to make things right.
I'd loved too much in this relationship. That guaranteed I'd never be the one who won.
After all, the one who falls first—
—is destined to kneel.
Back in college, Vivienne Delaney was the undisputed campus beauty. Guys from the athletics department would block her path just to ask for her number.
She turned down every single one without so much as a furrowed brow.
And yet this untouchable goddess walked up to me one day and said, out of nowhere: "Would you like to go out with me?"
I couldn't believe it. Everyone else's dream girl had just become my girlfriend.
I was a nobody—and then one morning I woke up holding a treasure I'd never earned.
I was over the moon and terrified in equal measure, afraid it was all a dream.
It wasn't until I saw her contact sitting in my phone that it finally felt real.
I was afraid she'd lose interest on a whim and forget I existed. So every day I shared little moments with her, brought her meals on time, did everything I could to cement what we had.
But her response was always the same—lukewarm at best.
I didn't think anything of it. That was just how she was. Cold to everyone. Untouchable.
I told myself that if I stayed devoted—ten years, unwavering—I'd eventually thaw that frozen heart.
But it turned out her heart wasn't frozen at all.
It just only burned for someone else.
