There was a tradition in the village: if you weren't married by thirty, the Elder would arrange for you to come home and meet potential matches.
When I told Ronald Hull about it, he let out a cold laugh.
“What is your village, some kind of medieval cult?”
“Aria Whitmore, I told you I'd marry you, and I will. But pressuring me into it is a completely different thing.”
He pulled out a ring and tossed it to his assistant without a second glance.
The girl took it, her cheeks flushing pink.
“I was going to propose, actually. But since you want to play it like this, let's take some time to cool off.”
The ring I'd waited years for, and he just handed it to someone else.
For a moment, my mind went blank.
Ronald strolled out of my office, the corner of his mouth curved in a smug, victorious smile.
Eileen held the ring out to me.
I didn't take it.
“Keep it. He bought it for you anyway, didn't he?”
“Go ahead, put it on. I'm sure it fits perfectly.”
The color drained from her face.
I showed her out.
Before I closed the door, I said：“Tell your Mr. Hull that he and I are done.”
……
That evening, Ronald came home from work to find me packing.
His step faltered when he saw the two large suitcases in front of me.
“How come you didn't wait for me today?”
There it was again.
He always had this ability to turn the page on his own, as if nothing had happened.
And I was supposed to take the out he offered and step right down with him.
Pretend everything was fine. Play the loving couple again.
But I was done pretending.
“Didn't your little assistant pass along my message?”
His brows knotted instantly, like I'd touched a nerve.
“I'm trying to talk to you like a normal person, and you just have to be passive-aggressive about it?”
“Eileen is practically your sister. You're the one who brought her in. What's with the attitude now?”
He wasn't wrong.
I was the one who'd brought Eileen Fletcher into the company.
She was from the same village as me. The Elder had always told us to look out for each other when we were away from home.
So when she graduated college and couldn't find a job,
I offered her a position at our company myself.
She was sweet and eager to please, and I was happy to mentor her.
Until I noticed the way she looked at Ronald, her gaze growing softer, more lingering, more lovesick with each passing day.
I recognized that look.
Ronald had been a star back in college,
and I'd watched countless girls look at him the exact same way.
But his eyes had never landed on any of them, not even for a second.
So I chalked it up to a young girl's crush and let it go.
Then her mistakes at work started piling up,
and I gave her a few words of correction. Nothing harsh.
She didn't talk back. She just stood there crying while I spoke.
But Ronald wouldn't have it.
He yelled at me in front of the entire company for the first time.
“She's just a kid. You could've gone easy on her.”
“She's basically family. What are you doing, pulling rank on her like some corporate tyrant?”
I was so furious I laughed, but I didn't back down.
“Do you have any idea how many people in this company have had to clean up after her mistakes?”
He waved his hand dismissively.
“Fine then. Eileen can be my personal assistant from now on.”
He glanced around at the coworkers who'd gathered to watch the show.
“And if anyone else has a problem, bring it to me directly. Stop gossiping behind people's backs.”
“If you can do the job, do it. If you can't, get out.”
He walked off with long, sweeping strides, like a general fresh from victory.
Eileen trailed after him, worship written across every line of her retreating figure.
……
I looked up. Ronald was staring down at me, towering, imperious.
Somewhere along the way, everything between us had stopped being about right or wrong and become about him winning.
Every conversation a competition. Every disagreement a battle he had to take.
He wasn't the same man who'd once whispered to me in our tiny rented apartment：“The only person I'll ever lose to is you.”
