Chapter 2

Caspar grabbed my hand, a hint of pleading on his face.

"We all joined this company together back then, we're friends. How can you stand to watch her get chewed out? As for the work on your desk, I'll go explain it to Director Cobb for you later. Just help Eve out first."

The three of us had come into James Group together as management trainees. With my help, the two of them made a name for themselves fast.

Eve became a director's assistant, and Caspar was already a department manager.

Only I was still an ordinary employee.

Maybe, in the eyes of Caspar and Eve, I'd fallen behind because I wasn't good enough at the job, or lacked something else.

But I was the only one who knew the truth: I'd simply wanted a few more years down in the trenches.

I'd never once let slip who I really was, but the company had reached out to me long ago.

Back then the senior leadership had said they wanted to promote me, give me more responsibility.

My father brought it up too. He felt the timing was about right, that we could go ahead and reveal my relationship to him.

But at the time I'd told my father I wanted more seasoning at the ground level, that I'd step forward once I really knew how the company worked.

Beyond that thinking, there was another reason. I wanted to give Caspar and Eve some time to adjust.

I didn't want it to change what was between us.

What I never expected was that my goodwill would make bullying me, framing me, feel like the most natural thing in the world to them.

Since they were so set on it, I didn't want to go back and forth with them anymore. I said it flat out: "Sorry, I can't do this one."

Hearing that, Caspar couldn't keep his composure. His face darkened as he looked at me.

"Lucretia, we're all friends here. Do you really have to be this cold? After all the years I've spent with you, I never thought you were this kind of person."

I lifted my head and looked at Caspar, a flicker of disappointment in my eyes.

"So this is what I've been to you all along."

Caspar and I had joined the company in the same batch.

He'd chased after me from the moment we met, but I hadn't said yes to him at first.

As time went on, once I'd slowly come to understand him, I finally accepted him.

In our years together, I'd never told him who I really was.

I stayed with him in that shabby rented place on the edge of the city. It was nothing like the comfort of the family estate, but I never held it against him.

When Caspar talked about saving up to buy us a place of our own in the city, I handed over my paycheck without a second thought, ate at street stalls with him, chewed on the day's leftover fruit.

All those years, I thought I understood him well enough.

I'd been planning to bring him to my father before long, to formally introduce him to my family.

I believed that even without my family's blessing, I would keep walking that road beside him.

I thought I understood Caspar well enough.

But now, looking at that cold, stranger's gaze of his, I finally knew I'd been wrong.

Caspar looked at my face, none of the old tenderness there.

"Isn't it true? Eve just asked you for a little help, and you turn her down like this. It shows exactly what kind of person you are. You've really let me down!"

The commotion soon drew the attention of the coworkers around us. Heads turned our way, and the muttering started.

"Lucretia's really going too far. She's just being asked for a hand, and she's putting up all this resistance?"

"Right. We're all colleagues. Everyone hits a crunch sometimes. If someone came to me for help, I'd absolutely pitch in."

"Eve's a director's assistant, and Caspar's a department manager. Two people like that lowering themselves to ask, and she still won't give them the courtesy. That's really something."

"Exactly. No wonder Lucretia's still just a low-level nobody. She can't read a room at all."

...

Listening to the snide remarks around us, Eve and Caspar couldn't help the smug look creeping onto their faces.

The way they saw it, I'd cave under all the pointing and whispering soon enough and finally agree.

The moment I took on the work, they could pin the whole mess on me.

Caspar acted like he'd already won. Even his tone softened.

"Lucretia, stop making a scene. Just say yes."

"When you're done tonight, I'll go home and cook you something really nice."

I used to think all of Caspar's little kindnesses came from loving me. But now, looking at that two-faced expression of his,

I finally understood. It had only ever been a way to use me.

I ignored the gossip around me and looked straight at Caspar and Eve.

"If that's how you see it, then fine!"

"But I'll say it again. I can't help."

Eve froze where she stood.

Caspar was caught off guard. He hadn't expected that answer, and his face changed in an instant.

"Lucretia, do you really have to make me lose face like this?"

I looked at Caspar, my expression calm.

"Caspar, I think I've made myself perfectly clear. I can't help."

Caspar was worked up now. He coughed twice.

"Fine, fine, fine! Lucretia, you're really something. Since that's how you want it, don't blame me for not sparing you any face."

"Lucretia, as department manager, I'm now ordering you to finish this work. Otherwise, you can go wait at HR to be fired."