Chapter 2

The next morning, I went to Ethan's office.

The receptionist recognized me and let me right in.

As I approached the project team's workspace, I heard laughter coming from inside.

Ethan was sitting at his desk, and Amber was leaning against a chair next to him, holding a low-cal salad.

"This salad is amazing. Low calorie and super tasty." Amber picked up a piece of chicken breast with her fork.

"Thanks for having a conscience, Ethan. You saved me from eating those greasy takeouts."

Ethan laughed, looking at her with a patience he never showed me.

"You're a picky eater. I ran across three blocks to get that for you, so eat up."

I stood a short distance away, frozen in place.

Just yesterday, he said eating my lunches was "charity work." Today, he gladly ran three blocks to buy another woman a salad.

Amber caught sight of me from the corner of her eye. She immediately stood up, her sweet smile flawless.

"Oh, Chloe, you're here!"

"I'm so sorry. Ethan said your lunches are a bit too heavy and his stomach couldn't take it lately, so I had him join me for salads."

"You don't mind, do you?"

Her words were laced with needles, making my throat tighten.

I ignored her, walked straight up to Ethan, and held out my hand.

"Give me my flash drive."

The smile on Ethan's face vanished instantly. He casually opened his drawer, rummaged through it, and paused.

"The drive is plugged into the computer in the conference room."

His tone was indifferent.

"Amber was rushing a proposal yesterday. I saw some good references on your drive, so I let her use them."

I stared at him in disbelief.

"Those are my original drafts! How could you let her use them without my permission?"

Amber quickly stepped in, looking innocent.

"Chloe, please don't be mad."

"Ethan said you just draw for fun at home anyway, and those pieces haven't even been approved yet. I just used them for an internal presentation. I'm not going to sell them or anything."

I stared at Ethan.

For this exhibition, I had pulled all-nighters for two weeks, revising the drafts dozens of times. My neck hurt so badly I couldn't sleep.

Yet, to the man sharing my bed, my hard work was just "drawing for fun"—useless paper he could hand over to make another woman look good.

"It's not a big deal," Ethan frowned, standing up to shield Amber.

"Amber did it for a major company project. You should be happy your practice sketches actually came in handy."

"Don't be so petty."

The surrounding coworkers started throwing strange looks our way. Their hushed whispers drifted into my ears.

My breathing grew shallow, and my stomach began to ache from not having eaten since yesterday.

"Unplug the drive and give it back to me."

Ethan's face darkened completely.

Seeing this, Amber tried to play peacemaker, tugging at Ethan's sleeve.

"Alright, alright, Ethan, don't yell at Chloe."

"I'm so sorry, Chloe. I'll go unplug it for you right now."

She trotted into the conference room in her heels and returned shortly, handing me a silver flash drive.

"Here you go, Chloe. Really sorry about that."

I took the drive and turned to leave.