Chapter 1

My Boyfriend Wore the Scarf an Intern Gave Him, but Threw Away the Coat I Gave Him

On the day that marked five years since Dean Gilbert and I got together, Dean made a point of messaging me.

"I've got a surprise for you. Let's grab dinner after work."

Something warmed in my chest, and I was about to reply.

Then I heard the buzz break out around me.

There sat Dean, who had only ever liked black, white, and gray, wearing a pink knitted scarf.

My coworkers murmured among themselves.

"Wow, on Brittany's birthday she wished out loud that Mr. Gilbert would wear a scarf she knitted herself, and he actually wore it."

"It's raining and colder today too, but this is just too romantic."

"Mr. Gilbert usually hates those girly colors most of all. You can tell Brittany really is something special to him."

Under the teasing, Brittany White looked at Dean and quietly went red in the face.

And Dean didn't explain a thing. He just smiled, mild and easy.

I sat calm in my chair, but my fingertips had gone cold.

In five years together, I'd bought Dean countless clothes.

He never once wore any of them, his reason being that he wasn't used to using things other people bought for him.

I'd chalked it up to a personal quirk.

Only now did I understand: he just didn't like the things I gave him.

...

I sat at my desk, my thoughts a tangled mess, when Dean sent another message.

"The intern's been doing good work. I just wanted to boost the girl's morale a little. Don't read too much into it."

I opened my messaging app and saw that Brittany had posted something new.

"So happy! My boss wore the scarf I knitted for him. It was actually a trade, ha. It got so cold at the last team dinner that he gave me the coat he'd just bought, tag still on. I took it home and cut it up to make a little bed for my Curly."

Curly was Brittany's dog.

The coat in her photo was the one I'd gone to the boutique to buy specially for Dean not long ago.

He'd handed off the coat I gave him to Brittany without a second thought, in exchange for a pink scarf from her.

I couldn't help wanting to laugh.

A year ago, when Brittany started at the company, she mentioned once that she wanted a latte, and Dean ordered lattes for the entire company, forgetting that I never drink that kind of thing.

He said, "I'm giving the staff a little perk."

Six months ago, Brittany ran into a mugging on her way home from work, and after that he drove her home every single day, while leaving me to hail my own cab.

He explained, "She just graduated from college. She's still young. I have to look out for my own employees."

A month ago, Brittany said a water pipe had burst at her place, and he grabbed his car keys and left right then, leaving me alone at the hospital with a raging fever.

Afterward all he said was, "I just felt sorry for her, a girl on her own out there. It isn't easy."

Me, his girlfriend, and I still didn't matter to him as much as an intern.

I closed the messaging app and got back to work.

I'd barely opened my work software when the group chat blew up.

A contract that was supposed to be Brittany's had the wrong figure on it, and the company was going to lose a few million.

The mood in the office, so lively a moment ago, changed in an instant.

But Brittany just looked at me, her face pale.

"I didn't do that contract. I wasn't feeling well that day, so I asked Crystal Finch to help me with it."

I looked at her.

"I helped you put the contract together, but you filled in the final figure yourself."

Her tears spilled over, and she choked out the words.

"Crystal, I know you like Mr. Gilbert, and I know you've always been jealous of how good he is to me. But you can't use the company's losses to frame me on purpose."

The words landed, and the eyes turning toward me were full of scorn and blame.

It struck me then that Dean always kept a clear line between us at the office, yet went out of his way to look after Brittany.

I wanted to speak again.

Then I saw how confident Brittany was, how certain, how utterly composed.

She figured that as long as she pushed all the blame onto me, Dean was sure to believe her.

Brittany spoke again, her tone deeply wronged.

"Crystal, if you're afraid of taking the blame, that's fine. You were only helping me anyway, so let's just call it my mistake. I'll take full responsibility."

She retreated to advance, and the coworkers around us bristled on her behalf.

"If you made the contract yourself, then do it right. How can something go wrong and you still won't own up to it?"

"Exactly. Anyone can see she likes Mr. Gilbert. Last time it rained she wanted a ride in his car down in the parking garage, but he only wanted to drive Brittany home. Some people really can't take a hint."

"She didn't get the contract wrong on purpose, did she? Just so Mr. Gilbert would fire Brittany, and she'd get her chance to move in."

The mockery came at me from every direction.