Chapter 2

When I stepped out, the party had already broken up.

Outside, the autumn rain fell without letting up.

Winifred Cooley had pulled the car up to the door.

Conrad Cobb climbed into the passenger seat, then leaned his head back out.

"Winifred says there's still room in the back. Did anyone not manage to get a cab yet?"

The people close to Conrad started trading looks and smirks.

"We'll pass. You two head home first, you and your Winifred~"

For once, Winifred glanced at me.

"Get home safe, everyone. You too, Blake."

I didn't look at her. I raised my umbrella and walked off ahead of them.

I was already home when her message came in.

【Conrad's stomach hurts. I'm taking a detour to buy him medicine. I'll come pick you up in a bit.】

Then, a little later.

【Let me make some porridge first, then I'll come get you.】

Then, an hour later.

【Blake, where are you?】

It never once crossed Winifred's mind that I'd make my own way home.

Of course it wouldn't.

She'd surely forgotten the last road trip,

when Conrad said he was feeling low,

and she left me at a rest stop for five hours.

By the time she circled back to get me, she was worn out,

and no one brought up how that weekend had started as a road trip meant for just the two of us.

"Blake, be more mature about it. Conrad has depression. As his manager, if something happens to him, it's hard on me too."

That day, the exhaustion on Winifred's face lined up exactly with the one in front of me now.

So she was already back.

In that instant, something came clear to me.

All along, Winifred had saved her patience for Conrad,

and given me the tiredness and the boredom.

I was the one she'd been with for six years,

and now I was just another subordinate to be managed.

"Why didn't you tell me you got home on your own?"

I looked up at her from the couch.

"Weren't you avoiding gossip? So I came back by myself."

Winifred sighed.

"You wear me out when you act like this."

"He's sick, that's why he needs more looking after. I'm not asking you to understand me, just don't make trouble, okay? If you keep this up, when am I ever going to feel safe going public with us?"

This place looked more like a model home than a model home did.

For the sake of avoiding suspicion, the two of us had picked nothing but dark, cold, heavy colors.

No photos. Nothing that said a couple lived here.

The only thing that had kept me moving forward all this time

was Winifred's promise that we'd go public.

I said it quietly.

"Then there's no need to go public."

"Let's break up."

Winifred froze.

When she came to, she gave a small laugh and covered half her face with one hand.

"Fine, break up. How many days do you want to break up for this time?"

She didn't take me seriously.

Fair enough.

I was the one who'd left a long-distance thing to be with her in person,

who quit my job, came to this city, and interviewed my way into being her subordinate.

I could have been promoted at my old company.

Now, to avoid suspicion, I'd passed up three chances to move up.

My mother yelled at me, said I threw everything away for love,

and that sooner or later people would look down on me.

So Winifred probably looked down on me now too.

I didn't argue with her. I grabbed the blanket and went to the spare room.

It didn't matter which room. They were all cold, nothing like a place that was supposed to be a home for a married couple.

The next morning I woke and got to the office before Winifred did.

Usually she'd drop me at a corner near the building,

and I'd slip out of the car so we walked in one after the other.

I went to my direct manager

and handed in my resignation.

He seemed sorry to hear it.

"If it's just a change of scenery you're after, I've got an opening for a training program here."

I knew he meant well, but I still shook my head.

"My family's not in the metropolis. I've been away six years. I want to go home and see them."

Seeing how set I was, he didn't push it.

"Then finish out these next few days, and do a proper handover with HR."

Not long after I came out of his office,

they called an emergency meeting.

And for once, against all habit,

Winifred kept her eyes locked on me.

Her face dark, she threw the proposal down on the table.

"I've stressed this before, again and again. Whether you can do the job well or not, you put in your own effort and do it honestly! Blake, just last month you said you wanted a promotion. Is this the attitude you show me?"

I opened the proposal and found that what was printed on the white pages wasn't text at all,

just a string of garbled English characters.

I couldn't believe it.

"This isn't what I wrote!"

Winifred ignored me and held up another proposal for everyone to see.

"I want to give Conrad some credit here. Conrad's work is careful and thorough. His proposal has already been approved, and your bonus this month will land right on time."

I snatched the thing out of her hand,

and one look was all it took to know that this was mine.

Every word, every character, I'd typed it out myself.

Winifred knew perfectly well I'd stayed up three nights on this proposal.

My head snapped around.

"Conrad, why did you steal my work? This is clearly what I wrote!"