Chapter 2
When I got to the office, I handed out some snacks to my coworkers.
Everyone immediately dove into gossip.
"My cousin works as a nurse at a hospital overseas, and she said Mr. Turner and Ms. Summers are about to tie the knot!"
"Their kid's already three and they're still not married? Maybe Mr. Turner's family doesn't approve or something."
"Anyway, now that Mr. Turner and Ms. Summers are both back in the country, their wedding is basically a done deal."
Everyone nodded along.
"Ms. Sutton, why so quiet? Did you already know?" someone asked me.
I smiled.
"I just found out. That's great news."
Suddenly, everyone scattered.
I looked up.
David was standing by the elevator, his expression hard to read.
Then he looked straight at me.
I ignored his icy stare and turned away, completely unfazed.
Not long after, my phone buzzed with a message from David.
David: [It's all rumors. Don't worry about it.]
I turned off my phone and didn't reply.
Not long after, Julia showed up at the office.
Everyone teased her for keeping things under wraps and congratulated her on the upcoming wedding.
Julia blushed. "Alright, back to work, everyone. Just make sure Mr. Turner doesn't hear about this."
"Got it, got it," they replied.
I sat quietly, staring at my computer screen.
I subconsciously touched the spot over my heart.
It didn't hurt anymore, and I was grateful for that.
*****
The year before, Julia had come back to the country with her son and dropped straight into the R&D manager job.
David smoothed the way for her at every turn.
He even lent her his own assistant to walk her through the business.
People in the office started guessing that the two of them went back a long way.
Julia would give a knowing smile and never denied any of it.
There were two people in the running for that manager job, and I was one of them.
The moment Julia arrived, I was benched.
My R&D projects went to someone else, and I ended up on the edge of my own department.
David always kept work and personal life totally separate.
I almost never talked to him about company business in private, unless he brought it up first.
Back then, we'd only been married for a year, and things between us were still good.
On the way home, I told him everything that had happened.
I vented to him about how unfair everything was.
"Why? Julia has never worked in R&D. If Linda Clark had competed for it and won, I would have accepted that. This makes no sense," I said.
David pulled over to the side of the road.
He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.
"Her son is sick, and she needs this job," David said.
He turned his head, and his eyes sharpened.
"If she doesn't know it yet, she can always pick it up."
"David, this isn't fair!" I protested.
"There's no such thing as real fairness in the adult world, Emily. You're being naive," he replied.
My eyes were red, fighting back a sob.
"Alright, there's no such thing as absolute fairness. But I'm your wife," I said.
David snorted, his eyes flashing with sarcasm.
"Honestly, you're just pissed she took your spot. Why use Linda as an excuse?" he shot back.
I broke down, crying uncontrollably right there.
Then I pushed the door open and got out.
David floored it and drove off without even looking back.
It wasn't until the next day that I heard from my coworkers.
"Word is Ms. Summers used to date Mr. Turner. That explains everything."
"They went to the same high school. He did college overseas and came straight back after graduation, and she got her master's abroad, worked a couple of years, and then came home."
"Wait, their kid is three. So when did they break up?"
"All right, enough chit-chat. Back to work," someone said.
I kept quiet, jI stood there and listened to all of it.ust taking it all in.
That was the first time I did not wait for David after work, and I went home by myself.
When David got home, he didn't say much about it.
We started giving each other the silent treatment.