Chapter 1

"Hand me the ring. I need to get it resized." Richard Lane said. He stood in the entryway, hand outstretched toward me.

I hesitated. That ring was a couple's set I'd bought three years ago with my first bonus. It cost 6,000 dollars, and I'd spent three months saving up for it.

"Resized?" I echoed, a bit confused.

"Yeah, it's a little loose," he said, eyes never leaving his phone screen.

I took off the ring and placed it in his palm. He slipped it into his pocket and turned to leave. The door closed softly, like something had just fallen to the ground.

I stood there, staring at my bare ring finger. Three years. He'd said he'd marry me once the company was stable, at least twenty times. And every single time, I believed him.

My phone buzzed. It was a message from Susan: [Claire, there's something at the office tomorrow. Come in early.] I replied with a simple [Okay] and set my phone down.

Outside the window, night hangs heavy.

The next day, I arrived at the office half an hour early. Some people were talking in the break room. Their voices were quiet, but I could make out every word.

"Did you see that ring on Emily's finger?" One said.

"Yeah, looks like Mr. Lane gave it to her." The other replied.

"No way. Doesn't Mr. Lane have a fiancée? Isn't she from the marketing department?"

"Claire? Didn't you hear? Looks like they're breaking up."

I stood at the doorway, holding my cup. When they saw me, they immediately went silent.

"Morning, Claire," one of them said with an awkward smile.

"Morning." I nodded and turned to leave.

Back at my desk, I booted up my computer. My inbox was packed with emails, all about follow-ups for the Summit Initiative.

This project had been going on for eight months, from the very first contact to now, when we were finally close to a real partnership. Every meeting, every proposal, every call; I'd handled it all by myself. A contract worth 6 million dollars.

I was going through the files when someone stopped right in front of me. "Claire." I looked up; it was Emily Forrest.

She was wearing a sharp business suit, her makeup flawless. Her fingers rested on the edge of my desk, and the ring on her ring finger gleamed under the office lights, impossible to ignore.

'That's my ring.' I thought.

"Mr. Lane asked you to organize Mr. King's documents for the meeting this afternoon," Emily said with a bright smile, her tone light and breezy.

"Okay," I replied.

She didn't leave right away. Her fingers tapped lightly on the desk, as if she was just absentmindedly tapping, but it felt intentional.

"Oh, and Claire, did you know? This ring is really special," she said, showing off the ring. "Richard said he carefully chose it for me. I never knew he could be so thoughtful."

I stared at the ring. Three years ago, I'd spent two hours at the mall, agonizing over which one to choose. "It really is special," I replied.

"Isn't it?" Emily said with a sweet smile. "I'll get back to work, then."

She left. I watched her walk away, my fingers paused over the keyboard for a moment. I hadn't noticed when Susan came up beside me.

"Claire," she said quietly, "do you... know?"

"Know what?" I asked. She looked at me but stayed silent.

I smiled. "It's nothing. Let's get back to work."

*****

At noon, I sat by myself at my desk, eating a takeout box. My phone buzzed. Richard's name popped up on the screen.

"Got a business dinner tonight, won't be back for dinner," he said.

"Okay," I replied.

"Is everything ready for the Summit Initiative?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's all set," I replied.

"Alright," he said, pausing for a moment. "And... don't read too much into the ring. It's just about resizing."

I held the phone, silent.

"Alright, that's it for now," he said, and hung up.

I set my phone down and kept eating. The takeout was a little cold.

*****

Three o'clock, in the conference room. It was time for the Summit Initiative progress update. Richard sat at the head of the table, Emily right next to him, jotting down notes.

Once I finished presenting the project's progress, Richard gave a nod. "Things are moving along nicely," he said, glancing at the other execs. "Summit is our priority client this year, and Claire's been working really hard on this."

I listened, waiting for his next words. "But," he continued, "we couldn't have gotten this far without the whole team. Marketing, sales, tech support, everyone's put in the work."

The others nodded in agreement. I picked up my cup and took a sip of water.

After the meeting, Susan pulled me aside. "Claire, I just can't stand it. You've been the only one working on this project from start to finish, and he—"

"Susan," I cut her off, "don't worry about it."

"Don't worry? He's taking all the credit for your work."

"Credit isn't important," I said, looking at her. "As long as the project gets done and the client is satisfied, that's what matters."

Susan sighed. "You're just too nice for your own good." I just smiled and kept quiet.

*****

When I got home that night, the house was dark. Richard still wasn't back.

I opened the fridge; it was empty. He always said that once we got married, we'd move into a bigger place and stock the fridge with everything we liked.

Three years on, and the fridge was still empty. I closed the fridge door, my grip tightening.

My phone buzzed. It was a picture from Susan, which was a screenshot from Emily's social media post. In the photo, she was showing off the ring, with a heart emoji as the caption.

Someone commented, [Congrats! Are you getting married?] Emily replied, [Hehe, guess it's just fate.]

I stared at the screen for a long time, then put my phone down. When I bought that ring, the other one was meant for Richard. He said we'd put them on together when we got married.

But somehow, that ring ended up missing. Three years ago, it just disappeared. Maybe I should've seen it coming back then.