Chapter 2

I felt my head ring all of a sudden.

Sure enough, a whole line of comments appeared.

[Scumbag and bitch! Stay away from Aria!]

[Seriously, how do people like this even work here? Isn't anyone going to step in?]

I tried to explain that I never forced him to get a divorce, that there was nothing going on between us, but my words were drowned in the tide of insults. Nobody gave a damn.

At work, everyone pretended I didn't exist. But after hours, people crowded around, whispering and shooting me dirty looks.

I practically ran out of the office building.

Luckily, I had a client meeting the next day, so I didn't have to put up with all the stares and gossip from my coworkers.

I dressed carefully, covering the dark circles under my eyes caused by sleeplessness.

On my way, my phone buzzed. It was a Twitter link from Lexie. I tapped it open, and the video title hit me like a slap in the face.

[Homewrecker sales rep forces man to divorce, wife hospitalized from stress!]

I snuck a glance at the people around me, and sure enough, everyone was shooting me those gossipy, contemptuous looks.

Luckily, the subway arrived at the station just then, and I made a quick escape.

Before I could really take in the video, a call interrupted me. It was the business partner I was supposed to meet today.

"Let's call off today's meeting. I don't work with people who have such a bad reputation," he said.

With the meeting canceled, I could only drag myself back to the office.

On my way back, I scrolled through Twitter and saw that the account had posted group chat screenshots and a bunch of sneaky pics.

In those photos, I was laughing and joking around with all kinds of guys, looking way too cozy with them.

The comments underneath were even more vicious.

Those weren't just pictures. They were like ropes wrapping around me, pulling tighter every time someone scrolled by.

I walked back into the office in silence, my usual smile nowhere to be seen.

But when I got there, my desk was empty.

No one bothered to tell me what happened. Lexie just pointed in a direction.

I followed her finger and saw my stuff dumped on a desk near the restrooms, all tossed together haphazardly, some even with footprints on them.

That spot always smelled a bit because it was right next to the restrooms, so nobody ever wanted to sit there. It had been empty for ages.

Someone said with a smirk, "This is your new spot now. Nobody wants to sit next to you. They're afraid your drama's contagious."

I focused on organizing my things, sorting the documents. Suddenly, a black-and-white photo of me slipped out. It was scrawled in angry red letters across it, "Die, homewrecker!"

Just then, one of the guys who'd always tried to hit on me swaggered by and dropped a hotel room key on my desk.

He used to put on this gentleman act, but now his true colors showed. I flung the key right back at him, not bothering to hide my disgust.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I snapped.

Everyone was watching now. He glanced around, face flushed red, and quickly stuffed the key back into his pocket.

"Don't try to play the victim with me. Everyone knows you went after a married guy and didn't care. I don't want to catch whatever you've got," he snapped.

He hurried off, and even though everyone nearby saw exactly what happened, they just treated it like a joke.

I couldn't take this anymore. I hadn't done anything, but everyone was out to get me. I had to talk to Aria.

"Hello, this is Sophia."

As soon as the call connected, I blurted out my words, unable to hold back. There was a brief silence on the other end before she finally spoke.

"Why are you calling me? Trying to make me get a divorce? William just told me, and now you're already calling me. Are you two really that desperate? Forget it. Not in a million years. Just drop it," Aria snapped.

Her voice was sharp with emotion, and I could tell she was misunderstanding me. I rushed to explain.

I said, "It's not like that. You misunderstood. I'm not into William at all."

I just wanted to set the record straight and hope she'd forgive me.

"Misunderstood? If there's nothing between you two, then why is he divorcing me? So you're saying he's just got a one-sided crush on you?" Aria snapped back.

I replied, "That's right."

Aria let out a sarcastic laugh. "Wow, you really know how to make yourself look innocent, huh? Not interested in him? Then why'd you take his breakfast? Not interested, but you still hopped into his car right in front of me?"

I said, "I honestly didn't know he was married back then. If I'd known, I never would've gotten in his car. I would've kept my distance."

Aria shot back, "So you're saying you did nothing, and he's still leaving me? What, did you call just to humiliate me? I don't want to talk to you."

Before I could get another word out, she hung up on me.

I was still racking my brain, wondering how to convince her I wasn't out to get her, when my phone lit up with a new alert.

That Twitter account had just dropped another post, saying I'd called Aria just to stir up drama.

They knew about it instantly. Whoever was behind this must be tight with Aria.

I scrolled through their old posts, checking the angles and timestamps. Had someone been spying on me ever since I started at this company?

Who would care enough to keep such a close watch on me?