Chapter 2
Before I go, I need to wrap up everything on my plate.
The Vertex Technologies procurement plan was a 12-million-dollar deal.
This was the biggest deal I'd ever worked on in my four years at Vertex Technologies.
Honestly, I handled everything myself.
I took care of every detail, including project setup, research, competitor analysis, pricing models, and client meetings.
But the name on the cover as project lead was Maxwell.
The reason's pretty straightforward.
Last year, when the department was picking new team leads, Maxwell got promoted to project team leader.
Half the stuff he submitted for that promotion was written by me.
His performance review PowerPoint ran forty-seven slides.
I stayed up three nights straight to finish it.
He presented for twenty minutes on stage.
The executives in the audience nodded in approval.
"Maxwell is really something. He's got some great ideas," one of the executives remarked.
He came back and said, "Thanks."
Then he took me out for pizza, which cost 12 dollars.
I put together a 47-slide PowerPoint for him, and in return, he treated me to a 12-dollar pizza.
He got the promotion and became the team leader; I was still just a team member.
But nothing really changed.
I was still the one handling everything.
For the 12-million-dollar deal, the client's main contact was Mr. Clark Thompson.
Clark only acknowledged me.
Every time we had a meeting, he'd say, "Let Emma do the presentation. She explains things in a way I actually get."
Maxwell would just sit there, smiling, "Emma is the core of our team."
Core, huh?
He'd call me the core when the clients were around, but in the office, he'd put his name on my proposal.
I never complained about it.
I figured that it was no big deal. We were on the same team.
And every time he used my proposal for a presentation, he'd always come back to me afterward.
Maxwell would say, "Emma, working late tonight? Want to grab dinner? My treat."
It was always pizza.
He'd sit across from me, smiling as he watched me eat.
That smile made it all feel worthwhile.
That smile had me holding on for eight years.
The whole sixty-thousand-dollar story began two years ago.
Maxwell said he wanted to buy a house.
"Prices keep going up. If I don't buy now, I'll miss my chance. I'm just a bit short on the down payment. Can you help me out?"
Maxwell looked right at me, still wearing that familiar smile.
"Just treat it like an investment. Once I hit it big, I'll pay you back twice as much," Maxwell said.
I emptied my bank card for him.
My hands shook as I punched in the password.
It wasn't about the money.
I was actually excited.
I figured he asked me for money because he trusted me, and because there was something between us that felt different.
I even daydreamed about cooking for him in his new home once he finally bought it.
But I stopped myself right there.
My face was burning up.
After I gave him the money, he paid the down payment the very next day.
The place was on the east side of town, a two-bedroom apartment with a living room.
During the renovation, he posted on his feed.
[New home, new beginnings.]
The photo was just an empty living room.
I kept zooming in, staring at it for ages.
There was a pot of pothos sitting on the windowsill.
I thought he liked pothos too.
I had a pothos at home too. For a moment, I thought maybe we shared the same taste.
Only later did I realize Olivia was the one who bought that plant.
She was also the one who helped him pick out all the materials for the renovation.
They were already seeing each other by then.
The 60 thousand dollars I lent him became the down payment for his and Olivia's new apartment.
Later, when they posed for their wedding photos, that same living room was the backdrop.
The pothos was still there on the windowsill.