Chapter 12
I got home. Antonio bought me scald ointment online.
“Grace, don’t be oversensitive. Stop being gunning for Ruth. You’ll see each other often in the future. I hope you two get along.”
Did he think he could make me compromise with a box of scald
ointment? Then, he could have both Ruth and me?
I applied some ointment and didn’t reply to Antonio’s message. That night, he didn’t come back.
The next morning, I went to work and sensed my coworkers‘ weird stares
at me.
After I sat at my desk, Amber Morgan, who was close to me, told me what happened.
She whispered, “Grace, they say you seduced Mr. Kaufman, and his girlfriend caught you in the act. The whole company knows…”
She handed me her phone, and I took it.
It turned out some of my colleagues were also at the restaurant yesterday. They established a group chat overnight to discuss how I failed to seduce
Antonio.
Before I could explain, Antonio came to the office with Ruth.
“Everyone, this is your new department manager Ruth Eldred.”
So, this was what Antonio meant by “you will see each other often.” He
11
made Ruth my superior.
Immediately, all eyes were on me.
I’d been in charge of our department since the last department manager quit.
Everyone had supposed I would be the new department manager.
In the staff’s presence. Antonio invited Ruth into our company’s group chat.
They said something one after the other.
Everyone with eyes could see they had matching profile pictures.
The staff talked about them all morning.
I was to resign, anyway. I didn’t care who took my position.
After emailing my resignation to HR, I finally could have a break. I made myself a cup of pomelo tea with honey in the break room.
Ruth came before long.
She made a cup of coffee and sat beside me.
In a triumphant tone, she began, “Grace, I know you were Antonio’s secret lover for five years. But I’m his girlfriend. I’m back now. You, the other woman, should get lost. If you keep your mouth shut, I’ll leave you alone.”
Then, she played an audio clip. The boy from the day before was asking for a reward.
“Ruth, how was I? You promised you’d give me a transformer toy. Don’t forget.”
Chapter 12
Now, everything made sense.
The look in Ruth’s eyes displayed malice. My gut feeling told me I should go immediately.
Before I could do it, she snatched the cup from my hand and poured the tea on her head. The cup was smashed on my foot and shattered into pieces.
The tea had gotten cold. It streamed down her face. Her blouse was drenched, and her hair was disheveled. She looked pitiable.
To frame me, this woman was willing to do all this to herself.
She blocked my way and shouted, “Grace, what are you doing? Why did you do this to me?”
Upon hearing her scream, the employees came to check it out.
She even poured coffee on herself and rubbed her neck until it became red.
I had had enough of her performance and smacked her hard.
The commotion alarmed Antonio. He rushed over and happened to see the neat me slap Ruth, who was in a sorry state.
Without thinking, he slapped me across the face.
“Grace, if you don’t want this job, get out now!”
He knocked into me and carried Ruth into his office.
I staggered backward. My back bumped into the table. It hurt so much tears came out of my eyes immediately.
The HR manager, who had been hesitating to approve my resignation, signed it at once.
Antonio was comforting Ruth in his office. When the manager brought him my resignation, he approved it without looking.
Believing Ruth was Antonio’s beloved one, the accountant paid my salary on the spot so I could be gone at once.
I still had materials on clients. I compressed them into a file and was gonna send it to Antonio.
However, my company email had been deleted.
Only Antonio had the authority to do that.
I intended to send him a message telling him I was breaking up with him. Yet he had blacklisted my contact information.
There was nothing more to do at the company, so I left. Back home, I erased my traces as if I had never lived there. Then, I went to the airport.
