Chapter 14
Antonio used to be Ian’s partner. They were buddies. It was one of his excuses for not publicizing our relationship.
He was proud. Being with me made him lan’s nephew–in–law. He’d feel inferior to Ian.
After all, he was Ian’s age, seven years older than me.
I worked at Antonio’s company. Then, he made a rule that office romance was forbidden.
His act was impeccable in the past five years. Although we saw each other every day in the offices, no one had found out about our relationship.
Then, Ruth appeared and easily made me the shameless other woman.
I didn’t wanna talk about Antonio and began acting like a spoiled child in front of my mom.
Back home, the dishes were familiar and delicious. The fatigue vanished.
Ian kept praising the future husband he picked for me as if the man was the best work from heaven.
Ian had said the same thing about Antonio. I’d heard so much about him I couldn’t help admiring him and considering him perfect.
To be closer to him, I went to a university in the south.
Back then, Ruth had gone abroad.
11
Antonio focused on his career, and I kept making excuses to see him.
Then, we became familiar and got together.
Thinking of the past, I was absent–minded and blurted out the first thing coming to my mind.
“Ian, you misjudge,”
“Grace, you worked for Antonio for a long time. He’s a wonderful man, isn’t he? Patrick Martin is even ten times better than him!
“I assure you that he’s the whole package.
“Most importantly, Patrick has never dated anyone. He’s still unattached.”
I had doubts.
“Since he’s perfect, why does he wanna marry me? Ian, did you tell him I had never dated before?
“It’s not like I’ll die alone. You can’t lie about things like that. It’s humiliating.
“Or is he impotent?”
Ian and I were poor judges of characters.
My mom put in, “Grace, you’ll know when you see him.”
I didn’t believe Ian, but I trusted my mom.
The trip was tiring. After a bath, I went to bed and fell asleep quickly.
I slept soundly and didn’t hear my phone ring.
Then, the battery died, and my phone turned off.
The next morning, I charged my phone and turned it on. The tons of missed calls and messages slowed my phone.
They were all from Antonio.
Then, he called again. Thinking that it might be work–related, I answered.
“Mr. Kaufman, the materials are on the computer I used. You can copy it.”
Antonio interrupted me bluntly, “Grace, are you done with your farce? You moved out without a word and didn’t tell me you were quitting. Did you enjoy scaring me? If you had waited longer to answer your phone, I’d have reported you missing!”
I was confused.
“Mr. Kaufman, you approved my resignation and the payment of my salary. Everything followed the procedure.”
It was a fact. Antonio gritted his teeth with anger.
“You picked on Ruth. I told you off. And you gave me this?
“Come back! Do your work, and move back!”
Then, he hung up.
This was the third time he had gotten mad at me since Ruth returned.
He was as confident as before.
He thought I would be as meek as before, in public or in private.
I thought about it and decided to try sending him a message again.
This time, it worked.
“Antonio, I want a breakup.”
Perhaps, in his heart, I wasn’t even entitled to use the word “breakup.”
As soon as the message was sent, I blacklisted his contact information.
