I was the favor he refused to see Chapter 05
I didn’t wait for Ethan to reply. I locked my phone and went to sleep.
At the next morning meeting, Lily was presenting Project B, and her PowerPoint deck was projected onto the big screen.
A screenshot of the message thread between Ethan and me appeared in full view.
There were several messages where I had reported project updates.
At the very bottom was the line I had sent, Ivy: [Ethan, let’s break up.]
Lily gasped and fumbled to turn off the projector.
“I’m so sorry. I screenshotted some important project messages yesterday, and I accidentally…”
The conference room exploded.
Everyone looked at me, and I looked at Ethan.
Lily hurried to smooth things over. “I’m sure Ivy was just joking. Mr. Langford has always been against office romances.”
But Ethan never said a word.
Even though I was about to leave the company, he still refused to say anything for me.
Not even one simple sentence like, “That’s private.”
The meeting continued as if nothing had happened.
But after it ended, the entire company was buzzing.
“Does Ivy seriously think she can punch that far above her weight?”
“She’s trying to use her founding-employee status to tie down the boss.”
“If she’s leaving, she should just leave. Why say they’re breaking up? That’s so embarrassing.”
I let out a humorless laugh and blocked Ethan’s work number.
At lunch, several coworkers gathered around Lily.
“Lily, come on, tell us. How did you get a screenshot from Mr. Langford’s phone?”
Lily laughed and waved them off. “Oh, I just went to Mr. Langford’s place to ask him a few questions. I happened to take the screenshot while I was there.”
“I’m so jealous.”
“By the way, Lily, what are you having for lunch?”
“Stew.” Lily pushed her lunch container forward. “You guys want to try some?”
Someone took a bite and immediately said it was delicious.
I couldn’t stand the smell, so I got up and walked out.
Ethan came up beside me. “What did you mean by blocking me?”
I didn’t look at him. “I don’t feel like punching above my weight.”
He frowned. “How many times have I told you not to say things like that on my work number? If someone sees it, there’s no explaining it away.”
“Work and our relationship have to stay separate. That has always been our understanding, so stop making a scene.”
“You know very well that without the company and without me, you’re nothing.”
I looked at him.
I listened to every word he said.
So that was what he had always believed.
He thought I couldn’t live without him.
Something inside me quietly dropped away.