Chapter 2

I got up to leave.

Benjamin pressed his hand on my files. "William, you're already here. Don't rush off. We haven't even started talking yet!"

"Blanchett Family Group is a Fortune 500 company. Surely your employees have better manners than this?"

Carter, a former colleague, snorted and crossed his arms. "Clearly just some errand boy who's never seen the real world. Does he really think one phone call can make or break a project?"

"Hey, don't talk about William like that!" Benjamin frowned and glared at Carter, though the reprimand seemed superficial.

"After all, he has some special history with Audrey. Since things didn't work out, he's holding a grudge and won't negotiate with us. It's understandable."

I glanced at my watch. "Fine. You have twenty minutes to say whatever you want. I have another meeting after this."

"William, getting addicted to this act?" Audrey spoke up slowly.

She leaned back in her leather chair, looking lazy. "Since you want to play, I'll play along. We're all old friends here. Don't be too harsh on the price."

As she spoke, her eyes swept over my plain shirt and stopped on my left ring finger.

I wore a simple, humble ring there.

No gemstone embellishments. Not even gold.

Benjamin followed her gaze, his lips curling up. His tone was light. "William, you actually got married? Why didn't you invite us to the wedding?"

Carter immediately chimed in, nudging Benjamin with his elbow. "When are you and Audrey getting married? I saw you picking out wedding rings yesterday."

"Carter!" Benjamin playfully punched his shoulder, though his ears turned red. "Don't talk nonsense. Audrey and I are just colleagues."

Audrey's lips curved slightly as she deliberately reached out to adjust Benjamin's collar.

This gesture drew ambiguous jeers from Carter and the other colleagues.

I looked down and organized my files, completely unmoved.

I'd been through the same thing five years ago.

This little provocation was nothing.

The door to the private room opened and a server came in with coffee.

I had no intention of staying to watch their performance. I turned to leave.

"Wait, William!"

Benjamin rushed up but deliberately shoved the server.

Coffee splashed all over my back.

My white shirt was instantly soaked through with the brown liquid.

"Oops!" Benjamin exclaimed, though he couldn't hide the smile at the corners of his mouth. "William, are you okay?"

The server frantically handed me napkins. "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to..."

"It's fine." I took the napkins, my voice calm. "Someone pushed you."

Benjamin's expression changed. "What are you trying to say? You weren't careful and now you're blaming others?"

Carter immediately backed him up. "Exactly. We all saw it. You clearly turned around too fast."

I turned back. The soaked white shirt had become semi-transparent.

Coffee dripped from the hem onto the floor.

The situation was pretty bad.

"William," Audrey finally spoke, her tone tinged with faint annoyance. "Stop embarrassing yourself."

She casually grabbed a suit jacket from one of her subordinates and tossed it on the sofa nearest to me.

The meaning was obvious.

I didn't touch the jacket. I just calmly turned around. "I'm going to the restroom."

I barely managed to clean up my back with water when my phone buzzed with a message: [Car's downstairs]

I replied with a simple "okay."

As I walked out of the restroom, I heard hushed voices from around the corner.

"I heard when he suddenly quit back then, he'd gotten some woman at the company pregnant. It was a whole thing..."

"Keep your voice down... but I heard about that too. Something about not handling it cleanly, almost ended up in a lawsuit..."

Halfway through their conversation, they saw me and immediately fell silent.

Benjamin raised his hand to adjust his shirt collar, his tone casual. "William, Audrey said she'll give you one more chance. Sign at the price we stated, and she can throw some other projects your way."

I walked right past them and pushed open the door to the private room.

Audrey was flipping through my files.

When she saw me come in, she didn't stop. She just glanced up. "This report isn't bad." She closed the file and pushed it forward lightly. "Come back to Rayjedo Company. I'll give you double the salary."

"No need." I took back my files. "Today's negotiation ends here."

"William!" Audrey's volume suddenly spiked. "You think working at Blanchett Family Group makes you special? They only hired you because you're cheap! Where's your supervisor? How could they let you handle a project worth hundreds of millions?"

I didn't respond. I just turned toward the door.

As my hand touched the doorknob, her voice rang out again. "William, it's been five years. Haven't you had enough of this tantrum?"

I paused. A tantrum?

How arrogant did someone have to be to think that five years of separation was just throwing a tantrum?

"Audrey," I said calmly. "My time is valuable."

Her expression darkened. "What are you acting so high and mighty for? If it weren't for me back then, do you think you could have become team leader?"

She looked at me with contempt. "You go work odd jobs at Blanchett Family Group and forget who's responsible for that impressive resume of yours?"

I didn't bother with this lunatic. I just got in the elevator.