Chapter 4

"Alright, Vanessa, you're not used to sleeping in the same bed. You can sleep in the second bedroom for the next few days. Stop fussing over it."

In the past, if he did this, I would always immediately apologize and make up.

But now, I only feel irony.

To avoid any appearance of impropriety, Ethan never made our relationship public at the company, let alone helped me get a job through connections.

To make him proud, I worked tirelessly, drinking with clients until I had a stomach hemorrhage, and then taking care of his daily needs when I got home.

As it turns out, I wasn't just Vanessa's stand-in.

Once she returns, all of Ethan's principles will change.

Even the fruits of my own hard work have to be handed over.

I withdrew my hand and calmly spoke:

"No need. Since this used to be your home, I'll leave."

Ethan's face instantly turned cold:

"Claire, are you never going to stop?"

"Fine, do whatever you want. If you're so capable, don't come back after you leave this door."

I pushed open the door:

"Don't worry, I won't come back, I'll resign."

But there was no response.

Turning around, I realized that Ethan had already gone to the master bedroom to change Vanessa's sheets and hadn't heard a thing.

Never mind, it's not important anymore.

I booked a hotel room and submitted an electronic resignation application.

At my current level, it's not even up to Ethan to approve it.

The process was completed quickly.

Rachel probably felt bad about it and messaged me privately:

"Claire, I have a sister who runs a company overseas and they're short-staffed."

"I sent your information to her. She thinks you have good skills and experience and can start working here anytime. Are you interested?"

Before I could reply, Vanessa was added to the company's main group chat by Ethan, who also changed her title prefix to "Deputy Project Manager".

Some people noticed that her profile picture and Ethan's are a couple.

They immediately started to jeer:

Wow, so this is Ethan's secretly married wife! Hello, boss lady!

[Is the woman in the boss's WeChat Moments photos really her? She and Ethan look so good together!]

Vanessa responded with a shy emoji, but Ethan did not reply.

It's like a default setting.

I remember that from dating to marriage, Ethan never changed his profile picture.

Whenever I ask, he says he just picked someone randomly.

It turns out that he just wanted to preserve the memories he shared with Vanessa.

I left the group and replied to Rachel:

"Okay, I'll go. Thanks, Rachel."

After that, I sent a message to the lawyer, asking him to draft a divorce agreement for me as soon as possible.

Ethan didn't contact me again all night.

I don't know if he saw my message about leaving the group.

Perhaps they saw it, but didn't care.

The next morning, I was woken up by a phone call from an unknown number.

“Hello, Claire? This is Westbrook Cemetery.”

“Your husband just brought people here and dug up your mother’s ashes, saying he wants to give that burial plot to a friend’s dog.”

"I'd like to ask, will you come to collect the ashes, or will we handle the disposal here?"

When I arrived, the photo on the tombstone had been replaced with one of a puppy.

My mother's urn was just left in a corner, like trash that people disliked.

I looked at Ethan with red eyes, my voice trembling:

"Why?"

The wind was strong on the mountain, and Ethan ignored the fact that I was only wearing a thin shirt.

He draped his coat over Vanessa, his tone indifferent:

"This grave was originally reserved for Vanessa's dog."

"She took the dog's ashes with her when she went abroad. Now that she's back and needs them, isn't it only right that you give them up?"

I swallowed hard.