4
Jobs were hard to find.
Besides Chelsea, my other two roommates
were either studying for their master’s or taking.
civil service exams.
My internship was with a top company in the
industry.
HR said that Austin was just in need of a new
person with relevant project experience.
But when I got to the office, I saw Chelsea.
sitting at my old desk.
A coworker told me that the CEO hired her
himself.
“Rumor has it, she didn’t even have an
interview! The CEO just made the decision!”
I learned from the comments that the CEO was
Aiden’s long–divorced father.
I had gone through three rounds of interviews.
for that internship.
I didn’t do well, and I was nearly in tears.
L
At a dinner with friends.
Aiden comforted me by saying, “Who cares
about that company anyway! I don’t want you
working there!”
His friend said, “Aiden, didn’t you say you knew
someone who worked there? Why don’t you ask
them to put in a good word for Sarah!”
I I was stunned, a glimmer of hope flickering in.
my chest.
Aiden righteously said, “I won’t do that!”
“I’m not going to use connections! That’s
embarrassing!”
“If you want to get in, you need to rely on your
skills, or no one will respect you!”
I nodded, he had a point.
<
I even felt ashamed of my momentary lapse in
judgment.
Luckily, I later got a notification that I had
passed the interview.
But now, Chelsea was sitting there, it was like a
slap in the face.
The coworker continued to say, “I heard that
the CEO’s son, who he hasn’t talked to for
years, suddenly contacted him for his girlfriend. He said that if his girlfriend got the internship, he’d go to his dad’s birthday party…”
Office assignments were up to the manager, so
I found an empty desk to sit at.
Even though I was trying to back down, Aiden’s
revenge was relentless.
He texted me:
[Looks like you lost your desk?]
[I’m not a forgiving person. If you cross me,
you’ll pay.]
[Wanna bet that I’ll make sure your full–time
offer is ruined?]
Not long after.
The CEO walked over to me and said:
“Sarah, give your project to Chelsea.”
The project only had one final step.
I had been working overtime to finish it, without even taking a weekend off.
In addition to finishing my work, I often helped other coworkers.
But I never complained.
I learned a lot.
That was what I would use to get a full–time
position in Austin.
I stood up and said, “Sir, I was a part of this project from the beginning to the end. I don’t want to give it to someone else.”
Chelsea looked at me, feigning surprise and
said, “Sarah, you’re just an intern. What can you
do? Don’t take all the credit for yourself.”
The CEO frowned when he heard that, “An intern doesn’t get a say here!”
“If you don’t want to, you can leave!”
The comments appeared again:
[If Sarah just apologizes to Aiden, everything
will be hers!]
<
[The project–is hers, and her future father–in-
law’s approval. After all, Aiden is his only son.]
[Don’t act like this, Sarah, or you’ll lose
everything, and you’ll regret it!]
4
The night I quit my job.
I got a call from Aiden’s friend: “Sarah, why
haven’t you and Aiden made up yet?”
“A little fighting is good, but if you keep
fighting, it’ll get boring.”
“You know how much Aiden likes you.”
“Men are proud, women should always give him.
respect.”
Before he could finish, I hung up.
[Why is she so clueless?]
[Does Aiden not seem a little too much.]
[I’ll be fair. Aiden has no flaws, except that he’s
a bit arrogant. She’s lucky he even likes her.]
Lucky?
What was so great about Aiden?
What was so good about him, besides h
height?
his
I smiled bitterly as I looked at the comments.
I had been charmed by Aiden’s “arrogance.”
That was before we dated.
He was ahead of me in line and took the last
fried chicken leg at the cafeteria.
<
When he saw my disappointment, he gave it to
me, saying that he didn’t like it.
His roommates were joking about it.
They often brought it up, saying that Aiden fell
in love with me at first sight and gave me the
chicken leg.
Another time, there was an English speech
contest.
Aiden was good at English.
The counselor wanted to give him the spot from
our class.
But he wanted to give it to me.
I said that we could compete fairly..
But Aiden sang a song in English, which was
<
the same as admitting defeat.
Everyone praised him for his gentlemanly
behavior, saying that he was willing to give up
his honors for me.
I was touched for a long time.
I didn’t want to let him down, so when I went to
represent the school, I didn’t stop practicing.
I didn’t even eat.
During that time, Aiden kept arguing with me.
He said, “You care more about the English
contest than you do about me.”
“Did you forget that I gave you that spot?”
Since I was in debt to him, I had to please him.
I worked day and night, until I got a high fever
<
after the competition.
But I later found out…
He didn’t like chicken legs.
He was only good at written English, but his
spoken English was bad.
I didn’t go back to my internship.
Aiden heard about it.
He curled his lips and said, “I don’t care, don’t
tell me.”
“I think she was just slacking off at the
company, and they found out that she wasn’t
good, so she got fired.”
A roommate told me about it.
After hearing that, I said, “Thank you, but you
don’t have to tell me about him.”
My two roommates were worried about me.
Graduation was coming up, but I didn’t have a
job.
Not only that, but I didn’t have a boyfriend
either.
I said, “It’s okay, don’t worry. I’m sure.
something will come up.”
Since I had left my internship, I couldn’t transfer
to the branch in Austin.
But I contacted the person in Austin and said
that I wanted to have another interview.
I wasn’t confident, but I had to try.
I needed to keep my options open.
I also applied to several other companies, and a
former coworker was willing to help me get an internal recommendation.
While I was busy looking for a job,
Aiden and
Chelsea were all over campus.
Chelsea said, “Aiden is pursuing me, but I
haven’t said yes yet!”
I always turned away when I saw them.
I knew that I was being useless.
But I couldn’t just walk by without looking away.
It wasn’t easy to get over a boyfriend that I had
been with for a whole college career.
But I had to adapt.
I had to get used to the life without Aiden.
<
In the next few days, I was extremely busy.
Submitting resumes, taking tests, and attending
interviews, almost took up all my time.
As time went by, I thought about Aiden less and
less.
Once, I was walking while memorizing some
interview points, and I bumped into Aiden and
Chelsea without realizing it.
When I realized it, I hadn’t thought about Aiden
in a long time.
When I heard his name again, I didn’t feel much
anymore.
I was getting better, but then I got a call from
Aiden late at night.
He said, “Are you serious?”
