Chapter 3 Mom Better Never Come Back
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Early in the morning, Claudia was woken up by her phone alarm. Her head throbbed with a dull ache.
She probably caught a chill in the snow last night. Looked like she was coming down with a cold.
She rubbed her aching temples, and when she reached into her suitcase to pull out clothes, she accidentally dragged out a small red object. It rolled a few times on the floor before coming to a stop.
It was a small robot, about the size of a fist, wearing a red top hat.
The metal robot was pudgy. Except for the red hat, everything else was iron–gray, giving off a cheap and clunky vibe.
This was what counted as her and Alan’s token of love.
Back then, she and Alan had only registered their marriage. There was no wedding, not even a witness from their circle. Publicly, it was simply announced that the new CEO of Moore Corp was married–who his wife was, no one mentioned.
Only Alan’s family and close friends knew she existed.
The night they got their marriage certificate, she asked Alan if he had ever liked her. Alan’s eyes were full of hatred as he threw this ugly, tasteless robot at her and walked away without saying a word.
She examined the robot later and discovered that even though it was crude, it had a built–in AI chatbot program.
After linking it to her phone, she could send messages and get voice replies from the robot.
She had been overjoyed then, because she knew how much Alan loved computers and AI. That robot was most likely something he built himself, including the internal program.
He made it for her with his own hands.
Claudia squatted down and picked up the robot, pulled out her phone, and opened the app. She sent the exact same message she had sent on their wedding night seven years ago.
“Do you love me?”
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The red–hat robot responded in the same cold, emotionless mechanical voice as it had that night: “No.”
Claudia gave a bitter laugh. See? He gave her the answer seven years ago, but it had taken her seven years to accept it.
Alan really went all out to humiliate her–making a robot and writing a program just for that. He sure put in the effort.
She tossed the robot carelessly on top of the suitcase, where it landed askew.
Thinking about their marriage, Claudia only just now noticed the ring on her right–hand middle finger–a plain, ordinary diamond ring. She’d worn it so long she’d almost forgotten it was there.
That ring was something Alan picked out at random too.
As far as she could remember, as long as they weren’t visiting the Moore family estate or putting on an act in front of his mother, Alan never wore his wedding ring.
This marriage had always been a one–woman show. Her one–won show.
Claudia let out a cold laugh. Her throbbing head felt even worse. She pulled off the ring and tossed it beside the red–hat robot.
That was all she got from this marriage.
Next time they met to finalize the divorce, she’d return all of it to him.
Andy was woken up by Mandy.
Mom hadn’t been home last night, hadn’t told him a bedtime story or tucked him in, so he’d gleefully stayed up playing games and gone to bed very late. Naturally, he woke up late too.
“Where’s Mommy? I wanna wash up.”
Climbing out of bed, Andy yawned and mumbled groggily.
Mandy helped him get dressed and reminded him, “Andy, your mother is on a business trip. Today I’ll take care of you.”
“Oh, okay.”
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Chapter 3 Mom Better Never Come Back
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Now Andy was finally fully awake. His heart sank. Normally, whenever Mommy was home, she’d be the first person he saw when he opened his eyes. She’d help him get dressed and wash up.
Mandy took good care of him too, but sometimes she was a bit rough and it didn’t feel comfortable.
Seeing his disappointment, Mandy said at just the right time, “Why don’t you call your mother and ask when she’s coming back? I bet she’d be really happy to hear from you.”
Andy shook his head hard like a rattle drum. “Nope! No way!”
He was finally free! He didn’t care when Mommy came back. The longer she stayed away, the better. Every day without her was Liberation Day!
“I’ll do it myself.”
He pushed Mandy’s hand away and clumsily got dressed on his own. After washing up, he ran downstairs for breakfast.
He was the only one in the dining room.
Alan had work and left early for the office.
After breakfast, Andy watched cartoons and played video games like a maniac. But playing alone all morning quickly got boring. He started thinking about playing with Ms. Summer.
But yesterday, Daddy said they were busy and wouldn’t let him visit the company.
Hugging his game console, Andy sat in frustration for a while. Then a bright idea struck him -Daddy liked Ms. Summer the most. If he said he wanted to see her, Daddy definitely wouldn’t stop him.
Acting on the idea immediately, Andy picked up the phone and called Summer.
Once she agreed, Andy cheered and asked Mandy to help him change clothes and call the driver to take him to Daddy’s company.
Glory Bank, Tech Department.
In the conference room, front–end and back–end developers, UI designers, and the product manager were all gathered for a meeting.
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Chapter 3 Mom Better Never Come Back
“These are all the requirements for the store page? Can we confirm that?”
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Claudia was staring at the projection on the wall, which showed the new requirements and the UI design drafts.
After getting confirmation from the product and UI teams, she double–checked everything and said, “Okay, let’s go with this. Front and back end can divide the work yourselves. Get me a detailed project timeline before the end of the day. If there are any issues, submit them to me before then, too.”
“Meeting adjourned.”
She stood up and walked out of the conference room, heading toward the tech director’s office.
She’d been in meetings since arriving at the office that morning. Now she finally had a breather and could hand in her resignation.
Claudia was a key figure in the company and highly capable, so the director naturally tried hard to keep her.
They went back and forth in the office for a while. Once the director realized she was firm in her decision and wasn’t being poached by another company but was changing industries, he had no choice but to accept it.
“You can leave, sure–but you need to find someone just as capable to take over your work.”
“Of course.”
With that settled, Claudia messaged HR and told them to start recruiting a senior programmer immediately. She’d handle the interviews herself.
After wrapping that up, she went to the break room and made herself some cold medicine.
She’d really gotten chilled last night. After a whole morning of meetings, her head felt like it was about to explode. She didn’t even have an appetite.
The medicine helped her feel a little better. She stood in place for a bit before pulling out her phone and dialing a number.
It was her grandaunt.
Now that she was getting divorced and quitting her job, determined to return to the field of design, she naturally wanted to tell her grandaunt. But she was also a little scared.
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Chapter 3 Mom Better Never Come Back
She still remembered her grandaunt’s words from back then.
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“You’re throwing away your talent for a man? Foolish girl! Don’t ever come see me again. Pretend you’re not my niece!”
Her grip on the phone tightened slightly.
But she hadn’t given up all these years–not entirely. She just hadn’t been fully focused on design. Still, her grandaunt had never been satisfied with her divided attention.
After hesitating for a long while, Claudia didn’t call. Instead, she sent a message.
“I’m back.”
After thinking for a moment, she added one more word: “Lane.” And attached an image of a cloud–patterned emblem.
As soon as the message was sent, several news alerts popped up on her phone screen in bold font.
“Belle Business Academy PhD Zach Corp heiress Summer returns to China”
“Moore Corp officially enters the AI industry”
“Moore Corp announces new tech subsidiary–new president
