Chapter 10
[How does that make you feel?JA moment later, Zach sent a message. I didn’t reply.
Then he wrote again. [Just kidding. That report was fake.]
[But be honest with me, didn’t you feel even a hint of jealousy when you saw it?
child?]
Could you really accept that Hannah was carrying my
I almost laughed out loud. Earlier, I hadn’t realized it—but now, listening to him, I noticed something.
In the past, whenever I saw him with another woman, jealousy would flare up instantly–I’d blush, my heart would race. But now, I glanced at my reflection in the mirror. My expression remained composed, as calm as ever.
Even my fitness tracker showed a steady heart rate, a clear sign that the idea of “Zach being with someone else” didn’t affect me at all
anymore.
Originally, I didn’t plan to reply. But thinking about Hannah’s earlier provocation, I decided to respond, if only to prevent unnecessary
trouble.
“Now that you have a new girlfriend, you should stop crossing boundaries with these kind of topics. It’ll just cause misunderstandings with your new girlfriend.”
A few minutes passed. Zach’s message window flickered with “typing…” back and forth for a while.
Finally, he replied, [Serena, keep up the act.]
[I want to see how long you can keep it up.]
[If you didn’t still care about me, why do you watch me so closely? Don’t think I don’t know you secretly check up on me and even liked a post.]
I couldn’t help but smile. Before, Zach never paid attention to me, or noticed such small details. Clearly, being with Hannah had changed him. The man who hadn’t changed a bit in nine years for me had changed for her.
Before I could reply, Zach continued. “Hannah and I haven’t been together during this time. She’s only playing along to help us reconcile. For her sake, I’ll give you one last chance.”
I smiled faintly. “No need. “I hung up immediately.
He might still think my reactions to his provocations could make me turn back. But it didn’t matter, because time would make him realize that I was serious about leaving him.
I also understood clearly that his attempts to keep me now weren’t about love but about worry. He didn’t want our breakup to become gossip fodder.
Flirting with Hannah was one thing; breaking up with me because of her was entirely another.
I ignored him and returned to focusing on my career. That evening, Diana and I successfully closed the deal on our collaboration project.
Overjoyed, she brought me to meet several other industry leaders. Upon meeting them, Diana introduced me directly as her business partner. The respect I received made me feel genuinely valued.
Before, when I accompanied Zach to similar meetings, he treated me more as a naïve employee than a partner.
Over time, those leaders stopped respecting me; sometimes they even sent me on errands or asked me to fetch things.
But I couldn’t blame him. Zach had his faults, but didn’t I enable him by staying passive all those years?
As the evening progressed and drinks were shared, conversations grew more engaging.
At some point, one female executive leaned in and whispered, “Serena, have you offended someone? I just realized you’ve been blacklisted in our industry circle.”
