Untitled Part 13
His had been chosen by his secretary: a large flawless diamond, sharply cut, expensive enough to make a statement.
Mine had cost me three months' salary.
No diamond, but the design was elegant and distinctive in its own way.
Because ours had been a secret workplace marriage, he had almost never worn either set.
And now that he was wearing his again, I found I couldn't understand it at all.
After Ethan left, my coworkers started murmuring again.
"No wonder he was so pissed."
"Did you see that? He's wearing a ring. The guy's married. Maybe we should stop joking about him and Director Sterling."
"What? No way. We've never heard anything about a wife, never seen one either.
He probably just threw the ring on for no reason.
This company has events all the time, and he's never once brought his wife to one.
And those rumors with Vanessa have been going around forever—he never denied any of them.
They even traveled abroad together. Think about it.
If he really is married, then he must not care about his wife at all. "
"Yeah... that's true."
Ethan had seemed swamped these past few days.
At night, he'd been staying at the apartment near the office instead of coming home.
I couldn't find an opening to talk through the divorce settlement papers with him, so I had no choice but to contact a law firm and ask them to draft a preliminary version for me first.
That afternoon, one of the projects I'd been following finally wrapped successfully.
I ordered some desserts for the team and treated everyone to an afternoon snack.
By the time I finished the last handoff and went back to the department, everything had already been picked clean.
Someone mentioned offhandedly,
"Mr. Sterling's daughter stopped by earlier."
"I think there was one container of peanut pudding left, so we gave it to her."
I shot to my feet.
"Did she eat it?"
"Yeah."
When I found Daisy, small red hives had already broken out across her skin.
She was reaching up to scratch at them, and I caught her hand at once.
"Don't."
"If you break the skin, it could get infected."
She looked a little awkward when she saw me and gave a small, quiet,
"Okay."
Ethan and Vanessa were both in meetings.
I didn't hesitate long.
I took Daisy's hand and hurried her to the hospital.
While we were waiting for the elevator, I looked down at her.
"Daisy."
"If you know you're allergic to peanuts, why would you eat something like that?"
She pressed her lips together and said nothing.
It wasn't until we were in a cab that she finally spoke.
Her little body was leaned against the window, her back half turned to me as she said softly,
"Because... that man said you bought it for me."
"You used to bake cakes for me at home. Every time I ate them, you looked really happy..."
"I thought if you were happy, then maybe... maybe you wouldn't hate me so much."
Her voice grew smaller and smaller by the end.