The next day, as soon as I arrived at work, I received a large bouquet of roses. The card read:
“Belated Valentine’s gift, baby, don’t be mad.”
It was signed by Laurence.
In the middle of the roses was a small gift box. I opened it to find a pink diamond necklace, twice the price of the Heart of the Ocean.
I casually threw the roses into the trash and had the necklace sent back to him via express delivery.
In the afternoon, he appeared in my boss’s office. Afraid that I wouldn’t see him, he used business as an excuse to have my boss call me over.
My boss gave us a knowing look and left the office to us.
Laurence placed the pink diamond necklace in front of me, his tone displeased:
“What do you mean by this? Don’t you like it?”
I looked at him calmly and said:
“I don’t like it. From now on, I won’t like anything from you.”
I stood up to leave but he grabbed my hand.
His eyes were filled with emotion as he stared at me:
“Kiki, you’re going too far this time.”
“I allow you to have a temper, but there has to be a limit. Going too far hurts our relationship.”
I looked at him and asked mockingly:
“Laurence, think carefully. Do you really have feelings for me?”
“Maybe you’re actually in love with your Lila without realizing it?”
“I’m not desperate for you either. I have childhood friends too. After all, everyone grows up with some close friends.”
A flash of anger crossed his eyes as he said:
“Kiki, have you fallen for someone else and are using this as an excuse?”
He would never admit that he was wrong or acknowledge that it was his actions that hurt our relationship, not my temper.
I didn’t want to argue with him anymore:
“If that’s what you think, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
I stopped looking at him and walked out of my boss’s office.
He cared about his pride too much to follow me out.
My boss saw me come out and asked gossipingly:
“How did the business talk go?”
I replied directly:
“It fell through.”
My boss smiled and warned me:
“If the business falls through, there will be no performance bonus.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll work hard on other deals.”
Laurence was a partner of our company. My boss was worried that our quarrel might affect our cooperation, so he warned me.
I ignored these concerns and focused on maintaining my other projects and expanding new ones. My days were very busy.
Seeing my continuous work progress, my boss had nothing more to say.
Every day Laurence sent gifts and lunch boxes filled with love. I threw away what I could and returned what I couldn’t. All the lunch boxes were shared among my colleagues.
When Laurence came to the company again under the pretense of discussing business, he saw his lunch boxes being eaten by my colleagues, including some male colleagues. His face darkened immediately as he questioned me:
“Is this how you waste my heartfelt intentions?”
He knew it was wasting heartfelt intentions. When he wrapped the scarf I knitted for him around Lila’s neck, why didn’t he think that was wasting my heartfelt intentions?
Instead, he called me petty and said Lila was frail and afraid of the cold-what was wrong with letting her wear it?
Now I returned his words exactly:
“Why be so petty? My colleagues work so hard; what’s wrong with them eating your lunch boxes when they’re hungry?”
He paused for a moment before suppressing his emotions and saying:
“Kiki, do you really have to hold such grudges?”
“Haven’t we fought enough already?”
“If you really mind Lila that much, I’ll stop seeing her from now on.”
He didn’t know that Lila was also visiting our company today.
When Lila heard what he said, her face instantly turned pale.