<
Not only that, but he would be the one in charge of the project.
Muhe was desperately seeking a new investment for a project, still competing with other companies for the bid. The situation was dire.
Fortunately, all communication was online, and I did my best to avoid any chance of meeting him in person.
For offline negotiations, I delegated everything to other team members.
The project planning was completed perfectly. Everything seemed to be developing in the best direction possible.
But my assistant Emma suddenly burst into my office:
“Zinnia! Muhe’s financing fell through!”
“Their cash flow has completely dried up. If they can’t plug the hole soon, they’ll have to declare bankruptcy!”
Emma exclaimed.
“What happened? Didn’t our plan help them secure quite a bit of investment?”
That wasn’t wrong – the final plan we submitted had gotten great feedback.
“I heard Arlo’s girlfriend went to his office and stole the bid document, then leaked the bottom line price to the competing company.”
Emma raised her eyebrows at me:
“Zinnia, I know this Arlo guy is your ex. They’re all saying his current girlfriend couldn’t accept any contact between you two, so she secretly gave the bottom price to the competition.”
“And several headhunters who were originally interested in investing are now not only offering unfavorable terms, but also questioning Muhe’s ability to keep things confidential.”
It made sense, but I hadn’t expected it.
Seeing Arlo’s indulgence of Sage, I knew things would go off the rails someday.
The mutual friend who had told me about Arlo and Sage called again:
“Arlo and Sage’s relationship is on the rocks now. He hasn’t been home for days, and she’s going crazy.”
I suddenly felt lighter, realizing that karma really does come full circle.
Muhe’s CEO never imagined Arlo could mess up something so simple. He put out word in the industry that if Arlo couldn’t secure new investment, he would be blacklisted across the entire field.
Arlo was now on the edge of a cliff. One misstep and he would fall into the abyss.
The situation he found himself in now was entirely of his own making.
It was under these circumstances that Arlo and I met again after half a year.
I went to inspect a project at a new partner company, while Arlo happened to be there trying to secure investment.
Seeing him again, I felt only a dull ache in my chest.
But I no longer felt the heart–wrenching pain of before.
We ran into each other unexpectedly, but tacitly pretended not to know each other, as if we were strangers.
I simply had nothing to say, while Arlo couldn’t risk leaving any bad impression given how crucial this negotiation was for him.
Both sides made good progress, and in the end the company’s VP Chen Insisted on inviting everyone to dinner aut
D
D
11:46 AM
<
I couldn’t refuse and reluctantly took a seat.
Arlo, seeing the cooperation about to be finalized, finally relaxed a bit.
His originally exhausted and tense mood eased somewhat as he chatted and drank with the VP at the dinner table.
As everyone was preparing to leave after the meal, the door to the private room was suddenly pushed open.
This was clearly a private gathering – who would barge in without notice?
The laughter stopped abruptly as everyone’s attention was drawn to Sage, who had entered without warning.
Sage was wearing only a spaghetti strap dress, lightly revealing her snow–white cleavage. The skirt barely covered her knees, her slender waist accentuated by a belt.
Everyone at the dinner table was dressed formally for work discussions. In comparison, Sage looked out of place and almost ridiculous.
The moment Arlo saw Sage, he immediately stood up and tried to pull her outside.
“How did you find this place? Whatever it is, we’ll talk about it when we get home.”
He deliberately lowered his voice, his expression turning ugly.
Sage leaned back against the door, her expression caught between a smile and not.
“When have you been home at all these past few days? I wanted to see you, so I had to come find you here.”
Arlo was about to lose his temper, his fists clenched tighter and tighter by his sides.
His assistant quickly tried to smooth things over, bringing in a chair.
“I’m so sorry everyone, this is our CEO’s girlfriend.”
But Sage didn’t obediently sit down. Instead, she went around toasting everyone with a glass of wine.
Finally, she came to stand in front of me.
Her tone was full of mockery, her face barely concealing her anger.
“You’re Arlo’s ex–girlfriend, right?”
“What, are you trying to rekindle an old flame with him?”
With those words, everyone at the table changed expression.
VP Chen had heard rumors that the last investment fell through because of Arlo’s personal affairs, but it had all been hushed up. He had only caught wind of some gossip.
Now meeting Arlo in person and hearing his plans for the company, Chen was finally ready to invest, believing Arlo had great potential.
But now it was very clear that Arlo was not a reliable partner.
Everyone present was an industry elite. Although they understood the situation clearly, they didn’t want to embarrass Arlo to his face.
They maintained neutral expressions and made some vague responses, but continued packing up to leave.
Arlo’s face darkened. Ignoring the sulking Sage, he turned to follow Chen out.
“Mr. Chen, I’m truly sorry. I didn’t handle things well at home and ended up disturbing you today.”
Chen’s smile remained unchanged, but the appreciation in his eyes had turned to disappointment:
“Mr. Graham, I can’t make the investment decision on my own. I’ll need to discuss it further with our CEO.”
་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ ། །
