On Christmas Eve, I slipped into Chicago without telling Damien. I spent the afternoon cooking ！ a full spread, enough to fill his entire dining table ！ planning to surprise him. While I waited, I scrolled Reddit and stumbled onto a thread. [What does a man do when he actually loves you?] Someone in the comments answered. [He couldn’t make it home for Christmas, so he stayed back to keep me company ！ told his family work ran over.] [He was supposed to get engaged to his girlfriend this year, but I said I wasn’t ready, so he pushed the date back. He remembers every little thing I like, never forgets my birthday, and even decorated the passenger seat of his car just for me.] My stomach dropped. Was it a coincidence? Damien had told me the same thing ！ too buried in work to fly home for Christmas ！ and our own engagement date had been pushed back too. Someone replied to her: [How is that any different from being the mistress?] She laughed it off. [The one who isn’t loved is the mistress. He told me he stopped having feelings for his fianc└e a long time ago. He’s only still with her out of obligation.] [Right now, we’re watching the Christmas fireworks~ ] The photo attached showed a side profile, fireworks blazing in the background. Identical to Damien. ´ I zoomed in. Zoomed back out. Told myself it was someone who just looked like him. Then she posted a second photo ！ hands intertwined. On those overlapping fingers sat a ring I knew too well. My eyes burned. My hand trembled as I dialed Damien’s number. It rang a long time before he picked up. Fireworks crackled in the background. His voice came through soft and warm. “Mia. What’s wrong?” “Where are you?” I asked. “At the office. Still catching up on work.” He sounded completely at ease. If I hadn’t seen that post, I might have believed him without a second thought. I blinked against the sting in my eyes and said, “I’m at your place.” Silence for a few seconds. Then: “I’m heading back now.” I stood there looking at the dinner I’d spent all day making, and something in me felt almost laughable. When Damien came through the door, he wasn’t alone. There was a woman with him. His personal assistant. Nadia Reyes. She’d appeared in the background of our video calls before ！ brief flickers I hadn’t thought much of. I’d only learned her name afterward. When his eyes met mine, something flickered across Damien’s face. A half-second of unease. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” My eyes had gone red. I looked at what he was wearing. The man in that photo wore the exact same thing. I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. “I wanted to surprise you,” I said, my voice coming out hoarse. Turned out Damien surprised me first. I shifted my gaze to Nadia. “You work late with your assistant?” Damien paused. Then steered the conversation sideways. “Next time, just let me know ！ I’ll come pick you up.” I smiled, but there was nothing behind it. I said nothing. “Didn’t expect you to remember me, Ms. Fontaine.” Nadia flashed me a playful wink. “Mr. Voss and I were just finishing up at the office. The moment your call came in, we rushed straight back~” Straight back. She said it like she lived here. Somehow I was the one who felt out of place. Damien glanced at Nadia, something warm flickering in his eyes, then turned to explain to me: “Couldn’t get a cab on Christmas Eve, and I needed to get back fast ！ I had no choice but to bring Nadia along.” “I’ll drop her home in a bit.” I pulled at the corner of my mouth. What Damien didn’t know was that I had taken an unofficial six-hour ride to get here. Nadia smiled at me. “You don’t mind, do you, Ms. Fontaine?” Damien laughed, easy and natural. “She’s not petty like you.” Nadia stuck her tongue out at him. “I’m not petty.” They bickered the way couples do ！ not like a boss and his employee. The hand I’d burned on the stove earlier throbbed quietly beneath everything. Nadia looked at the table full of dishes, visibly impressed. “Wow ！ Ms. Fontaine, you made all of this?” She sighed lightly. “I’m hopeless in the kitchen. At home it’s always my boyfriend who cooks´” I stopped listening. I turned to Damien. One word at a time. “I don’t like her.” “Damien. Fire her.”
The smile on Nadia’s face went rigid. She hadn’t expected me to strike like that. Her eyes flew instinctively to Damien. Damien paused. “Alright. Whatever you say.” Nadia stiffened. “Mr. Voss´” Damien used the excuse of getting her a cab to walk her out. He was gone for two hours. Every dish I’d spent all day making had gone cold. I threw it all in the trash. By the time Damien came back, I’d just closed out of the Reddit thread. My eyes went straight to his collar. Rumpled. And on it ！ faint, but unmistakable ！ a smear of lipstick. Ten minutes ago, the comment had updated. [His fianc└e showed up out of nowhere and dragged him back. Even tried to have me fired. But so what? He played along to her face, and then spent the whole ride back coaxing me.] [We hooked up in the car. He walked back in with his collar a mess ！ and a little bit of my lipstick on it, oops~] Every detail matched. Damien crossed the room to hold me. I shoved him back hard. “Don’t touch me.” Nausea surged up my throat. I pressed a hand over my mouth and ran for the bathroom. Damien followed, rubbing my back. “Did you eat something bad?” Her perfume clung to him, drifting into my lungs in slow waves. Nothing came up. I straightened and walked back out. Damien poured me a glass of hot water. I didn’t take it. I just looked at him, exhausted. “Is Nadia really just your assistant?” The moment the words left my mouth, Damien’s brow creased. “Of course. She’s just my assistant.” I finally laughed. I pulled up the thread and held the screen out to him. “Then what is this?” “An assistant is worth skipping Christmas for? Worth pushing back our engagement?” Damien stared at the comment for a long time. I waited. I thought he’d say something ！ anything. But all he did was frown. “She’s just a girl being dramatic, posting for attention. Don’t take it to heart.” Posting for attention. Nadia said Damien memorized everything she liked. That he cooked for her. That he customized the passenger seat of his car for her alone. That he even delayed our engagement for her. That was just for attention? “Damien,” I said. “Do you know I like spicy food?” He looked at me, clearly lost. Like he couldn’t understand why I was asking something like that. He said nothing. I let out a short, bitter laugh. He didn’t know. Which was why every meal between us had always been mild. Which was why I never knew he could cook ！ because he had never once cooked for me. And the passenger seat ！ last time I visited, I’d brought a small dashboard ornament, something I wanted to put there. Damien refused without hesitation. He said he didn’t like clutter in the car. Apparently that rule had exceptions. Just none for me. Damien looked at my red-rimmed eyes and softened his voice. “Mia. Don’t worry about her.” “After the holidays, I’ll let her go. Once everything’s in order ！ we’ll get engaged. I promise.” For Nadia, Damien had given up Christmas with his family. For Nadia, he had pushed back my engagement. I had told myself he was just busy. Said yes to everything he asked. And Nadia had told the internet that Damien was only with me out of obligation. If that was all I was to him ！ an obligation ！ then he didn’t need to carry it anymore. I didn’t want the engagement either.
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