He Gave My Gift To Her, I Divorced Him

Chapter 5

In the meeting room.

Genevieve locked the door and poured Summer a glass of water.

Summer just looked at her with tearful eyes. "He hasn't come to see me in a week. I figured you must have said something."

Genevieve remained silent.

She was his wife, and Summer was the mistress. When she got married three years ago, she never could have imagined a mistress would confront her with such self-righteousness.

"Ms. White, how much do you actually know about us?"

When Genevieve didn't answer, Summer pulled her phone out of her bag, opened her photo album, and slid it across the table.

Genevieve froze. The album was packed with photos of Austin and Summer, spanning beaches, deserts, jungles, and oceans.

"We've been together for 739 days. That's 370 photos. We've visited 21 cities, and he's told me 'I love you' 78 times."

Summer swiped through the photos one by one for Genevieve to see.

Looking at Austin in the pictures, Genevieve's eyes began to sting. She was all too familiar with the way Austin looked when he was in love—it was the exact same expression he had when he first started pursuing her at seventeen.

Noticing her reaction, Summer smirked and tapped to enlarge a photo.

Genevieve's mind went entirely blank, a loud buzzing ringing in her ears.

It was an intimate photo of Summer and Austin in bed!

"This was the first time we slept together two years ago. He held me and promised to cherish me for the rest of his life."

Summer continued, "Austin is actually incredibly romantic. He'd hold me tight on cable cars, watch the sunset with me on desert dunes, and tell me he loved me in every single place we visited, from the lakes to Iceland."

She paused, looking at Genevieve with a mocking sneer. "Sometimes I really hate you for occupying the spot next to him, but other times I just find you pathetic. You've been married for three years now—does he ever even tell you he loves you anymore?"

The words felt like a dull knife hacking away at Genevieve's heart. The pain was so agonizing she could barely stand straight. She flung the door open and rasped, "Get out!"

Summer didn't push her luck. She stood up, her lips curling into a smug smile.

"You can keep clinging to whatever sense of duty Austin feels toward you, but I won't lose."

With that, she strutted out of the room, her high heels clicking arrogantly.

Genevieve clenched her teeth, leaning heavily against the door just to keep herself upright.

After a moment to catch her breath, she looked up to see a shocked Jessica and an understanding Gideon Hayes standing outside.

Jessica stammered, "Was that... the representative from Rainbow Studio...?"

"I came to discuss some revisions on the first draft," Gideon interrupted smoothly. "Let's talk inside."

As the meeting room door clicked shut, it shut out all the curious and pitying stares from the office.

Genevieve collapsed onto the sofa, covering her eyes in exhaustion. "Thank you."

She had never wanted to bring her personal drama into the workplace. She hated showing weakness, yet here she was, reduced to a laughingstock.

"I hope your current state won't affect our upcoming project." Gideon spread the blueprints across the table, pointing to several red circles. "These areas need improvement. Summer is Chairman Brooks's daughter, after all. Your design needs to completely outclass hers if we want to win this."

Genevieve took a deep breath. "Understood."

Gideon nodded. Noting her flushed face, he asked softly, "Are you sick?"

Genevieve touched her cheek, which felt hot to the touch. "It's nothing. Just a mild fever."

Gideon stared at her silently for a moment before saying, "Take care of yourself."

*****

Genevieve worked overtime until 11:00 p.m. to finally finish a draft she was satisfied with.

She had planned to go straight home, but as she stood up, a wave of dizziness hit her. She forced herself to walk downstairs. When a stray snowflake landed on her face, she snapped out of her daze and realized it was snowing outside.

Looking up at the heavy snowfall, she felt as though she had been transported back to her freshman year of college. She had been running a fever back then, too, and Austin had skipped class to carry her to the hospital on his back. She still remembered that the snow that day was even heavier than tonight's, dusting Austin's hair until it looked completely white. Whenever she turned her head slightly, she could see his teary eyes as he softly told her not to be scared.

How had Austin changed so quickly? Before she could even process it, they had ended up like this...

Being sick always made a person more vulnerable than usual. Her mind was in a haze, and before she knew what she was doing, she had already dialed Austin's number.

The phone rang twice before it was picked up. There was silence on the other end, save for the sound of steady breathing.

"Austin, I think I have a fever," Genevieve said, her voice raspy.

"Oh, is that so? But he's busy right now." Summer's sweet voice came through the receiver. "Do you want me to call an ambulance for you?"