They Called Me Old Bird, I Walked Away

Chapter 4

The humiliation didn't let up. If anything, it got way worse.

Adrian's blatant indulgence gave Sabrina and all the rubbernecking bystanders a free pass to do and say whatever they wanted, no consequences attached.

The nickname "old maid" turned into a semi-open inside joke around the office.

When two new interns spotted me, weird smirks immediately tugged at the corners of their mouths.

One of them spoke just loud enough for me to overhear, "Hurry up, move it! Old maid's here. Watch out she doesn't peck you!"

"Hey, I heard there's a special group chat for… huh, did you get in yet?"

"Nope, nope, add me quick, will you?"

Scenes like this played out almost every single day.

Everything finally boiled over during a project presentation meeting. My botched presentation last time had left the big boss pretty unhappy.

So I'd covered every base and prepped perfectly well ahead of this meeting.

But just ten minutes before the meeting was supposed to start, Adrian walked in, with Sabrina trailing right behind him.

"Sabrina has been involved with this project for a long time too. She'll do the presentation this time, you fill in the gaps as needed."

I tried to argue my case, "Mr. Pierce, I've overseen this project from the very first planning stage all the way through execution. I know every last detail inside and out."

Adrian scoffed and threw me a disdainful sideways glance, "You know it? Then who was it that messed up the last presentation and let the big boss down, huh?"

Then he turned to Sabrina, his eyes soft with encouragement, "Go ahead, Sabrina. Start whenever you're ready."

Sabrina stepped forward immediately and plugged her USB drive into the computer smoothly, like she'd practiced the move a dozen times beforehand.

Adrian nodded along again and again the whole time she was presenting, his expression full of obvious satisfaction.

I watched the entire spectacle cold and unfeeling, not uttering a single word the whole time.

Right as she was switching between windows, she fumbled and accidentally clicked the icon in the bottom right of the screen.

Her personal messaging app interface popped up instantly, synced straight to the big conference screen for everyone to see.

Pinned right at the top was a shockingly eye-catching group chat, its name jumping off the screen in unmissable bold text.

Old maid Observation Diary

Inside were all kinds of candid photos of me, paired with snarky little comments.

A: Look at Old maid, wearing yoga pants and sipping coffee again. Living the high life, huh?!

B: C'mon, all of that is funded by President Pierce, right? They've been together eight years. I would've dumped her ages ago if I were him!

Even through the screen, I could practically taste Sabrina's fake, sweet little act as she wrote…

Sabrina: You guys shouldn't talk like that.

Right below her message, Adrian had replied immediately.

Adrian: Sabrina, stay away from Old maid so she doesn't give you trouble again.

I lifted my eyes to look at Adrian.

He wore a totally casual, unconcerned expression, and there was even a faint smirk playing at his lips.

My heart went completely cold at that moment.

Eight years of willing, wholehearted devotion? Nothing but a sad, stupid joke.

I didn't wait for the meeting to wrap up. I went straight to HR and handed in my resignation.

Right after I turned in my paperwork, I packed up all my personal things into a box and headed for the exit.

That was when I ran straight into Adrian and Sabrina, who were laughing and chatting as they walked.

Adrian's eyes locked on me and followed my every move, but he didn't say a single word.

I thought to myself, 'Goodbye, Adrian. I never want to see you again.'