Tham Kha Ngon’s face stiffened.

Co Vong Nien stood between us, but this time he wasn’t looking at me.

His eyes were fixed on her.

—Did you touch Tinh Yen’s design?

Kha Ngon’s eyes immediately filled with tears.

—Mr. Co… you don’t believe me?

Yesterday, that expression would have been enough to make him soften.

Today, I was already tired of watching the same performance.

—Check the cameras.

Vong Nien frowned.

—Tinh Yen—

—Don’t defend me.

I looked directly at him.

—And don’t defend her. Just check the evidence.

The department manager arrived minutes later.

Security was called.

But when they checked the corridor footage, Kha Ngon suddenly smiled.

—See? I never entered their office.

Several coworkers immediately began whispering.

Kha Ngon looked at me triumphantly.

—Miss Tinh Yen, will you apologize now?

I almost laughed.

—Why would I?

I opened my laptop.

—The blueprint wasn’t altered on our department computer.

Her smile disappeared.

—It was changed through the shared project server.

Silence.

Every employee account had an individual access record.

And at 10:43 the previous night, someone had opened our project.

Downloaded it.

Modified it.

Then submitted the altered version to the client.

The account belonged to—

Tham Kha Ngon.

Her face turned white.

—Someone used my computer!

—Impossible —the IT manager said.

He turned his screen around.

—Your account required a second verification from your phone.

Kha Ngon’s lips trembled.

The people who had defended her moments earlier quietly stepped backward.

Co Vong Nien looked at her.

—Why?

She burst into tears.

—I only wanted to teach her a lesson!

Then she pointed at me.

—She humiliates me constantly! She acts like she’s better than everyone just because she’s close to you!

Vong Nien’s expression darkened.

—Do you understand how much this contract is worth?

She froze.

—It was just a joke—

—A joke?

I closed my laptop.

—You nearly caused the company to lose a major client and tried to make my entire team responsible.

The manager immediately suspended her access pending formal investigation.

I didn’t celebrate.

I simply turned toward Ta Tu.

—Prepare the original design and revision history. We’re meeting the client ourselves.

Vong Nien caught my wrist.

—I’ll come with you.

I pulled my hand away.

—No.

He stared at me.

—Tinh Yen, I’m the president.

—And this is my project.

For the first time, I walked past him without waiting for permission.

The client meeting lasted almost three hours.

We showed them the original files, timestamps and internal investigation.

We apologized for the failure in controls without hiding behind excuses.

The client didn’t immediately forgive us.

But they agreed to reconsider cancellation after reviewing our corrected proposal.

When I returned, Vong Nien was waiting outside my office.

—We need to talk.

—I don’t.

His jaw tightened.

—About last night—

—We already talked.

—I thought you were angry.

—I wasn’t.

That finally frightened him.

I opened my desk drawer and removed an envelope.

My resignation.

He stared at it.

—What’s this?

—I’m leaving Co Thi Group.

His face changed instantly.

—Because of Kha Ngon?

—No.

I shook my head.

—Because I finally remembered I have my own life.

Then I told him about Shanghai.

My parents were opening a new branch.

I was going to lead it.

Vong Nien stared at me in disbelief.

—You’re moving?

—Yes.

—For how long?

—Permanently, if things go well.

He suddenly laughed.

But there was panic beneath it.

—Stop joking. What about us?

I looked at him.

—There is no “us.”

His smile disappeared.

—Tinh Yen.

—I told you last night.

—You were upset.

—You decided I was upset because that was easier than believing me.

He stepped closer.

—I only helped Kha Ngon because she was crying.

—Exactly.

I smiled faintly.

—Whenever she cried, you ran to her.

I paused.

—Whenever I spoke clearly, you assumed I didn’t mean it.

That sentence silenced him.

The investigation concluded several days later.

The evidence supported that Kha Ngon had deliberately interfered with the project.

She was dismissed according to company procedures.

But by then, it didn’t matter to me anymore.

My resignation had already been accepted.

On my final day, Vong Nien waited beside my car.

His eyes were red.

—Don’t go.

I stopped.

—Why?

—Because I love you.

Once, those words would have changed everything.

Now they only made me tired.

—Then why did you leave me alone to comfort another woman after I told you leaving would end our relationship?

His lips parted.

No answer came.

Because the truth was simple.

He had believed I would always remain.

My forgiveness had become something he treated like company property.

Permanent.

Guaranteed.

His.

—I can change.

—Maybe you can.

Hope appeared in his eyes.

I continued:

—But you don’t need me standing beside you while you learn how.

Then I got into the car.

Three months later, Shanghai felt like another world.

My father’s branch had started with fewer than thirty employees.

Within two years, we had nearly two hundred.

I became the person making decisions instead of waiting outside someone else’s office.

The client whose project Kha Ngon had sabotaged eventually followed me to Shanghai for a new partnership.

My father framed the first signed contract and hung it behind his desk.

Whenever anyone asked why, he proudly answered:

—Because that’s when my daughter finally remembered whose daughter she was.

Vong Nien contacted me many times during the first year.

Flowers.

Messages.

Apologies.

He even came to Shanghai once.

I agreed to meet him.

He looked different.

Quieter.

—Kha Ngon is gone —he said.

—I know.

—I haven’t contacted her since.

I smiled.

—That was never the point.

His expression fell.

Finally, he understood.

Kha Ngon hadn’t destroyed our relationship.

She had merely exposed what was already wrong with it.

He had repeatedly chosen her feelings over my boundaries because he believed my love had no limit.

Before leaving, he asked one final question.

—If I had stayed that night, would we still be together?

I thought about it.

—Maybe.

His eyes reddened.

—Then one night destroyed everything.

—No.

I shook my head.

—That night simply made me stop pretending all the previous ones didn’t matter.

He lowered his head.

We never tried again.

Years later, at an industry conference, I saw him across the ballroom.

He was speaking with several executives.

Our eyes met.

He nodded.

I nodded back.

Nothing hurt.

Nothing pulled me toward him.

And that was when I knew I had truly moved on.

Once, I had worked at the bottom of his company because being near him seemed more important than becoming myself.

I tolerated an assistant spilling wine on me.

I tolerated her using things that had once belonged only to us.

I tolerated my boyfriend running to comfort her because he believed I’d still be waiting when he returned.

But the night I told Co Vong Nien not to come back, he made his choice.

The next morning, I finally made mine.

I didn’t steal his company.

I didn’t destroy his career.

I didn’t need revenge on Tham Kha Ngon.

I simply returned to my own family, took control of my own future, and stopped building my life around a man who thought my patience could never run out.

Co Vong Nien once believed the worst thing that could happen was making me angry.

He was wrong.

Anger would have meant I still wanted him to fix things.

What he should have feared was the moment I stopped being angry at all.

Because that was the moment I stopped waiting.

And once I walked away…

I never looked back.