I got drunk at a reunion with some old coworkers. One of them ended up calling my broke ex-husband. Figures. I was squatting by the curb when a black Bentley pulled up right in front of me. My eyes followed a pair of expensive black dress shoes up a pair of long legs in perfectly tailored slacks. Sharp jawline, neat, no-nonsense haircut. This CEO type looked uncannily like my ex – the nerdy programmer with the awkward haircut and glasses. Liam. I scrambled up and practically threw myself into his arms. 1. A hangover headache is bad enough, but what’s worse is dreaming about that guy last night. Six months after the divorce, I quit my old job. Today, I had an interview at a major tech company, determined to start fresh. Gotta shower, do my makeup, can’t be late. The interview went smoothly. I nailed every question they threw at me. Just as we were wrapping up, a man pushed the door open. Everyone stood up, calling him "Mr. Johnson." I looked up. Wasn't that the guy from my dream last night? Liam Johnson, the dork, was a CEO now? So, last night wasn't a dream? Ha. Looks like he really landed on his feet after I left. Liam’s long fingers casually flipped through the resumes. Each page turn felt like a pluck at my heartstrings. When the hiring manager finally got to introducing me, Liam raised a hand, interrupting him. He pulled my resume from the folder, crumpled it into a ball right there in front of everyone, and tossed it into the nearby trash can. I bit back my anger, glaring daggers at him. Then again, I couldn’t totally blame him. Six months ago, I’d basically thrown him out the same way. After the interview, fuming, I dialed his number. "Park across the street. Now." I hung up and stormed over to the park. When I saw Liam strolling leisurely towards me, I confronted him. "Your startup took off? Why didn't you tell me?" He looked at me like I'd asked the stupidest question imaginable. "Isn't this exactly what you wanted?" he sneered. "Who was it, on the day we signed the divorce papers, who said, 'Please get out of my life forever'?" He had me there. I couldn't say a word. Those were my exact words. But how could he understand the desperation of a woman supporting a man for four years with zero prospects in sight? I wasn't signing up for sainthood. Seeing me speechless, Liam let out a cold laugh and turned to leave. "Who was it that promised to give me a good life, promised I'd never have to struggle?" Desperate for this job, I took a gamble, betting on some lingering shred of feeling he might still have for me. He stopped. Stood there for a long moment without moving. Finally, he turned back. "Come to my office." I knew right then, I'd won the bet. 2 "Maya, if you want this job, sign this NDA." Liam had his assistant fish my crumpled resume out of the trash and take it to HR. Looking at the Non-Disclosure Agreement, I had to laugh. Afraid our past relationship getting out would embarrass him in front of the company, huh? Fine by me. Sign it is, as long as I get the job. After signing, I stood up to leave. "And change my contact name in your phone," Liam added. Me: "..." First day on the job, and there's this guy practically insisting on carrying my bag. He was another newbie hired from the same interview batch, name's Ryan Miller. Cute enough, kind of clean-cut, but his personality didn't quite match – way too friendly, too fast. Today was mostly grunt work. The supervisor had us newbies setting up a conference room for an afternoon magazine interview with the boss. After a busy morning, we finally got it ready. Liam sat on the sofa, doing the interview. We stood off to the side, observing and ready to help if needed. "Mr. Johnson, what was the biggest challenge you faced on your entrepreneurial journey?" the interviewer asked. Liam thought for a moment. "The disappointment and lack of faith from someone I loved most," he replied, his eyes drifting unconsciously towards me. A chill went down my spine. I quickly looked away. "And what kept you going, ultimately leading to your success?" the interviewer pressed. Liam gave a small, mocking laugh. "Still, her disappointment. It made me determined to push through." I could feel his eyes fixed on me, hard. I didn't dare look back. Suddenly, Ryan touched my cheek. I jumped, grabbing his hand. "What are you doing?" He grinned. "You just had a little smudge," he said, then kept trying to rub my face. Annoyed, I pushed his hand away. "Hey, you! Come over here and help the boss with his tie," the supervisor suddenly pointed at me. I glanced at Liam, whose face had darkened. This was weird. I walked over and took the tie he was fiddling with. "Hurry up and fix it for him! What are you waiting for? You should thank Mr. Johnson for giving you the chance," the supervisor urged beside me, full-on brown-nosing mode. I shot the supervisor a look. Seriously? I help him with his tie, and I have to thank him? Ugh. Liam used to rub my feet all the time; by that logic, I should probably thank his entire family tree. Reluctantly, I straightened his tie. Liam grabbed my hand, his voice low, lips barely moving. "First day, and already scouting for guys? That kid's not your type, Maya. Broke." I gave the tie a sharp tug, tightening it just enough to shut him up. "Mr. Johnson," I whispered back, "watch yourself. Remember the NDA." Liam looked thoroughly pissed off, but with people around, he couldn’t say much more. He just loosened his tie himself. After the interview, everyone else bowed slightly or nodded respectfully as he left. I just stood there awkwardly. Liam glanced at me as he passed. The brown-nosing supervisor pointed. "Hey, you! Didn't your team lead tell you? You show respect when Mr. Johnson passes." "She's never bowed her head to me before," Liam muttered under his breath, almost to himself. "Sorry, Mr. Johnson? What was that?" The supervisor clearly hadn't heard. But I had. Me, bow my head to him? Not in this lifetime. 3 Liam always attended the Monday team meetings. "No idea what's up with Mr. Johnson lately," Sarah, a colleague from my team, grumbled. "He comes to our team meeting every single week now." "Is it because our department is particularly important to the company?" I asked her. "Important? Nah," Sarah scoffed. "Maybe he's got his eye on someone in our department." "No way," I denied instantly, a little spooked. "Well, obviously not you," Ashley, our department's resident queen bee, chimed in from the side. "Divorced, not exactly young anymore. Why would Mr. Johnson be interested in you? Me, on the other hand..." Seriously? What's wrong with being divorced? "I wouldn't be interested in him either," I retorted irritably. Just as the words left my mouth, everyone went silent, staring at something behind me. A familiar figure walked past, heading straight into the conference room. His face looked grim. Just my luck, he heard that. "Meeting time," Sarah said awkwardly, breaking the silence. I picked a seat as far away from Liam as possible. I didn't dare look up at him the entire meeting. Finally, it ended. Everyone started chatting about the department's weekend activity: a two-day, one-night camping trip. Sarah mentioned that the CEO rarely joined these things, but we should invite him out of courtesy anyway. This time, Liam actually accepted the courteous invitation. We set off early and didn't reach the countryside spot until noon. It was a nice rustic lodge setup, with a lawn outside perfect for grilling later and pitching tents for camping. That evening, everyone set up the grills and picnic tables. With the boss present, things felt a bit more restrained than usual. Ryan, however, was as forward as ever, hovering around me the whole time, grilling food for me, putting stuff on my plate, and planting himself right next to me. "No need to move, I'll just sit here," Liam announced, plopping down on my other side. I looked at Ryan on my left and Liam on my right. My head started to ache. Could this get any more awkward? Ryan added a garlic parmesan wing to my plate. I sighed. I honestly hadn’t realized a woman pushing thirty could still attract this kind of attention. No clue what Ryan saw in me. "She doesn't like garlic. I'll take this wing," Liam said casually, spearing the chicken wing off my plate with his fork. Ryan looked surprised. "Boss, how'd you know?" "She just said so herself, didn't you hear?" Liam replied smoothly. For a second, I almost believed him myself. Afraid of getting caught, I quickly told Ryan, "Yeah, I mentioned it earlier, maybe you didn't catch it." Just then, Liam brought over a plate of fried chicken and placed it in front of me. "Eat up," he murmured. "Your favorite." I stared at the chicken. Yeah, it really was my favorite. More accurately, our favorite. Back in the day, whenever Liam wanted me to stay up late watching the game with him, he'd tempt me with fried chicken from this specific spot. He’d always let me eat first, then finish whatever I left. Thinking about the old Liam, the one I used to boss around, made me smile a little. "Maya, what are you smiling about?" Ryan nudged me, pulling me back to reality. "Nothing. You eat too." I didn't dare look at Liam beside me, just kept my head down and ate the chicken. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something dark moving near the table leg. I focused. A huge spider. "Ah! Spider!" I shrieked. Spiders are my ultimate phobia. The next second, my feet were off the ground. I was swept up into someone's arms and carried about ten feet away from the table. This was a rule I'd made for Liam years ago: if he saw a spider, he had to get my feet off the ground immediately, carry me away, put me down somewhere safe, and then go deal with it. "You remembered." Being held like this by Liam, I actually felt a flicker of warmth. I couldn't believe he still remembered my silly rules. Liam seemed surprised by his own actions. He quickly put me down, muttering, "You trained me well. Reflex action." Only then did we both realize the entire department was staring at us, dumbfounded. "Ahem, I'm scared of spiders too," Liam explained awkwardly. "Just brought her over here with me." I immediately played along, thanking him profusely. Amazingly, people seemed to buy the lame excuse. Probably because they couldn't imagine their handsome CEO having any unprofessional interest in someone like me. After all that commotion, I lost my appetite.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "392445", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel