A year ago, he threw out a casual, "I don't think we're a good fit," and walked away without looking back. There were two coffees on the table. He hadn't touched his. He left me the bill. A year later, he was standing at my office door. His face was ghost-white. His hands were shaking. "Ms.... Ms. Miller?" I looked at him and smiled. "Come in. And close the door." Chapter 1 The story has to start with a blind date a year ago. My mom had been nagging me on the phone for three months straight. "You're twenty-seven, Chloe! If you don't start dating seriously now, all the good ones will be taken!" "Mom, I'm busy with work—" "Busy, busy, busy. You'll know what 'busy' really means when you're thirty and dying alone!" I couldn't win against her. So, I went. His name was Brad Hudson, twenty-eight, a sales supervisor at a tech firm. My mom’s exact words were: "He’s a top-tier university grad, makes over six figures, and he’s sharp-looking. Put your best foot forward." I arrived five minutes early. Ordered two coffees and sat waiting. I waited ten minutes. Twenty minutes. Forty minutes. Just as I was about to get up and leave, he walked in. Suit, dress shoes, a Longines watch on his wrist. He scanned the restaurant upon entering, then spotted me. I noticed his expression. It was brief, maybe half a second. But I saw it clearly. Disappointment. That "you don't look like your profile picture" kind of disappointment. Actually, the photo was me. Five-foot-two, slightly chubby, wearing glasses, average skin. But on dating apps, who doesn’t touch up their photos a bit? He obviously felt I had touched mine up too much. He sat down, offering no apology for being late. "Are you Chloe Miller?" "Yes, hi." "Hmm." He picked up the menu, flipped through it twice, then put it back down. "What do you do?" "Project management." "Which company?" "A tech firm, Nexus Digital." He thought about it. "Never heard of it. Big company?" "It's alright." "What's your salary?" I paused, stunned. Seriously? This direct? "It's enough to get by." "I mean a specific number." He leaned back in his chair. "Don't mind me, I just want to understand the situation. We're both adults; discussing terms is normal." "A little over fifty thousand." I was talking about my base salary. I didn't count bonuses, project dividends, and stock options. But he didn't need to know that. "A little over fifty..." He nodded, a look I was all too familiar with. That’s it? "Education?" "Bachelor's." "Where from?" "State University." "Just a state school?" "Yes." He nodded again. A silence stretched for about five seconds. Then his phone rang. He picked up. "Hey? Oh, right. Okay, I'm on my way." He hung up, looking at me. "Sorry, some urgent business came up at the office." He stood up. "I don't think we're a very good fit. Don't take it personally." He grabbed his car keys off the table. "You can have the coffee. I didn't touch mine." And then he left. From the time he sat down to the time he left was a total of eight minutes. I sat there, watching his back disappear through the doorway. Two coffees on the table. The bill was twelve dollars. He didn't pay. I called the waiter over. "Check, please." Walking out of the coffee shop, I wasn't actually that sad. It was a setup; it's normal not to click. But one thing happened that made me truly angry. It was three days later. My mom called me. Her voice was trembling. "Chloe... that guy you met... did you offend him somehow?" "What's wrong?" "Aunt Sarah sent me a screenshot..." My mom forwarded the screenshot to me. It was an iMessage group chat. The group was named "The Boys' Night Out." Brad had posted a photo. It was my photo. A sneaky picture he took the moment he walked in, while I was sitting in the coffee shop waiting for him. Below the photo was a paragraph of text: "Look at who my mom set me up with, I'm dying laughing. Barely five-foot-two, fat, wearing glasses like a high schooler, state school grad, making fifty grand. With these conditions, she still comes out on dates? I sat for eight minutes and ran, Hahahahaha." A row of replies followed: "Hahahahaha, your mom really isn't picky." "Bro, you suffered." "If this photo gets out, she won't come looking for you, will she?" "What's there to be afraid of? She doesn't know us." I stared at the screen. My fingers went cold. Not out of sadness. But out of rage. He could dislike me. But he had no right to take my photo to amuse a bunch of guys. My mom was crying on the other end of the phone. "Chloe, Mom is so sorry, I shouldn't have made you go..." "Mom, it's fine." My voice was flat. "What was his name again? Brad? Brad what?" "Brad Hudson..." "Which company?" "He said something called... Apex or something..." "Got it." I hung up the phone. I opened my laptop and searched for "Brad Hudson." He was on LinkedIn. Apex Technology, Midwest Regional Sales Supervisor. I searched for Apex Technology. I saw a piece of information. And smiled. Apex Technology is a subsidiary under the Sterling Group umbrella. And Sterling Group’s fully-owned technology subsidiary is called Nexus Digital. The exact "never heard of it" little company I worked for. I shut down my laptop. No rush. We will meet eventually. Chapter 2 A year later. I stood at the entrance of Apex Technology's Midwest branch. My reflection showed on the glass doors. Still five-foot-two. But I’d lost fifteen pounds. Contacts replaced the glasses. My hair was cut short, just reaching my shoulders. I was wearing a black blazer over a crisp white shirt. Carrying a laptop bag in my hand. My corporate badge read: Sterling Group · Project Management Department · Director · Chloe Miller. A year ago, Brad Hudson asked me my salary, and I said a little over fifty thousand. That was the base salary. Adding bonuses, project dividends, and year-end payouts, I took home nearly two hundred thousand last year. Earlier this year, the corporate group underwent an organizational restructuring. I was promoted to Director of Project Management, responsible for overseeing project operations for all subsidiaries in the Midwest region. Including Apex Technology. The transfer order came down last month. Signed personally by the Group VP. "Several Midwest subsidiaries have anomalies in their business data. Go investigate. Clean house if you need to, replace people if you need to." I said okay. Then I looked at Apex Technology's Midwest branch employee roster. Sales Team 2 Supervisor: Brad Hudson. I stared at the computer screen for three seconds. Then I closed it and moved on to the next file. No rush. See you on Monday. Monday morning, 9:00 AM. Apex Technology Midwest branch, third-floor conference room. The Regional Director, Gary Vance, led me in. He was in his early fifties, with a beer belly and a loud, booming voice. "Everyone, let me introduce someone. This is Ms. Chloe Miller sent from corporate headquarters. She will be responsible for our project management and operational oversight here in the Midwest from now on." He glanced at me, a look I was all too familiar with. Skepticism. What could a twenty-eight-year-old girl manage? I didn't care. "Everyone cooperate fully with Ms. Miller. If you need anything, just speak up." Gary finished and smiled at me. "Ms. Miller, want to say a few words to everyone?" I stood up, scanning the conference room. Over twenty people. When my gaze swept to the third row by the window, it paused for a moment. Brad Hudson. He was also looking at me. But he obviously hadn’t recognized me yet. A year apart, I had changed quite a bit. He, on the other hand, hadn't changed much at all. Still that arrogant, confident look, dressed sharply in a suit, that Longines watch still on his wrist. "Hi everyone, I'm Chloe Miller." My voice wasn't loud, but the conference room was dead silent. "For the next little while, I will be based here in the Midwest, primarily responsible for analyzing and optimizing project operations. I look forward to your cooperation." Brief. I don't like wasting words. After the meeting adjourned, Brad walked right past me. He took an extra look at me. Walked two steps, then turned his head to look again. I didn’t look at him. He probably felt I looked a bit familiar. But he couldn't remember where he’d seen me. It didn't matter. He would remember. In the afternoon. I was in my office organizing the project reports for the Midwest from the last six months. There was a knock on the door. "Ms. Miller, I'm Brad Hudson from Sales Team 2." He pushed the door open and entered, wearing a standard corporate smile. "Mr. Vance asked me to come coordinate Team 2's business data with you." He placed the file on my desk. I took it, flipping through two pages. "Sit." He sat down. I continued looking at the file, not speaking. He waited for a while. "Ms. Miller, you look... quite familiar." I flipped a page. "Oh?" "Have we met somewhere before?" I lifted my head, looking at him. He studied me carefully for a few seconds. Then his expression changed. From "social curiosity" to "I might have seen her somewhere." Then to "She looks a bit like—" And finally froze on "No way." "You..." His voice got stuck in his throat. "Are you..." "Supervisor Hudson, the Q3 collections data in this report doesn't match the system." I lowered my head, pointing at a number on the document. "Verify this for me." He was stunned for two seconds. "O... Okay." He stood up, taking the document. When he reached the door, he looked back at me. I didn’t lift my head. He went out. The door closed. I heard him standing in the hallway for a long time. Before his footsteps finally walked away. Chapter 3 That night. I guessed Brad was definitely scrolling through his phone. Scrolling through his blind date history from a year ago. Scrolling through the chat logs in "The Boys' Night Out" group. Scrolling to that photo he secretly took of me. And then comparing it to the person sitting in the director's office today. Sure enough. First thing the next morning, he came to find me. His face didn't look good. "Ms. Miller..." He stood at the door, hesitating. "Are you... last year... did we..." "What?" I looked at him. He swallowed hard. "Nothing, I verified the report. The data was entered incorrectly. I've already fixed it." He put the file down and almost fled from the room. I watched his retreating back. Exactly the same as a year ago. Never looking back. Except a year ago, he walked away in disgust. Today, he ran away in fear. After Brad recognized me, his attitude completely shifted. He became exceptionally attentive. Every morning, he was the first in the office, brewing tea for me. At noon, he proactively asked if I wanted him to pick up lunch for me. When reporting his work, he was deferential and respectful. But I noticed something else. While he was being attentive to me, he was doing something else too. For example—getting much closer to Gary Vance. On my third day at Apex, Brad took Gary out for a fancy dinner. I knew, because the next day Gary said something to me. "Ms. Miller, Brad is a good kid. Very capable. He's our sales benchmark in the Midwest. If you have any questions looking at the data, don't jump to conclusions. You can always ask me first." I smiled. "Understood, Mr. Vance." He still didn't know why I was really here. During the first week, I didn't make any big moves. I just looked at data. Reviewing it file by file. Apex Technology Midwest branch: four sales teams, totaling over forty people. The first thing I looked at was Brad's Sales Team 2. Not because of a personal grudge. But because Team 2's data was indeed the "prettiest." Ranked number one in performance for three consecutive quarters. Brad personally held the title of top sales rep for two years running. It was too pretty. Pretty to the point of being abnormal. I pulled up Team 2's client ledgers for the past year and reviewed them one by one. I saw some very interesting things. There was a girl on Team 2 named Mia Jenkins. She’d been here two years, and her performance was always at the bottom. But three clients she followed up on last year were all "transferred" to Brad right before the contracts were signed. The system record showed: "Client proactively requested a change of representative." Three clients, all with the exact same reason. Too coincidental. I checked others. Another Team 2 member, Tom Weaver, a veteran who had been here for five years and had a lot of legacy clients. Last year, eight of his legacy clients renewed their contracts. For three of those renewals, the "Sales Representative" on the contract had changed to Brad Hudson. Notes: Resource consolidation. I flipped through Brad's performance evaluation forms. Gary Vance's signature was on them. "Brad Hudson exhibits outstanding business capabilities and excels at resource consolidation. He is an exemplary sales representative for the Midwest region." Resource consolidation. What a nice way to phrase it.
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "396452", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel