The Night His Company Went Public

The night Liam’s company went public, he vanished. I called him all night, but couldn't reach him. The next morning, news of the hotshot CEO spending the night at a hotel with a mystery woman was plastered everywhere. I didn't cry. I didn't make a scene. I packed my bags and left New York. Two months later, he finally called me. "Aria," he said, his voice thick, "my head is splitting. I want that hangover tea you make." Instead, a cold, unfamiliar male voice answered from my end of the line: "Mr. Sullivan, please don't wake my wife. If you need hangover tea, call your secretary." 1 At the IPO celebration party, a group of executives' wives surrounded me, practically dripping with flattery. "Aria, you really played the long game. You locked down a blue-chip stock like Liam Sullivan back in high school!" "Everyone in our circle knows Mr. Sullivan only has eyes for you. You’re about to officially become Mrs. Sullivan!" "But Aria, you should really secure some shares while he's still madly in love with you. Otherwise, if you end up with nothing, you’ll be the one crying." The moment those last words left her mouth, the circle went dead silent. No one dared to speak. I tightened my grip on my clutch and looked at the woman who had spoken—Mrs. Hayes. Everyone in our circle knew her story. She and her husband, Robert Hayes, were childhood sweethearts. They got married right after college. Less than six months later, Robert’s affairs were common knowledge. Their "fairytale romance" became a running joke. She cried, she fought. At first, Robert dialed it back a little. But eventually, he got annoyed, got bored, and stopped giving her even a shred of respect in public. Mrs. Hayes’s cynical gaze drifted to a spot across the room. I followed her eyes. Liam stood tall and striking amidst the crowd, a champagne flute in his hand, quietly listening to the woman beside him. I couldn't hear what she said, but Liam smiled silently, his eyes softening instantly. I knew that woman better than anyone. It was Chloe, his secretary for the past three years. She wore a simple, elegant white evening gown, standing gracefully by Liam's side. They weren't doing anything overtly physical, but they looked like a couple deeply in love, enclosed in a bubble no one else could pop. If I wasn't Liam's girlfriend, I would have looked at them and thought they were the picture-perfect couple. Chloe caught me staring. Her eyes flashed with contempt, and a mocking smirk played on her lips. She turned her back to me to say something to Liam. Liam looked over her shoulder, his gaze meeting mine. His eyes were completely blank, as if I were just an irrelevant stranger. It was that single look that made me finally realize: Liam didn't love me anymore. 2 I had planned to break up with Liam after the party. When I walked out of the restroom, the crowd had thinned out, but Liam was nowhere to be found. I called him; no answer. I sent him texts; they stayed on "Delivered." I remembered the gossip I’d overheard in the restroom stalls just moments before. "Did Liam and Aria break up?" "Not yet, but I bet it's coming. Didn't you see? Chloe said it was getting late and she was scared to go home alone, and Liam immediately offered to drive her." It was 11:30 PM. The streets outside the venue were empty. I gave a self-deprecating laugh and hailed a cab home. The apartment was dark and painfully quiet. He hadn't come home. A sudden, crushing wave of exhaustion hit me. I stumbled into the living room, collapsed onto the sofa, and fell into a deep sleep. In my hazy, feverish sleep, I dreamed of eighteen-year-old Liam. He was napping on his desk by the window, while I was desperately trying to solve the last question on a brutal AP Calculus practice test. The sunlight was blinding, making it hard to see the numbers. I frowned. Suddenly, the harsh light vanished. After I finished the problem, I rubbed my eyes and looked up. A pair of long, articulate fingers was holding a textbook, shielding my eyes from the sun. I stared blankly as he shook out his numb arm, then waved his hand in front of my face. His eyes were dancing with amusement, his tone teasing: "Aria, are you mesmerized by me?" Then the dream shifted to the day after graduation. He blocked my path, the tips of his ears bright red, trying desperately to look cool. "Aria, I like you. If you become my girlfriend, I'll be good to you for the rest of my life. I won't let anyone bully you." I had asked him, What if you're the one who bullies me? I still remember how his expression turned deadly serious. "I will never bully you, Aria. If that day ever comes, you just walk away from me. That would be the cruelest punishment you could ever give me." Through the haze, I heard my phone ringing. I picked it up and heard that familiar voice say my name. "Aria." Without a second thought, I spoke into the receiver. "Liam, you bullied me. I don't want you anymore." Without waiting for a response, I tossed the phone aside and fell back asleep. 3 The next morning, I was woken up by a phone call. The moment I answered, my best friend's furious voice blasted through the speaker: "Did Liam not come home last night?!" I froze. Instinctively, I reached out to the other side of the bed. Nothing. The cold sheets sent a chill straight to my heart. "What's wrong?" I asked, my voice incredibly raspy and exhausted from sleeping too long. My friend paused, then asked carefully, "Have you seen the news?" I knew instantly that something had happened, something involving Liam. I murmured a few reassurances to her, hung up, and opened my news app. Videos and photos of "Hotshot CEO Liam Sullivan Spending the Night with Mystery Woman at Luxury Hotel" were everywhere. In the video, Liam's black suit jacket was draped over the woman's shoulders. She was tucked into his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist. You couldn't hear what they were saying, but you could see Liam bend down, scoop her into his arms, and carry her straight into the hotel lobby. The next clip showed them walking out of the hotel this morning at 8:00 AM, one after the other, both wearing different clothes. I clenched my fists so tightly my nails dug into my palms, but I couldn't feel the pain. The sound of the electronic keypad chimed from the front door. I looked up as Liam walked in. He took off his jacket, loosened his tie, and finally looked at me. "Aria, about last night... something came up at the last minute..." Before he could finish, I tossed my phone onto the coffee table in front of him. It stopped him dead in his tracks. The screen displayed the photo of him carrying Chloe bridal-style. He pinched the bridge of his nose, handed the phone back to me, and gave an exhausted explanation: "She drank too much last night. She couldn't get home by herself. I'd had a few drinks too, so I couldn't drive her. I just got her a room at the hotel." "When I dropped her off in the room, she grabbed my arm and started crying about how hard the last three years have been for us at the company. I listened to her until I fell asleep. Believe it or not, absolutely nothing happened between us." Not a single word about her arms wrapped around him. Not a single word about him carrying her. I smiled. "I believe you." Liam looked surprised, raising his eyebrows. The rest of his explanation died in his throat. "I'm glad you believe me. Aria, I'm exhausted. Please don't act like Robert Hayes's wife, crying and throwing tantrums." I stood up, walked over to him, and locked my eyes on the faint lipstick smudge on his shirt collar. My smile was freezing. "Liam, if you don't want me to act like Mrs. Hayes, then let's break up." 4 Liam frowned, his jaw tightening. He stared at me intently, then suddenly let out a sharp laugh. "Aria, the company just went public. There's going to be a lot of this kind of baseless tabloid gossip from now on. Are you going to threaten me with a breakup every time?" Even though I knew he was no longer the eighteen-year-old Liam, my heart still seized with a dense, suffocating pain. I let out a soft laugh. "Is it a threat? Let's find out." "Don't worry. After we break up, I'll be the perfect ex. Unless the universe has a sick sense of humor, we probably won't ever see each other again." Without waiting for his reaction, I walked away and started packing my bags. I only packed the absolute essentials. I didn't need anything else. I thought about leaving the rest, but knowing he might twist that into me "playing hard to get" and planning to come back, I bagged everything else up and threw it in the trash chute. Liam had left the apartment again while I was packing. I left a note on the counter: We bought this apartment together. Please calculate my half of the equity and wire the cash to my account. Keep the apartment. After handling everything, I booked a red-eye flight to Chicago. Chicago was my hometown. After graduation, Liam wanted to move to New York to start his company. He asked if I would go with him, and I agreed without hesitation. My only attachment to New York was Liam. Now that we were done, there was no reason to stay. 5 When I got home, my parents saw me standing there with my luggage. They didn't ask a single question. They just took me to get my favorite deep-dish pizza, which I hadn't had in ages. Nothing at home had changed. My childhood bedroom looked exactly as I had left it three years ago. It was as if time had reversed, and my mind and body were enveloped in a long-lost warmth. When my older brother, Ethan, heard I was back, he drove back from his office in the suburbs without a word. He got in at 2:00 AM, saw I was already fast asleep, and didn't wake me. The next day, he mentioned he had a get-together with some old friends that evening. When they heard I was back in town, they all insisted he bring me along. I thought about it. I knew most of his friends, some of them quite well, so I agreed. When they saw me, the teasing started immediately. "Look at our little sister! She grew up! You get prettier every year, Aria." "Don't go back to New York this time! Chicago's great. You've got all your big brothers here to protect you, nobody would dare mess with you." "Exactly! I'll set you up with a great guy next week, I promise he'll... Ow! Who kicked me?!" He looked around, but no one answered. They were all trying to hold back laughter. Everyone except Julian. Julian looked past the guy and stared at me. His beautiful eyes were swirling with dark, unreadable emotions. Ethan cleared his throat loudly next to him. Only then did Julian seem to snap back to reality. "Aria," he said, his voice crisp but carrying a faint, husky edge, "welcome home." It felt like a feather lightly brushing against my heart, sending a shiver down my spine. I could feel my cheeks burning, completely out of my control. After a few rounds of drinks, I felt a bit bolder. I leaned over to Ethan and whispered, "Why does Julian look like a heartbreaker out of a movie now?" Ethan shot Julian a glare and snorted. "He's a peacock strutting his feathers. Be careful, don't let him seduce you." Slightly tipsy, I looked over at Julian. He was wearing a simple, crisp white button-down. Under the cool, fluorescent lights of the bar, his handsome face looked almost aristocratic in its calm indifference. His long, elegant fingers rested against a white porcelain glass. His gaze, seemingly devoid of emotion, kept drifting over to me, stirring up an inexplicable feeling in my chest. Snapping back to reality, I patted my cheeks, trying to sober up. Towards the end of the night, Ethan's phone rang. There was an emergency at his precinct, and he had to go help out. Before leaving, he tossed me his car keys and told me to drive myself home. I told him to take the car; I could easily grab an Uber. Just as he was about to argue, Julian suddenly spoke up. "I can drive Aria home." I looked up at him in surprise. The strange part was, Ethan didn't immediately agree. Instead, he frowned and stared at Julian. The two men locked eyes in silence for about ten solid seconds. Finally, Ethan looked away, grabbed his keys, and told me to text him when I got home. 6 Julian drove me home. It hadn't been as obvious when we were with a group, but now that it was just the two of us in the confined space of his car, I felt completely enveloped by his scent. My throat suddenly felt dry. As we approached the entrance to my subdivision, I suddenly blurted out: "Julian, do you like me?" He didn't say anything. He just looked down at me, his gaze incredibly intense. His dark eyes made absolutely no effort to hide the burning desire in them. My heart started racing. I was frantically trying to think of how to explain away my lack of filter. He had already parked the car. He unbuckled his seatbelt, looked down at me, and said: "Yes. I like you." The darkness inside and outside the car gave me a surreal feeling of escaping reality. Or maybe it was the scent of cedarwood on him that relaxed me, combined with the alcohol going to my head. By the time I realized what was happening, we were kissing. Our heavy breathing mixed together; I couldn't tell whose was whose. My head was spinning from the kiss. I let out a breathless "Mhm," trying to end this blushing, heart-racing moment. Instead, his hand firmly cupped the back of my head. The sound of our breathing and heartbeats grew louder in the dark, eroding my sanity. The last string of logic in my brain snapped. "Julian," I whispered, "let's go to your place." He buried his face in the crook of my neck, breathing hard, trying to calm himself down like an inexperienced kid. After a moment, his voice came out hoarse and dark. "Aria, you still have time to regret this." My brain short-circuited, and I blurted out: "Whoever regrets it is a dog." Hearing that, he suddenly laughed. A low, rumbling chuckle erupted from his throat, sending vibrations that made my ears tingle. I pushed him slightly. "Hey, how long are you going to keep laughing?" He lifted his head, looked right at me, and let out two soft "Woofs." I instantly understood what he meant. In a split second, my face burned bright red. 7 For the next few days, I actively avoided seeing Julian. I remembered what he said when he dropped me off that night: he didn't want me to regret a moment of impulse. He said he would give me time, but not much, because he had already waited ten years. Even though we didn't see each other those few days, he was a constant presence. He called every morning and night to check in. If he found a good restaurant, he'd order delivery for me. If they didn't deliver, he'd hire a courier to bring it. He knew I loved roses, so every day, a different variety arrived at my door. When Ethan found out about him, he was silent for a long time. Then he told me: Julian had liked me since I was in high school. But Ethan was afraid of distracting me from my studies, so he told Julian he had to wait until after I graduated to confess. But right after graduation, I brought Liam to meet them. Julian hadn't had a single girlfriend in those ten years. Ethan thought he was waiting for me, but whenever he asked, Julian just said he wasn't intentionally waiting, he just hadn't met anyone who made his heart skip a beat. Ethan said that when someone harbors a secret crush for that long, once they finally get what they want, the thought of losing it is unbearable. He told me not to hurt him. If I didn't love him, I needed to make it clear. Ethan didn't need to tell me. I knew Julian was different from Liam. He spoke less and did more. His love was deep and restrained. If we were going to be together, I wanted him to have all of me—heart and soul. 8 Two days later, I was arranging the blue roses Julian had sent me. I received a call from a friend in New York. "Aria, you've been home for a while now. When are you coming back to the city?" I felt a bit suspicious. This guy was one of Liam's buddies. We had never communicated privately. Still, I answered politely. "I probably won't be coming back. Is there something you need?" "Oh, no, nothing specific. It's just that Liam's been showing up to our hangouts alone lately. We haven't seen you in a long time, we miss you." My suspicion grew. Did he hear that Liam and I broke up and decided he wanted to hit on me? With that thought, my tone instantly went ice cold. "Liam and I are broken up. We have no reason to stay in touch. Please don't contact me again." In a private club in New York, Liam heard that familiar voice on the other end of the line. It was a stark contrast to the cold, distant tone she had used with him recently. He suddenly remembered that Aria used to be like that before they got together. They had been together so long he had forgotten that, at her core, Aria was decisive and fiercely independent. His friends watched his face carefully. "Liam, just call Aria yourself. She loves you so much, she'd definitely be thrilled to hear from you." Liam slammed his drink down and growled, "All I did was take Chloe to a hotel because she was drunk, and she runs away from home for weeks! Chloe is my secretary, we're going to have a lot of opportunities to be alone together in the future. If she throws a tantrum every single time, who could stand it?" "If she wants to break up, fine. Let's see who breaks first." He stood up, his face dark, and slammed the door as he left. His friends were left staring at each other. After a long moment, someone sighed. They all saw the helplessness in each other's eyes. 9 When Julian called, I was drawing my webcomic. I've loved drawing since I was a kid. My parents even enrolled me in art classes—watercolors, oils, sketching, I learned it all. But my absolute favorite was drawing comics. After college, I didn't look for a corporate job. I drew comics full-time. I had been serializing the story of my long-term relationship with Liam, and I even had a contract with a publisher. Since breaking up with Liam, I hadn't updated it in a long time. My fans were constantly messaging me, asking for new chapters. Every story has to have a beginning and an end. Regardless of the outcome, I owed my fans a proper conclusion. "Aria, let's go get some deep-dish pizza." After a long day of working, my eyes lit up at the mention of pizza. But the thought of seeing him alone made me a bit nervous. It was as if he could hear my thoughts. He added, "No relationship talk today. Just dinner." "That pizza place... it's the one I took you and your brother to when you were in high school. It's an absolute classic, you'll definitely love it." Hearing him say that, my mouth started watering. "Okay, let's do pizza." "I'll come pick you up." "Okay." The moment I saw Julian, my anxiety vanished. He was leaning against the car door, hands in his pockets. In the sunlight, his crisp white shirt looked pristine. The man looked as refreshing and pure as a glass of ice water. The pizza place was packed. He had me sit at a table, brought me a glass of iced tea, and went to stand in line to order. Thanks to his striking looks and athletic build, he caught the attention of many young women who kept glancing his way. A few brave ones even went over to ask for his Instagram. He pointed in my direction. I don't know what he said to them, but I saw the girls look at me, lower their heads, and scurry away. When he came back, I couldn't wait to ask him what he'd said. He casually handed me a slice and said, "I told them I have a girlfriend. I said she's very strict and doesn't allow me to give my Instagram to other women, otherwise she won't let me eat." I watched his effortless movements, listening to his loaded words. My heart felt like a calm lake that had just been hit by a boulder, sending ripples out, one after another.

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