Chapter 5

I sighed, feeling utterly exhausted. "You don't need to keep emphasizing it. I'm very clear."

Tristan was about to say something when there was a knock—my food delivery had arrived.

I stopped talking and opened the package to start eating.

Tristan frowned and watched for a while before speaking. "You're eating that?"

"Whatever. Today is our eighth anniversary after all. I won't argue with you. Throw away the takeout and I'll cook for you myself."

I hadn't eaten anything from noon until now. My stomach was starving and I just wanted to fill it quickly. I didn't have time to wait for him to cook.

"This is fine. You don't have to—"

Before I could finish, Tristan reached out to snatch it away. "I said throw it out!"

I instinctively protected it with my hand. In the struggle, the takeout container was knocked to the floor.

The scalding hot soup spilled onto the back of my hand, instantly raising blisters.

Searing pain shot through my hand, and tears involuntarily welled up in my eyes.

Tristan looked somewhat panicked. "I didn't mean to. I'll take you to the hospital right now."

With that, he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door.

I was about to say I could go myself when his phone rang.

The screen clearly displayed "Willow."

"Tristan, someone's knocking on my door. I'm so scared!"

Hearing Willow's panicked voice, Tristan immediately tensed up. "Don't open the door. I'll be right there."

Tristan's eyes swept over me, his expression struggling.

While he was on the phone, I'd already called a ride on the app.

"You go. It's not safe for a young woman to live alone. As her boss, you have a responsibility to protect her safety."

Tristan let out a relieved sigh. "I'm glad you understand. I'll come to the hospital to pick you up once I've taken care of Willow's situation."

By the time I'd gotten my burn treated at the hospital, it was already late at night.

I checked the ride app—no one was accepting orders, and there were no taxis passing by on the road.

I had no choice but to open our chat and message Tristan, asking when he could come get me.

This time he replied unusually quickly. "Right away."

So I sat on the flowerbed by the hospital entrance and waited.

Half an hour passed.

An hour passed.

Still no sign of him.

By now my empty stomach was also protesting. I could only bend over to make myself feel better.

I opened our chat again, wanting to ask Tristan where exactly he was, but accidentally clicked into my feed instead.

Willow had just updated her feed an hour ago.

The photo was pitch black, but you could vaguely make out a man's chiseled jawline.

The caption read: My boss said he was worried about me being home alone tonight and specially stayed to sleep with me. How can there be such a good boss in the world!

I laughed bitterly at myself.

How foolish of me to place my hopes again on someone who'd broken his word countless times.

I moved my finger and liked the post, commenting below. "Boss and assistant—a match made in heaven."

When I refreshed, the post had been deleted.

Willow sent me a message. "Sorry Victoria, I forgot to block you. Tristan is just worried about me so he's sleeping over. Nothing happened between us. Please don't be angry with him."

I'd experienced this kind of manipulation too many times over the years.

She probably thought I'd do what I always did before—immediately call Tristan and have a huge fight with him, demanding he come home right away.

But this time, I just blocked her and continued trying to get a ride.

I no longer cared whether Tristan had done anything with her or not.