When He Finally Cared, I Was Already Gone

My boyfriend, Leo, bailed on my birthday dinner again—this time for his assistant, Chloe.

That same day, I quietly submitted an application for a three-year international secondment.

He happened to see my application form, but just smirked indifferently.

“Trying to get jealous again with these childish tricks? Can you stop being so immature?”

He tore up the application, then acted like he was doing me a huge favor by offering to take wedding photos to “make it right.”

But it was too late.

By the day of the photoshoot, I was already on a plane out of the country.

Apparently, the usually calm and composed Leo went completely berserk, wearing his groom’s suit at the airport, frantically calling out my name over and over.

“Anya, I can’t believe you’d pull such a childish prank. If Sarah from HR hadn’t clued me in, I might’ve actually bought into this.”

“Don’t you get it? People who really want to leave don’t make a big production out of it.”

Leo scoffed, ripping the international secondment application into pieces and tossing it in the trash without a second thought.

I just stayed quiet, feeling this weird sense of calm wash over me.

Tearing it up didn’t matter—the position was already confirmed.

He’d actually signed off on it himself just last night.

But he was probably too busy having dinner with his assistant, Chloe, to even notice.

After all, when he’s with Chloe, she’s the only one who exists.

Sarah meant well, I guess—probably thought she was helping by telling him.

He thought I was using this as some kind of threat, but he couldn’t have been more wrong.

I’d stayed in this city all these years because he wanted me to, passing up countless international opportunities. Now that his heart clearly belonged to someone else, I wasn’t about to just stick around, wasting away beside him anymore.

I was about to say something when there was a knock at the front door.

Leo didn’t even look at me, just turned to answer it.

“Leo.”

Chloe stood in the doorway, smiling sweetly as she greeted him.

Her gaze shifted to me, and her smile got even sweeter: “Oh, Anya’s here too. My mistake—I wouldn’t have come up if I’d known. Don’t want Anya getting the wrong idea again.”

Her tone sounded sincere, but I could still pick up that unmistakable hint of provocation in her words.

Right—in the past, after catching him in inappropriate situations with her, I’d argued with him nonstop. But every time, he’d brush me off and keep doing whatever he wanted.

The worst was when he spent the night at her place. I couldn’t help confronting him, but Leo slapped me, called me delusional, and made me apologize to both of them in front of everyone.

That was the last straw. I finally gave up and stopped caring—but he and Chloe just thought I’d finally learned my lesson, like my previous reactions were just some silly rebellious phase I’d grown out of.

I tuned them out and turned to head back to my room.

But Leo—unusually—stopped me, his voice lower: “Chloe’s parents are visiting in a few days. She’s worried her apartment’s too small and might make them anxious, so I’m helping her fix it up.”

“You know how these young girls are—they can’t really handle things on their own. I just try to help out when I can.”

I was a little taken aback.

It hit me then, a little late, that Leo was actually explaining himself to me.

He never used to do that. Back then, I’d have to badger him for answers, only to get eye rolls and attitude in return.

But now? I couldn’t care less what they did.

“Oh,” I said with a shrug.

I almost told him to be careful, but figured he wouldn’t appreciate the advice, so I bit back the words.

“Anya, why don’t you come with us? That way you won’t have to worry,” Chloe suggested, her voice dripping with sweetness.

I looked at her sugary smile and knew she was doing it on purpose.

She’d pulled this move before, and every time it just made Leo more annoyed with me.

Even though I didn’t give a damn what Leo thought anymore, I was leaving soon and didn’t feel like dealing with the drama.

I was about to say no when, surprisingly, Leo hesitated for a second and then nodded.

Chloe’s smile faltered for a split second before she fixed it back in place.

Leo said, “Yeah, that works. You can help carry stuff—we’re getting so much, Chloe can’t handle it alone.”

I couldn’t help but find it funny—the predictable “of course” moment playing out in my head.

“No thanks. I’ve got plans. You two go ahead,” I replied flatly, no emotion in my voice.

Leo didn’t care. He gave me a dismissive look, muttered, “Offering you a chance, but you’re just being difficult,” and left with Chloe.

Chloe had this triumphant little smirk on her face. As they left, she even waved: “Anya, I’ll be keeping Leo busy for a while!”

Her words were obviously meant to get under my skin.

But Leo didn’t seem to notice, casually slinging his arm around Chloe’s shoulders like it was the most natural thing.

He joked around with her, asking how she planned to treat him to dinner after all his help.

Their little display of affection didn’t even register with me anymore.

I’d seen this coming ever since Chloe first joined the company.

Leo bent all the rules to hire her, then made her his assistant. For two years, she messed up constantly, costing the company millions—but every single time, Leo pointed the blame straight at me.

I finally snapped and argued with him, but he just made excuses.

“Anya, can’t you see she’s just like you were when you started out?”

“You worked so hard to get where you are now. Shouldn’t you help a young talent with so much potential?”

That’s when I realized—anything I said after that wouldn’t matter.

Leo had already checked out of our relationship.

Ding.

My phone buzzed. I opened it to a message from HR.

[International secondment roster confirmed. Please report as scheduled in three days.]