After I Was Laid Off, My Boss Begged Me on His Knees to Return to the Company - Chapter 10

Chapter 10

On the day my new company was established, I stayed in the empty office alone, looking out until very late.

The city lights twinkled outside the window. On my desk lay the new business license, the equity agreement, and the project proposal. The position that belonged to me no longer required someone else to promise they would “make it up to me later.” All I had to do was sit down, and it was already mine.

My phone vibrated.

It was a message from Qin Yanchuan.

Just one word.

`Downstairs.`

I stood by the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down. He was indeed there.

In a black shirt, leaning against his car, he looked much like he did that first night he came to my rental apartment to beg me to return to the company. Only this time, there was no rain, and he didn’t look as pathetic as someone at the end of their rope.

When I went downstairs, he was holding a paper bag.

“What’s this?”

“The little cakes from that shop you used to love,” he said. “The shop hadn’t closed yet.”

I took the bag and suddenly laughed.

“Is President Qin taking the nostalgia route now?”

“It’s not nostalgia.” He looked at me, his gaze deep. “It’s a make-up lesson.”

I looked up.

His voice wasn’t fast, but it was very earnest.

“Chen Ruoqi, over the past three years, what I owed you wasn’t just a credit on a project.”

“I owed you trust, I owed you the right to choose, and I owed you an apology that should have been said at the very beginning.”

“I know these things can’t be made up for with one night of kneeling, a press conference, or an equity agreement.”

“So I didn’t come here today to beg for your immediate forgiveness.”

“I just wanted to tell you that this time, you can choose whatever you want.”

“Move forward, look back, or leave me behind-anything is fine.”

“I won’t make decisions for you anymore.”

The wind blew from the street corner, carrying a hint of early autumn chill.

I looked at him and suddenly remembered all the terrible times from these past few years.

I remembered revising proposals in the breakroom until two in the morning; I remembered being robbed of credit after meetings time and time again; I remembered standing in the conference room signing my resignation agreement; and I remembered the pathetic look in his eyes when he knelt at my door, finally admitting he couldn’t make it without me.

I had originally thought that what I wanted most was to see him regret it.

But now that I’ve truly reached this day, I’ve realized that what I wanted most was actually to take myself back.

As for him.

Whether he regrets it or whether it’s worth it-that can wait.

I lifted the cake bag a little higher and smiled at him.

“Qin Yanchuan.”

“Yes?”

“You used to always say that the company wasn’t mine to run alone.”

“Well, things are better now.”

“It’s my company, and I’m the one in charge.”

He lowered his head and smiled, looking as if he had let out a soft sigh of relief.

“Then, President Chen, what are your instructions?”

I turned and walked back toward the office building, looking back at him as I went.

“Nine o’clock tomorrow. Come for a meeting.”

“And don’t be late.”

Qin Yanchuan stood where he was, watching me, the smile in his eyes finally becoming a little more real.

“Okay.”

The moment the elevator doors closed, I looked down at the paper bag in my hand. I suddenly remembered the day of the layoffs, when I left the company carrying my box, and the silent vow I had made in my heart.

I told myself that one day, I would make them realize that the person they laid off wasn’t just an ordinary employee.

I was the company’s true trump card.

Now, those words have finally come true.

Except the way they came true was more complete than I had imagined.

I didn’t go back.

Instead, they were the ones kneeling, handing back the things that should have been mine all along.

From this day forward, I will never again hand over my name, my work, or my life to anyone else to keep for me.