Strawberry Almond Cookie - Chapter 4

I still didn’t confront Xu Jingze outright.

The Xu Group was his family’s business, and one of the country’s best companies in my field. I’d been interning there for six months, hoping to secure a permanent position.

My team leader had told me privately that my overall evaluation was excellent. The offer was practically guaranteed.

But when the list went up, I read it from top to bottom three times and couldn’t find my name.

I went to ask my team leader why.

With a troubled look, he took me into the break room and lowered his voice.

“Sang Yu, have you offended someone?”

I stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“Your name was on the list originally. Yesterday, someone from senior management specifically told us to take you off.”

When I came out, Xu Jingze was sitting at his desk.

Of course he wasn’t on the list. His internship was only a formality, something for the heir to amuse himself with.

He handed me a cup of hot tea and spoke gently.

“It’s all right, Sangsang. There are plenty of good companies. You don’t have to stay at the Xu Group. We’ll take our time looking. With your abilities, you’ll be in demand anywhere.”

My phone vibrated.

It was the dorm group chat again. Yu Jing had tagged me.

“@Sang Yu, didn’t the Xu Group publish its list of permanent hires today? Did you get an offer? My fiancé’s girlfriend is an intern there too. I wonder if you know her. But she definitely won’t be staying. I told him he could have his fun with other women, but he absolutely couldn’t let them into his own company. It had all been settled already, but one word from him and she was struck off the list. Isn’t he obedient?”

My fingers tightened around my phone until the pads turned white.

Xu Jingze knew how badly I wanted that position.

He knew how many nights I’d slept on the office sofa while revising project proposals. He knew my grandmother was waiting back home for me to settle down so I could bring her to the city for treatment.

One casual word from him had erased six months of hard work.

And he could still stand in front of me, pretending to know nothing, offering such tender comfort.

Steam rose from the paper cup. The heat hurt my fingertips.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I snatched up the tea and threw it in his face.

“Xu Jingze, what the hell is wrong with you?”

The entire office fell silent. All I could hear was the air conditioning.

He stood stunned for two seconds, then wiped his face with a tissue and looked at me, struggling to contain his temper.

“Sangsang, I know you’re upset about not getting an offer, but you still need to think about how you look in public. Once we’re home, you can lose your temper however you like. You can even hit me or curse at me. I’ll take you out to dinner tonight. Let’s not be angry anymore, all right?”

His voice was still gentle, as though he hadn’t been the one pulling strings behind my back.

Since I wasn’t staying, I had no reason to worry about my image here.

I grabbed the files on the desk and hurled them all at him.

“We’re done.”

I slung on my backpack and walked away.

Behind me, his voice came tight with suppressed anger.

“Sang Yu, are you really still holding a grudge because I didn’t buy you those Strawberry Almond Cookie roses? You have to take even this out on me? No wonder they didn’t keep you on, if you fall apart this easily. You need to take a good look at your own problems.”

Outside the office building, a sudden downpour had begun.

The road to the subway station was deeply flooded again.

Whenever it rained, Xu Jingze used to bend down and carry me on his back along this stretch.

“Sangsang loves her white shoes. We can’t let them get dirty.”

I’d hold tight to his neck with one arm and lift the umbrella high with the other, talking with him all the way about our future.

Now raindrops struck the standing water, breaking into little rings of ripples.

I rolled up my trouser legs and stepped into it.

Rain fell on my face, cool and wet.

I looked up at the sky and took a deep breath.

Grandma had told me that if I could pick something up, I had to be able to put it down.

A breakup wasn’t the end of the world. I just had to cut my losses in time.

Everything would get better.