I Ran Errands for My Boyfriend Then Decided to Break Up Chapter 02
Janet did not try to talk me out of it again. She simply agreed to process my resignation.
I was about to leave when Graham suddenly followed me into the hallway.
“What exactly aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing.”
Graham did not press the issue. Instead, he handed me a shopping bag.
“What do you think of this dress?”
It was the same dress I had circled in a magazine the week before. I had asked him what he thought of it, but he had been too busy replying to messages to answer.
Just as my heart began to soften, he said, “Madeline would like it, don’t you think?”
I froze for a moment, then nodded.
“Yeah, it’s beautiful. It’s definitely her style.”
Perhaps because I was unusually calm, Graham explained himself for once.
“Madeline deserves all the credit for winning last week’s case.”
“I can’t let all that work go unrecognized. As her boss, I should show my appreciation.”
He pinched my cheek.
“If you like it, you can borrow it once she gets tired of it.”
“She hates seeing anyone else in the same dress. You two share everything anyway, so this way it won’t go to waste.”
I was his girlfriend, yet I was expected to wait for Madeline’s castoffs.
When the reunion dinner ended, everyone headed home in their own cars.
Madeline naturally slipped into the front passenger seat.
Graham had bought that car with his firm’s first earnings. At the time, he had smiled and told me that he could finally drive me to and from work.
On the very first day, however, Madeline said she had missed the last train home and asked if she could ride with us. Graham asked me to give her the front seat.
That one favor lasted five years.
Before I could even reach the door handle, a blast of exhaust hit me in the face. The car disappeared from view without stopping.
Graham and Madeline had been so absorbed in talking about work that they never noticed I was not in the car.
The rain began coming down even harder.
I requested an Uber, but for half an hour, no driver accepted the ride.
A group of drunk creeps hanging around the curb kept hitting on me. Frightened, I ran into the rain, slipped on the wet pavement, and fell into a muddy puddle.
The ground was so slick that I struggled for what felt like forever before I managed to get back up.
Every hurt I had swallowed came crashing over me at once.
I finally walked home through the downpour. The moment I opened the door, I heard a woman laughing in the living room.
Madeline had one foot resting across Graham’s lap while he rubbed ointment onto her injured knee.
When he saw me, he frowned.
“Why didn’t you get in the car? Do you have any idea how worried Madeline and I were when we couldn’t find you? She even hurt her knee while we were looking.”
“Could you try to be more reliable? If you can’t help us, at least don’t make things harder,
He did not notice that I was drenched from head to toe or
that all the color had drained from my face.
All he saw was Madeline’s injured knee.
I looked down at my phone. There was not a single message.
Had they really been that worried about me?
Madeline immediately pulled her foot from Graham’s lap and began explaining in a panic.
“Audrey, I really did just get hurt. Graham had to make
several trips to the drugstore, so he forgot to come back for you…”
At the look on my face, she stood and hurried out, limping as she went.
Graham started after her, then paused.
“Madeline and I are leaving on a business trip tomorrow. Pack for both of us.
After giving me another order, he grabbed an umbrella
and ran after her without looking back.
He offered no explanation. He simply ordered me around as naturally as ever.
It was as if I were their personal assistant, errand runner, and maid all rolled into one.
Somewhere along the way, they had turned the passionate
young woman I once was into a servant they could
summon whenever they pleased.
Even after all that, they still believed I only had a place at the firm because of them.
But this time, I did not obey him.
I packed my own bags instead.