Fifty Bowls, One Broken Engagement Chapter 09

Fifty Bowls, One Broken Engagement Chapter 09

For the next week, I devoted myself entirely to company operations.

I organized projects, expanded our channels, and finalized several partnerships.

Then the executive team decided to acquire three companies.

When my secretary handed me the list, my gaze stopped on a familiar name.

Ethan.

His company had never been impressive, but it shouldn’t have collapsed that quickly.

I asked my secretary to bring me the full report.

That was when I learned what had happened.

Ethan had given in after Megan repeatedly pressured him.

He hired one of her cousins despite the man’s lack of qualifications.

The cousin turned out to be ignorant, arrogant, and impossible to control.

He bullied longtime employees, accepted kickbacks, bought cheap materials while billing for premium ones, and neglected major client projects.

Vendors and key technical staff became furious.

One by one, they left for competitors.

Customers filed repeated complaints, and the company’s products were seized and destroyed.

After we separated, Ethan had fallen apart. He spent every day lost in regret and stopped managing the business.

That was how the company reached the edge of bankruptcy.

He finally agreed to sell it for only $45,000.

I finished the report without surprise or sympathy.

He had done this to himself.

I approved the acquisition plan for all three companies immediately.

Ethan’s failing startup was one of them.

On the day of the acquisition, I left the entire process to my secretary and legal team and waited downstairs.

Before long, my secretary came out carrying the signed purchase agreement.

The moment I took it, I heard a familiar voice.

“Claire!”

Ethan came running toward me. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes were red.

He stared at the contract in my secretary’s hands, trembling in disbelief.

“You’re the one who bought my company? It was you?”

At last, the truth struck him.

Regret tore through him. If he had listened to Claire and brought her into the company from the beginning, how could he have ended up here?

Instead, he had trusted Megan’s poison.

“Did you need something?”

I looked at Ethan with nothing but indifference.

There was no emotion left in me for him.

Then Ethan started crying.

“Claire, I was wrong. I finally understand everything I did wrong!”

“I shouldn’t have chosen Megan over you. I shouldn’t have ignored everything you gave me!”

“We don’t have to break up. We can still have the wedding, and I’ll pay the down payment myself!”

“I’ll find the money for a three-bedroom condo and put the deed in your name alone!”

“I’ll never have anything to do with Megan again. She’s completely out of my life!”

“Please, can we start over?”

He reached for my hand.

I stepped back. “Why would I start over with you?”

The question stunned him. He stammered but couldn’t answer.

I continued.

“Without you, my life is better.”

“Without you, no one treats me like I matter less.”

“Without you, I don’t have to suffer.”

Every sentence struck him like a hammer.

He clutched his chest, staggered backward, and fell to the ground.

Looking up at me, he said, “Claire, I swear to God…”

“Does that mean anything?”

I cut him off. “You swore before that you’d love me for the rest of your life and never look at another woman.”

“And what happened?”

“Megan showed up, and you forgot I existed.”

“Even without Megan, there would’ve been a Rachel Parker or an Ashley Moore.”

I didn’t look at his colorless face again.

I gave him no chance to speak and got into the car.

Ethan shouted my name behind me.

I didn’t stop.

I never would again.

After that, I heard nothing more about Ethan.

I didn’t ask. I buried myself in my career.

Lucas stayed beside me with endless patience and never rushed me.

He respected my ambition, accepted every emotion I carried, and chose me in every situation. With him, I finally felt the security no one else had ever given me.

A year passed.

I brought my parents to Portland to live near me.

Lucas confessed again.

“Claire, I love you. Be with me.”

“Yes.”

In the evening breeze, I nodded softly.

Lucas’s face lit with happiness, and he pulled me into a gentle embrace.

At that exact moment, a meteor shower streaked across the sky.

It felt like a blessing meant for us.

May every year ahead be shared with someone who truly chooses me.

The End