He Wouldn’t Let Me Touch His Door, But She Wore His Shirt Chapter 08

He Wouldn’t Let Me Touch His Door, But She Wore His Shirt Chapter 08

By my third week at my parents’ place, Valerie forwarded me a screenshot from an industry group

chat.

After being terminated, Alyssa had taken the client data she stole from Valerie’s agency.to

interview at a rival public relations firm.

However, Valerie had already sent the documentation of her data theft and side-dealing straight to

that firm’s HR director.

She was rejected on the spot.

The HR director’s exact words were leaked: “We wouldn’t touch a candidate like this with a

ten-foot pole. If she steals your clients today, she’ll steal ours tomorrow.”

The news spread like wildfire through the local marketing and PR circles.

Alyssa’s name landed squarely on the industry blacklist.

The labels corporate data theft, exploiting an executive’s boyfriend for free housing, and using manipulation for corporate advancement were permanently pinned to her reputation.

That same day, Julian did something I hadn’t anticipated.

He posted a lengthy public statement on his social feed.

He explicitly accepted full responsibility for the breakup.

The statement was written with formal precision:

[Joanna Barrett and I officially separated on Month/Day/Year, entirely due to my own failings. Any

previous posts implying that we were still in a relationship were made entirely without her

consent, and I offer her my sincerest apologies.]

He went as far as attaching every single screenshot of the Instagram posts Alyssa had made while staying at his apartment.

He added a legal addendum: “The aforementioned content carries absolutely no romantic implication. The individual in question was merely a short-term tenant crashing temporarily. The ambiguous insinuations she published were entirely unauthorized, and I reserve the right to pursue legal action for defamation of character.”

The update completely detonated our shared social circle.

The people who had previously commented things like “girls get emotional” or “Julian, you’re being too patient” fell completely silent.

A few acquaintances reached out with direct messages to apologize: “Joanna, I completely misjudged the situation. I’m so sorry.”

I didn’t bother replying.

Their apologies meant nothing to me now.

But Julian’s public confession had effectively turned him into a laughingstock.

Everyone in the medical community now knew the truth.

A prominent orthopedic surgeon had used his supposed germaphobia to keep his girlfriend of three years out of his home, only to let a younger woman move in, use his tub, and wear his clothes.

The meticulous image of disciplined restraint he had spent years crafting shattered into pieces.

Alyssa was completely finished in the city.

She could no longer afford rent, no one would hire her, and the screenshots of her exposure were

circulating everywhere.

She sent one final, desperate plea to Valerie.

Valerie took a screenshot and sent it to me:

[Valerie, I’m begging you, please take those things down. I’ll pay back the damages, I’ll move back

to my hometown, just please stop…]

Valerie fired back: [Wire the full restitution amount, and the evidence will be pulled. Otherwise,

expect a formal lawsuit.]

Alyssa scraped together every dime she could find to settle the debt.

Then she deactivated all her social media accounts.

She vanished.

When Valerie was recounting the details over the phone, I was sitting on the sun porch flipping

through a novel.

“So she’s gone?” I asked.

“Gone. Packaged up and went back to her hometown. I doubt she’ll ever show her face in this industry again.”

“Mm,” I murmured, turning a page.

She was an irrelevant person now.

As for Julian’s lengthy public apology, I never actually clicked to open it.

When Valerie brought it up, I simply told her, “He can post whatever he wants. It has nothing to do with me.”

However, rumors filtered through that his professional life had become incredibly difficult.

The head nurse who had looked out for him was deeply disillusioned by his character.

His colleagues’ glances changed.

When a man manages to turn his personal life into a viral circus, even the most prestigious lab coat can’t cover up the ugliness underneath.