On my first day working at Julian’s company, he established a strict rule: Every Saturday night at exactly 9:00 PM was the only time I was allowed to call him. To "avoid rumors" and "maintain professional boundaries," the call was strictly limited to ten minutes. Any other calls would be ignored. Texting was restricted to one message a day. He told me this was what a mature, professional relationship looked like. I nodded. And I adhered to that rule for four years. Over those four years, I learned to watch the clock and talk as fast as I could to squeeze everything I wanted to say into those ten minutes. Until today. Walking home from the subway, I was mugged. The guy snatched my purse and smashed my phone on the pavement. Panicking and shaking, I borrowed a stranger’s phone to call him. I barely got a single word out before he cut me off. "You're crossing the line, Chloe. If you need something, wait until Saturday." He hung up. Standing on the dark street, a sudden, overwhelming urge to see him washed over me. But as I walked up to his apartment building, I saw him walking back with the new summer intern, Mia. They were walking shoulder to shoulder. An older woman walking her dog smiled and teased them. "Julian! Walking your girlfriend home from work again?" "Every single day, rain or shine. You really are a catch!" Julian smiled and accepted the compliment. He held the heavy glass door open for Mia, placing a protective hand on her back as they walked into the lobby. A minute later, the lights in the third-floor apartment flicked on. I stood on the sidewalk in the dark. I pulled out the burner phone I had just bought, opened the clock app, and deleted the Saturday 9:00 PM alarm I had set for four years. No one was going to wait for those ten minutes ever again. He wanted to maintain professional boundaries? I’d give him the ultimate boundary. ... I stood outside Julian’s front door. The hallway light flickered above me, an uncanny resemblance to our entire relationship over the past few years. I curled my hand into a fist, hesitated, and finally knocked. A moment later, the door swung open. When Julian saw it was me, his brow instantly furrowed into a deep scowl. "What are you doing here? It's not our scheduled time. Go home." In the past, I probably would have apologized and turned around. But tonight was different. The neighbor’s words were still echoing in my ears. "Julian's girlfriend is so pretty. He walks her home every day." "I saw them at the mall last weekend, carrying so many shopping bags." I knew they were talking about Mia. The young intern at the firm. The girl who always cheerfully called me "Chloe" at the water cooler. But I never, ever imagined she would be inside Julian’s apartment. "Chloe, don't be unreasonable. We agreed to—" I cut him off. "Is someone in there?" He froze for a fraction of a second. "Julian... what's taking so long with the wine..." Mia poked her head out from the kitchen. When she saw me, her face lit up with a massive smile. "Chloe! Wow, you're here so late. Are you dropping off work files?" Before I could answer, she grabbed my arm and pulled me inside. I stood in the entryway. The living room used to be entirely monochrome—grey sofa, grey rug. It was a place where I wasn't even allowed to leave an extra coaster on the coffee table without him complaining about "clutter." Now, there was a bright pink mug sitting on the table. The throw pillows had been swapped out for fluffy velvet ones. The door to the guest bedroom was wide open. Julian used to always tell me that room was just for storage and it was too messy to go in. I believed him for five years. I had never once stepped foot inside. Now, Mia eagerly dragged me into that room and pulled open the closet doors. It was packed with women's clothes. Many still had the price tags attached. Reformation, Prada, Zara... brands I could never justify buying for myself. "Oh my gosh, your clothes are so dirty. Did you fall on your way home from work?" She pulled a silk blouse from a hanger and held it up against me. "I guess it makes sense. You don't have a boyfriend, right? Not like Julian, who walks me home every single day." "He bought all of these for me. He buys me new stuff every week. I can't even wear it all! You can have some if you want." I looked her dead in the eye. "Are you two together?" Her face flushed completely red. "Well... not officially. He hasn't formally asked me out yet, but it's basically a done deal." "He even took me to meet his parents last weekend, so it should be official soon!" My heart turned to absolute ice. The pain from the shattered phone glass digging into my palm earlier tonight was nothing compared to this. On the dining table, a massive spread of spicy Sichuan takeout was laid out. Julian scooped a bowl of soup and placed it carefully next to Mia's plate. With a natural, practiced motion, he tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "It shouldn't be too spicy this time. I told the chef to cut the chili oil in half." She nudged his shoulder playfully. "Aw, Julian! I love whatever you order. You don't have to micromanage the chef!" I sat across from them, completely invisible. An intruder. Julian had never once asked me what I liked to eat. In the five years we had been together, the number of times we had dinner together could be counted on one hand. I couldn't handle spicy food, but every time he ordered, it was always something drowned in hot sauce. I used to tell myself he was just forgetful. That he wasn't good at the "little details." I was wrong. He wasn't forgetful. He just didn't care. I watched as Julian meticulously picked the tiny bones out of a piece of fish before placing it into Mia's bowl. I suddenly remembered last Saturday. I had called him at exactly 9:00 PM, and he hung up on me without saying a single word. Sensing my gaze, Julian looked up at me. His eyes were completely devoid of warmth. "Chloe, are you finished eating? It's getting late. If there's no work emergency, you need to head home." Mia immediately grabbed his sleeve. "Julian! Don't be so rude to her! I'll walk her downstairs, it's not safe out there so late..." "But you're staying over tonight..." Before they could finish their little routine, I stood up. "No need. I'll get myself home." I walked toward the door, their voices still echoing behind me. "Julian! I know I don't like it when you're nice to other girls, but you still can't be that mean..." The heavy front door clicked shut, cutting off the sound completely. I slowly walked down the stairwell. I opened Julian's text thread. The last message was from me, sent yesterday: [Work was so exhausting this week, but just thinking about calling you on Saturday makes me happy. How have you been? Make sure you're eating on time.] He had left me on read. My thumb hovered over the send button. I didn't know how long I stood there in the stairwell before I finally pressed it. [Let's break up.] This time, I didn't look back. I went back to my cramped apartment and collapsed onto my bed. The screen of my burner phone remained black. Two hours had passed. Julian still hadn't replied. Honestly, I expected it. For five years, he had chosen to ignore almost every single message I sent him. But tonight was different. Tonight, I said the words "break up." I thought it would warrant at least some reaction. Suddenly, the screen lit up. It was a text from Mia: [Chloe, did you make it home safe?] [You looked awful tonight... did you get dumped or something?] [Honestly, you should just break up with whoever he is. Guys like that aren't worth it. Not everyone can be as perfect as Julian...] The harsh blue light of the screen made my eyes sting. I didn't reply. The next morning, I pushed open the glass doors to the main conference room. Julian's gaze swept over me without a fraction of a pause. When it was my turn to present the quarterly analytics, I barely made it to the fourth minute. Julian's voice cut through the room, absolutely freezing. "Chloe. Do you think that just because you went on one successful business trip last month, you can start coasting and collecting a paycheck for doing nothing?" "There are basic grammatical errors on this slide. With this kind of pathetic attitude... you can pack your desk." The room dropped into a dead silence. This wasn't the first time Julian had publicly humiliated me. At the office, he played the role of the ruthless, demanding boss flawlessly. And I was forced to play the role of the incompetent employee who could never do anything right. I gripped my presentation clicker tightly. "I apologize. I'll revise it immediately." After the meeting ended, I stayed behind in the conference room to fix the slides. Through the glass walls, I could see Julian standing in the bullpen, explaining a spreadsheet to Mia. He was leaning over her chair, pointing at the monitor, explaining everything with incredible patience. Patience he had never once shown me. When 5:00 PM finally hit, I packed up my bag to leave. Mia practically skipped over and linked her arm through mine. "Chloe! Don't be mad about the meeting! I yelled at Julian during lunch. I told him he can't treat you like that. Next time, I'll teach him a lesson for you!" "Come on, let's go stargazing! It's just a park nearby. Julian takes me there every single night." I instinctively looked over at Julian. He was standing by his office door, one hand in his pocket. He didn't make any move to stop her. When we arrived, it was a wide, grassy hill on the edge of the city. The view was clear, and the sky was actually full of stars. Halfway through the night, Mia suddenly pulled a six-pack of beers out of her tote bag. After drinking two, she started whining playfully at Julian. "Julian! You have to tell me the truth right now. Do you love me?! Say you love me! I don't care, just say it!" Julian laughed helplessly, a soft, indulgent sound, and agreed with her over and over again. I just sat a few feet away on the grass, listening to them flirt. Eventually, Mia passed out, curled up against Julian's chest. He finally looked over at me. There was a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. He pulled a fifty-dollar bill and a keycard out of his wallet and handed them to me. "Take a cab home. I need to drive Mia back. She tosses and turns when she sleeps, and I don't feel comfortable leaving her." "Go wait at my apartment. I'll come back and explain everything to you." I didn't refuse. I still had some personal things at his place. I needed to pack them up and make a clean break anyway. The cab pulled up to his luxury high-rise. I stared down at the sleek electronic keycard in my hand. Five years. It took five years for me to finally get a key to his apartment, and it was only because another girl got too drunk. It was hilarious, honestly. When we first started dating, he did give me a key. Back then, we lived in a fifth-floor walk-up in a sketchy neighborhood. No elevator. The key was a cheap, jagged piece of metal cut at a hardware store. When his startup finally took off, he moved into this high-rise and installed a biometric smart lock. My fingerprint was deleted less than 24 hours after he put it in. His excuse was always incredibly logical: We need to maintain professional boundaries. If someone from the office sees, it'll cause drama. The elevator pinged at the 16th floor. The hallway was dead quiet. I swiped the card and pushed the door open. The living room still looked exactly like it did last night. The two mugs were still on the coffee table. There was a new vanity mirror sitting on the console. Taped to the back of the mirror was a Polaroid photo. Mia was throwing up a peace sign at the camera, and Julian was standing right behind her, a genuine, relaxed smile on his face. I looked away and started packing my things. Honestly, there wasn't much to pack. When we moved out of the walk-up, Julian told me he would pack all my stuff for me. When I went to unpack later, I found my boxes had been opened and half my things were missing. He told me, "I threw out all the old, cheap junk. I'll buy you brand new stuff." I never saw any of that "new stuff." I dug an old, dog-eared novel out of the nightstand and found a single, mismatched earring. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city had gone completely dark. I sat on the edge of the bed for a while, thinking about things from a very long time ago. Right after college, Julian's first startup went bankrupt. We squeezed into a tiny, hundred-square-foot studio apartment, surviving on instant ramen. He would stay up drafting business proposals until 3:00 AM, and I would sit right next to him, keeping him company. One night, he suddenly pulled me into a tight hug. "Chloe, just give me two years. Two years, and I promise I'll put you in a massive, beautiful house." The sound of the front door opening snapped me back to reality. Julian walked into the bedroom. Seeing my packed bag, his tone softened. "It's probably for the best that you take all your stuff for now. Once this upcoming promotion cycle is over, we can finally make our relationship..." "Does Mia know we're together?" Julian paused. He let out that familiar, patronizing sigh. "Chloe, I thought you of all people understood me. After all these years, I never expected you to get this paranoid and suspicious." "Mia is just a kid. She doesn't have any of the manipulative motives you're imagining. She's sweeter and more innocent than you could ever understand." He took a step closer. "You're always so emotional and impulsive. If I wasn't constantly pushing you at work, what would you have actually accomplished?" "Look, stop being mad. I told you I'm going to marry you. Just wait a little longer, okay?" When I didn't respond, he pulled a sleek black credit card from his pocket and tossed it onto the nightstand. "The pin is your birthday. Buy whatever you want, don't worry about the price. I'll drive you home." "And keep our relationship quiet for now. Mia's health isn't great, I don't want to stress her out." I looked at him one last time. His face was a mask of absolute patience and forced restraint. He looked exactly like the man from years ago, but at the same time, there was absolutely nothing left of him. I walked right past him toward the door. "Julian. Do whatever you want. We have nothing to do with each other anymore." The next day at lunch, Mia skipped over to my desk to ask me to eat with her. I stayed in my chair, ignoring her. She started poking around my desk and bumped into the old novel I had brought back last night. A folded piece of paper slipped out from between the pages. Julian's name was written on it. Before I could snatch it back, Mia picked it up. Her cheerful smile vanished, inch by inch. She flipped through the pages of the book, her eyes scanning the margins. Suddenly, she slammed the book onto my desk, her voice shrill and piercing. "Chloe! Are you the pathetic mistress Julian’s been hiding this whole time?!" The entire open-plan office went dead silent. My hand throbbed where the heavy book had hit it. "He and I have been—" Mia cut me off, her voice cracking hysterically. "Have been what?! Did you think I wouldn't find out?! You're the one sending him those pathetic, desperate essays every Saturday night, aren't you?!" "Shamelessly throwing yourself at a man who already has a girlfriend! How dare you act like you're innocent?!" She slammed her heel down on my scattered notebooks. "Have I not been nice to you, Chloe?! I treated you like a big sister! You knew we were getting engaged, and you still tried to be the other woman?!" Mia’s chest heaved. "Get on your knees." Her eyes were red with tears, but her gaze was absolute ice. "Get on your knees, and maybe I'll believe you." One of Mia's work friends pulled out her phone, pointing the camera directly at my face. "What an absolute slut. I love destroying homewreckers. I'm posting this everywhere." The whispers from the rest of the office started rising like a tide. "You really never know people..." "Didn't you notice? Whenever Mr. Vance was involved, she always acted so weird..." "She's probably been plotting this since day one." I opened my mouth to explain. Mia looked down at me, the faintest hint of a smirk twitching at the corner of her lips. "Throw her trash out. Mr. Vance won't tolerate people like her in his company anyway." And just like that, people swarmed my desk, aggressively sweeping my personal belongings into a cardboard box. When the building security guard walked over, his tone was polite but left zero room for argument. "Ms. Chloe, please leave the premises." I was practically escorted out of the building like a criminal. The heavy glass lobby doors clicked shut behind me. I had to crouch down on the pavement to gather the pens and papers that had spilled from my box. Suddenly, a sleek black car pulled up to the curb. The window rolled down. Julian looked at me, his brows knitted in disgust. "Why are you making such a mess? Get in." Mia popped her head out from the passenger seat, a sickly sweet smile plastered back on her face. "Chloe! Get in, before you start playing the victim again!" "I really don't want to post this video online, but we all know you have a million dirty tricks up your sleeve." I didn't look at them. I just opened the back door and got in. Mia leaned over the center console, hugging Julian's arm. "Julian! A new movie just came out, can we go see it tonight? Please?" Julian gave a soft, "Mhm." He was always quiet when he drove, but Mia always knew how to make him talk. She would say ten things, and he would indulge every single one. I leaned my head against the cold glass of the window, tuning them out entirely. Seeing that I was completely ignoring them, Mia's voice suddenly pitched higher. "Julian, if that ugly old hag and I fell into a river at the same time, who would you save?" Two seconds of silence. Then Julian's voice drifted back to me. "You." CRASH. My vision violently violently shook. The entire world began to spin. Warm, thick blood started pouring down the side of my face. I fought to keep my eyes open. Through the jagged cracks in the shattered windshield, I saw the front seat. Julian's hands were wrapped tightly around Mia's head. His entire body was thrown over hers, using his own shoulders to completely shield her from the impact. I closed my eyes. When I opened them again, the sterile white ceiling of a hospital room greeted me. I looked over at the empty bed next to mine. "Where are the people who came in with me?" The nurse checking my IV paused. "Oh, the other girl just had some minor scrapes, but she kept complaining about dizzy spells. The gentleman who was driving went with her for a full CT scan." "Before he left, he told us to make sure we took good care of you." Took good care of you. Always passing the responsibility to someone else. Never once willing to stay himself. I looked down, ripped the IV needle out of the back of my hand, and pressed a cotton ball to the bleeding vein. These past four years had been an absolute, humiliating joke. I was done waiting. After signing my own AMA discharge papers, I went back to the apartment one final time. Five years of my life fit perfectly into one small carry-on suitcase. Anything that didn't belong to me anymore wasn't worth fighting for. Finally, I took off the corporate ID badge I had worn for four years and left it face-up on the dining table. I booked a one-way ticket to Seattle. Right before the plane taxied to the runway, I checked my phone one last time. Saturday. 9:03 PM.
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