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Die, All You Self-Righteous Men
Novelix
Completed
"The night before Valentine's Day, I was sorting out the paperwork for our marriage registration the next morning. My phone buzzed on the corner of the desk. It was the group chat with Ethan's old crew. One of his buddies suddenly tagged me. ""Nora, go check the city hall booking system."" I opened it and found that tomorrow's marriage registration appointment had been cancelled. The cancellation had gone through two hours ago. I called to demand an answer. From the other end came a familiar female voice first, laughing coquettishly. Ethan's ex-girlfriend, Chloe. Ethan's tone was casual. ""Chloe's been feeling down. I came out to help her clear her head."" The next second, a voice message popped up in the group chat from one of Ethan's buddies. ""I won! I told you she wouldn't dare get mad even after she found out. Ethan, don't try to weasel out of that Michelin-starred dinner!"" Ethan didn't push back. As if what had been cancelled wasn't our wedding registration, but some inconsequential date. In the past, every time I got upset, he'd frown and tell me not to make such a big deal of it. This time, I said nothing. I hung up, opened the company intranet, and clicked ""submit"" on the Overseas Assignment Application form. Then I sent a message to the wedding planner. ""Wedding cancelled. No need to refund the deposit."" Since there'd be no registration tomorrow, there was no reason to keep waiting for him."
Chapters (3)
第1章
The night before Valentine's Day, I was sorting out the paperwork for our marriage registration the next morning.
My phone buzzed on the corner of the desk. It was the group chat with Ethan's old crew.
One of his buddies suddenly tagged me.
"Nora, go check the city hall booking system."
I opened it and found that tomorrow's marriage registration appointment had been cancelled.
The cancellation had gone through two hours ago.
I called to demand an answer. From the other end came a familiar female voice first, laughing coquettishly.
Ethan's ex-girlfriend, Chloe.
Ethan's tone was casual.
"Chloe's been feeling down. I came out to help her clear her head."
The next second, a voice message popped up in the group chat from one of Ethan's buddies.
"I won! I told you she wouldn't dare get mad even after she found out. Ethan, don't try to weasel out of that Michelin-starred dinner!"
Ethan didn't push back.
As if what had been cancelled wasn't our wedding registration, but some inconsequential date.
In the past, every time I got upset, he'd frown and tell me not to make such a big deal of it.
This time, I said nothing.
I hung up, opened the company intranet, and clicked "submit" on the Overseas Assignment Application form.
Then I sent a message to the wedding planner.
"Wedding cancelled. No need to refund the deposit."
Since there'd be no registration tomorrow, there was no reason to keep waiting for him.
...
The planner's reply had barely appeared when Ethan called again.
"Nora, you cancelled the wedding?"
His voice was heavy.
Waves crashed in the background, and Chloe was laughing, asking if he wanted to go out on a yacht from the pier.
I calmly slipped my passport, professional certifications, and project portfolio one by one into a document folder.
"Yeah."
"Over a single appointment?"
"What else?"
Ethan paused for two seconds, as if reining in his temper.
"Chloe just got divorced. She's emotionally unstable. I came out to the beach with her, and she's been holding my phone the whole time, messing around with it. We can rebook the appointment. Is it fun for you, threatening me with the wedding?"
"I'm not threatening you. The deposit's on me."
"Nora, stop this. Tomorrow night both families are having the engagement dinner. Reinstate the wedding. We'll talk when I'm back."
I didn't agree.
I hung up.
Applications for the company's Dubai posting closed at midnight tonight.
I had spent an entire year preparing for that project.
Ethan kept saying we'd discuss it after the wedding.
I used to think he just didn't want to see me leave.
Now I realized he was simply used to making my decisions for me.
At ten in the evening, the electronic lock chimed.
Ethan pushed the door open.
Chloe followed behind him, cradling an enormous pink dolphin plush—a limited edition from the seaside amusement park.
The moment she saw the suitcase in the entryway, she burst out laughing.
"Ethan, I guessed right again. Nora really did pack. But there's no way she'll actually walk out of this building."
Ethan glanced at his phone.
He'd actually just sent her two hundred bucks.
The notification chime rang clearly through the living room.
I placed the last document into my bag and looked up.
"Is it fun, using me as your betting pool?"
Chloe hugged the plush closer, her smile innocent.
"Everyone's played games like this since prep school. Nora, you're not actually mad, are you? Tell you what, I'll split the two hundred with you."
"Keep it. Consider it tuition." My voice was cold.
Ethan frowned.
"Don't be so sharp. Chloe's already having a rough time with the divorce. Cancelling the appointment was just a way to lighten the mood."
I lifted my eyes to look at him.
"Using my marriage to lighten her mood?"
"I'll rebook next week."
"Don't bother."
I zipped up the suitcase.
Ethan reached out and pressed the handle down.
"Tomorrow's engagement dinner is still on. If you cancel the wedding in front of both sets of parents, what are they supposed to think?"
"You should've thought about that when you cancelled the registration."
His face turned cold.
"I said it was a joke. If you insist on holding onto it, there's nothing I can do."
Chloe took a velvet box from her handbag and set it on the coffee table.
"Nora, these are the pearl earrings Ethan bought you at the beach. Consider it an apology. He was thinking about you the whole time."
Inside the box was only one earring.
The other was already in her ear.
She touched her earlobe, then laughed as if she'd only just noticed.
"The clerk said they were a matching pair. When I tried it on I must've put it back in the wrong box. You don't mind that I wore it, do you?"
I snapped the box shut and put it back in her hand.
"It suits you."
Just as cheap, just as unnecessary.
Ethan stared at me.
For what seemed like the first time, he couldn't find that familiar, compliant expression on my face.
"Where are you going?"
"A hotel."
"Just to force me to come apologize?"
I pulled the handle free from under his hand.
"Ethan, you're overthinking this."
He didn't step aside.
Instead, he reached for the document folder on the coffee table.
The corner of the overseas application form was peeking out.
The instant Ethan read the title, his face darkened.
"You applied for the Dubai project?"
Chloe leaned in and read the project duration aloud.
"Three years? Nora, you're about to get married. Why go so far?"
Ethan yanked my passport out and shoved it into the inner pocket of his suit jacket.
"Withdraw the application. Come to the engagement dinner tomorrow as planned. Once you've calmed down, I'll give the passport back."
I looked at him.
I didn't reach for it.
Before leaving, I pressed a button on my phone screen and saved the recording.
At the top of the screen, a small line of text read:
Corporate Compliance Hotline — Connected, 47 seconds.
第2章
"Ethan, does the company's management protocol include confiscating a project applicant's ID without their consent?"
The voice of the compliance manager came through the phone.
Ethan froze, then took my passport out of his jacket and tossed it back into the folder.
"Mr. Whitfield's misunderstood. We're engaged. This is just a family matter."
"Whether it's a family matter is for Nora to decide. Until midnight tonight, no one is to interfere with her application."
I picked up my passport and wheeled the suitcase out the door.
Ethan didn't follow. He only called after me coldly:
"You'll come back and beg me."
The next morning, I went to the office to submit the hard copies.
But the review secretary pushed them back.
"Nora, your project record is incomplete. The lead on the Marrakech hotel project has been changed to Chloe."
I froze.
That was the project my team and I had ground out over fourteen months, and it was the most important credential for the overseas posting.
Sure enough, in the system, the "Project Lead" field had been changed from my name to Chloe's.
Time of modification: one in the morning.
Approver: Ethan.
Chloe walked in on her heels and set a cup of coffee on my desk.
"Nora, don't take it the wrong way. Ethan said I just came back to the country and need an achievement to establish myself. Besides, you're about to marry into the Grants. Does it really matter whose name is on it?"
"Did you even work on that project?"
"I helped Ethan pick the fragrance for the hotel lobby. That counts as participation, right?"
She said it without a flicker of shame.
Ethan came in shortly after and gave me a light glance.
"The lead change is just an internal adjustment. The project bonus is still yours. Don't make an ugly scene."
I asked, "Why didn't you tell me beforehand?"
"If I told you, would you have agreed?"
"No."
"Then there was no point in telling you."
He pulled out the chair at the head of the table and gestured for the secretary to continue with the meeting.
The screen displayed the Dubai project candidate shortlist.
My name was at the bottom.
Chloe's was at the top.
The secretary explained awkwardly:
"Ethan proposed adding executive endorsement to the selection process. Chloe's résumé is somewhat weaker, but Ethan is willing to vouch for her."
Around the table, people murmured.
"Nora's worked on this for so long—why is she stepping aside for a newcomer?"
"One's the ex, one's the fiancée. Who knows how Ethan's balancing things."
Chloe stood up, her cheeks flushed.
"Please, don't misunderstand. Nora is very capable. It's just that she's getting married soon and isn't suited for a long overseas post. I didn't take anything from her. Ethan just thought I needed the opportunity more."
Every sentence sounded more considerate than the last.
And every sentence cemented the idea that I was stepping aside for marriage.
Ethan didn't stop her.
He even flipped my prepared proposal to the last page and slid it over to Chloe.
"Chloe will lead the afternoon pre-review. You'll assist her with the data."
I pressed my hand down on the document.
"This is my proposal."
"Proposals produced with company resources belong to the company."
"So anyone can put their name on it?"
Ethan tapped his fingertip against the table.
"Nora, you've been emotionally unsteady lately. I'm protecting you—keeping you from botching the pre-review and dragging the whole team down."
I suddenly remembered, two years ago.
The first time I gave a solo presentation, I was so nervous I didn't sleep a wink.
He'd sat in the back row of the conference room and told me:
"Don't be afraid. Results never fail those who truly earn them."
Turns out results can fail you too.
All it takes is someone swapping the name on them.
I let go of the document and nodded.
"Alright."
Chloe's eyes lit up.
"Nora, I knew you'd see the big picture."
That afternoon, during the pre-review, she read from my script until page three and got stuck when a client asked her a question.
"What are the underlying parameters of the supply chain risk model for the Middle East region?"
Chloe went pale and instinctively glanced at me.
Ethan messaged me under the table.
Answer her. Don't hold the company hostage over hurt feelings.
I turned off my phone and said, calmly,
"I apologize. I'm only here as a support staff member. I don't have the authority to answer for the lead."
The client closed the file.
"Someone who can't even explain the logic of her own proposal isn't fit to lead an overseas posting."
After the meeting, Ethan cornered me in the pantry.
"You deliberately embarrassed her?"
"Isn't she the lead?"
"Nora Sinclair, I gave you a way out, and you insisted on jumping off the ledge?"
He put a personnel notice in front of me.
Starting tomorrow, I was being transferred out of the project center to the corporate events team for a three-month handover.
At the bottom of the notice was a single line:
Overseas candidate eligibility: under review, suspended.
第3章
I took the transfer notice to HR.
The HR manager flipped through it and simply said this was a temporary arrangement issued by Ethan.
"Nora, Ethan said with the wedding approaching, you needed a lighter workload."
"My wedding has been cancelled."
The manager's face grew awkward.
"The system hasn't received any formal confirmation."
I called the wedding planner right there.
But the person on the other end hesitated.
"Nora, Ethan paid the balance last night. The wedding is still on. He said you were just having a mood swing and told us to ignore the cancellation."
Ethan was always like this.
I said no; he changed it to yes.
I said it was over; he explained it away as a tantrum.
As if every word out of my mouth needed his approval to count.
That afternoon, Ethan's mother called and asked me to come to the wedding venue for a menu tasting.
I meant to refuse, but she said my mother was already there.
When I arrived, the private room was packed with Ethan's crew.
Chloe was wearing the rehearsal dinner gown I'd ordered, standing in front of the mirror while everyone snapped photos.
Someone was teasing them.
"Ethan, the two of you standing together—still as good-looking as before."
Ethan tied the ribbon at her back casually.
"Her dress got dirty. She's just borrowing Nora's for a bit."
My mother sat in the corner, gripping an empty jewelry box, her face pale.
I walked over.
"Mom, what is it?"
She glanced at Chloe and asked in a low voice,
"That magnolia brooch—wasn't that the piece your grandmother left for your dowry?"
I looked up.
The brooch was pinned on Chloe's collar.
My grandmother had placed it in my hand before she died. My childhood nickname was engraved on the back.
Chloe touched the brooch and rushed to explain.
"Mrs. Sinclair, please don't be upset. Ethan's mother told me to wear it. She said with so many people here today, my outfit was too plain and needed a little cheer."
Ethan's mother smiled to smooth things over.
"What's the harm in family sharing? Chloe just got out of a marriage. We should look out for her. Nora won't be petty about it."
I walked up to Chloe and held out my hand.
"Take it off."
She looked at Ethan.
Ethan was holding a wine glass, his brow furrowed slightly.
"The food hasn't arrived. Don't make a scene in front of everyone."
"I'll only say this once. Take it off."
Chloe's eyes reddened at once.
"Nora, I didn't know it meant so much. Don't be mad at Ethan. I'll give it back right now."
She lifted her hand to remove it, but the pin caught on the sheer fabric.
There was a snap. The brooch fell to the floor.
The magnolia petals broke in two.
The room went silent.
I crouched down to pick up the pieces. A shard cut a thin line across my fingertip.
Chloe covered her mouth.
"I'm sorry, I really didn't mean to."
Ethan grabbed a tissue and pressed it against my finger.
"It's just an old brooch. I'll have someone repair it. It's the engagement dinner. Don't sulk."
My mother shot to her feet.
"That was her grandmother's keepsake. It isn't just some old thing."
The smile faded from Ethan's mother's face.
"Mrs. Sinclair, the child didn't know any better. She's already apologized. It wouldn't be right to make everyone uncomfortable over a piece of jewelry, would it?"
Ethan gripped my wrist.
"Sit down first."
I pulled my hand back and placed the broken brooch into the box.
"There's no wedding. Today is not an engagement dinner."
Ethan's crew exchanged glances. One of them tried to break the tension with a laugh.
"Nora's serious again. She can stay mad three days over one appointment. Ethan, how many dinners are you going to have to buy this time?"
Another chimed in.
"I bet she cools off by tonight."
Ethan shot them a cold glance.
"Shut up."
But it was too late.
My mother had understood. Her voice trembled.
"They bet on you often?"
I didn't answer. I helped her to her feet and led her out.
Ethan caught up in the corridor, blocking the elevator.
"You'd really embarrass both of our mothers?"
"Who's the one being embarrassed?"
"Chloe broke it. I'll pay for it. You wouldn't cooperate with the presentation, and I let it slide. Nora Sinclair, I've backed down plenty."
I looked at him.
"What you call backing down is letting me absorb the consequences of what you do."
The elevator doors opened. I led my mother inside.
Ethan didn't follow. He only warned me in a low voice,
"Tomorrow morning is the final review. You've been transferred out. Without my signature, you won't even get into the conference room."
Just before the doors closed, I received an email from Corporate Compliance.
Your complaint has been accepted. Please appear tomorrow morning at the group boardroom with the original proposal and copyright documentation for a formal statement.
The next message came from the project secretary.
Nora, your original proposal on the cloud drive was just permanently deleted.
