"I turned in my resignation earlier," Brynn answered.

"What?" The HR head froze for a moment. He seemed to stumble over whatever he meant to say. "Then... you..."

Brynn already knew the company expected a two-week transition once a resignation letter was filed.

She had never been the type to walk away from unfinished work. Since she had made up her mind to leave, she intended to finish every task required of her so no one else would be burdened.

That was why she added, "I'll return to the firm soon so I can take care of the handover."

"Alright. Alright. I'll wait for you at the office," the HR head replied with a relieved exhale.

When the call ended, Brynn drew in a steady breath.

Her apartment had been sold, and once she completed the transition, she would be free to go.

Even so, a faint ache still pulsed along the incision on her abdomen.

After taking a moment to steady herself, she flagged down a taxi and headed straight for the law firm.

Her presence seemed to lift the mood the instant she stepped inside.

"Brynn..."

"Brynn, you made it back..."

Several young assistants hurried toward Brynn, their voices bubbling with relief and excitement. Their bright expressions carried such sincere affection that it warmed her chest.

"I'm only here to finish the handover," Brynn said, cutting through their enthusiasm with a gentle smile as she addressed one of them. "I'll be assigning my ongoing cases to you."

"You're really leaving?" The assistants traded startled looks.

Brynn offered a calm smile and answered, "Yes."

......

While Richard was reviewing documents, Jerold burst into his office the moment he heard Brynn had returned.

"Brynn's back!" He wore a triumphant grin. "I knew she couldn't stay away from you. The second she heard you planned to fire her, she hurried right back!"

Richard fixed him with a flat stare. "You sound unusually idle. Should I let you handle a few of my cases?"

Jerold's grin vanished as he shook his head over and over.

Richard's cases were the ones everyone avoided. They were difficult, dangerous, and carried heavy responsibilities. Despite the high payout, Jerold knew he did not have the skill to take them on.

Just as Jerold turned toward the door, Richard said, "Have Brynn come in."

Jerold's smirk returned. "On it."

Across the office, Brynn was finishing her handover when she heard someone greet Jerold. She glanced up and found Jerold looking straight at her with that familiar mischievous smile.

"Brynn, Richard wants to see you in his office," he said.

Brynn rose from her seat.

Jerold matched her pace as they walked, leaning closer to whisper, "Let me tell you something. If you're dealing with someone as cold as Richard, you've got to stand your ground. Stop giving in to him so easily. Think about it. He even had the nerve to skip the wedding. You've let him get away with too much!"

Brynn placed her hand on the doorknob before glancing back at him. "Would you like to come in with me?"

"No, no." Jerold flailed his hands in refusal. "I wouldn't dare step inside. I know better than to poke that bear. You handle it."

Without waiting for her reply, he hurried off to his own office.

Brynn steadied herself with one breath, then pushed the door open.

Richard's office remained a place of severe order. The heavy wooden furniture and shelves filled with legal volumes created an atmosphere that pressed down on anyone who entered.

He sat behind the wide desk, focused on the papers in front of him.

"What can I do for you?" Brynn stood in front of him.

The coldness in her tone made Richard's pen stop mid-stroke. He lifted his gaze to her, a faint crease forming between his brows.

After a week had passed, her appearance had changed. The softness that once framed her face had faded away. She wore a plain white shirt with black trousers, which made her look even more slight than before.

"Have you been sick?" Richard's brows drew together. "Why have you lost so much weight?"

Even though her appendectomy had been a small procedure, it was still surgery. A week of slow recovery had taken six pounds from her frame.

"Was there something you needed?" Brynn steered clear of his questions and kept her tone strictly businesslike.

Richard's frown deepened, a strange discomfort rising in him. He had tried to show concern, yet she refused to soften even a little.

Yes, the ruined wedding had been his fault, but it had happened because a life had been at stake. Why had she grown so distant?

With that thought tightening his chest, he said coldly, "You've been gone for a week. Do you actually think I wouldn't fire you?"

Brynn kept her expression composed, her tone steady. "My resignation letter has already been submitted."

"I haven't approved of it."

"Based on labor regulations, you have no right to deny—"

"Brynn!" Richard cut her off, his tone sharp and rising without restraint.

Brynn's lashes quivered at the sound, and she pressed her lips together without offering another word. She turned her eyes away, refusing to engage further.

The room settled into a heavy stillness.

After a long moment, Richard spoke again coldly. "There's a meeting this afternoon. You'll attend with me..."

"Listen, I already told you..." Brynn repeated every word with quiet resolve. "I've resigned."

Richard's expression darkened instantly. "Are you finished with this nonsense?"

How could she truly walk away? How could she actually leave him? The thought seemed impossible to him.

From the day their paths crossed, she had clung to his side, enduring every cold look and harsh word he threw her way.

No matter how often he turned from her, she was always there when he looked back.

Because of that history, he believed more than anyone that she would never walk away from him. Resignation? The idea seemed absurd.

"Enough with this behavior! Are you actually convinced I won't sign off on your resignation?" Richard's voice dropped to a harsh, low rumble.

"I don't require your approval." Brynn lifted her gaze to meet his. "After I finish my handover, I'll be gone. And I'll have everything completed before the day ends."

Richard's face darkened like a gathering storm. Just as he opened his mouth to respond, a knock sounded at the door, and Jerold peeked inside. "Richard, we still need to—"

Before Jerold got another word out, Richard snatched the nearest folder and flung it toward the doorway. "Leave!"

The folder slammed onto the floor, papers flying across the entrance. Jerold vanished in an instant.

Brynn's brows tightened in a small frown.

Because Richard rarely showed much feeling, she had almost never witnessed him lose control. Even on the days when he was annoyed, the most he ever did was tighten his brows. Seeing him throw something was entirely new.

She shifted her gaze away, keeping her face composed. "As for the shares I hold in the company. You can cash them out for me based on the current market value..."

Before the rest of her words could leave her mouth, Richard rose sharply from his chair and closed the distance between them.

His height cast a heavy shadow over her. A cold edge flickered in his eyes, carrying a contempt that stung.

He delivered each word with deliberate force. "Brynn, if you walk out and resign, then you should never think about returning."

As Richard's threat lingered in the air, the entire office slipped into a heavy, stretched silence.

He kept his gaze locked on Brynn, fully expecting his stern warning to push her into admitting she had crossed the line.

For five long years, regardless of the circumstance, she had always bent to his will without question. That history was the reason he felt so certain she would never follow through with resigning.

In his mind, others might walk away from him. But not Brynn. She wouldn't. She simply wouldn't.

But the flustered apology he waited for never appeared. Instead, Brynn lifted her chin slightly, a quiet smile touching her lips. "I've made up my mind," she said in an even tone as she set the resignation letter on his desk. "If we're finished here, I'll take my leave."

She pivoted toward the door right after speaking, not granting Richard another look. Every step she took was firm and certain, as though she had already detached herself from this place.

Richard froze in disbelief. Out of all the reactions he had imagined, this had never crossed his mind.

Wasn't she the one who should be pleading for him to keep her? Wasn't she the one who should be rushing to explain that she only acted out of frustration? Wasn't she the one who always soothed his temper the moment it flared, just as she had done so many times before?

He had no idea how she could change so abruptly or so completely.

"Brynn!" he called out the instant her hand touched the doorknob, his voice edged with urgency and something dangerously close to fear.

He expected her to pause. He expected her to look back. But she didn't.

She opened the door with steady resolve.

Right outside, Jerold had been pressed against the doorframe. He lost his balance and lurched forward, nearly falling into the room. His face reddened as he said, "Uh… I was just about to come in and look for Richard..."

Brynn glanced at him briefly, offering a restrained nod before slipping past him. She walked toward her workstation with a firm and unbroken stride. Her figure looked slight, yet it carried a resolve stronger than he had ever seen in her before.

Richard stood rooted in place as Brynn walked away without once looking back. A tight, unfamiliar pressure twisted in his chest, stronger and heavier than anything he had felt before.

Jerold rubbed the back of his neck, glancing between Brynn's fading silhouette and Richard's icy expression. He attempted a weak smile. "Hey, Richard, I was just coming over to talk to you..."

"Shut up!" Richard snapped, the words cutting sharp as his breathing grew uneven. He had never allowed himself to fall apart like this.

Seeing that something was seriously wrong, Jerold shut the office door in a hurry to block the curious stares from outside. After taking a few steps toward Richard, he let out a weary sigh. "Can't you talk to her nicely? You know how she is. If she actually leaves, how's this firm supposed to keep running?"

Richard cast him a frigid look, his tone edged with a hint of defensiveness he didn't intend to show. "You heard her clearly, didn't you? She was the one who pushed for a resignation!"

Jerold stared at him in disbelief, unable to wrap his mind around it.

Resignation? That had to be a joke. Brynn walking away from the law firm? Walking away from Richard? No one would buy such a notion. How could she ever bring herself to leave?

When Jerold came to himself, he finally asked, "Why did you have to go that far? Saying she shouldn't even think of coming back? Isn't that basically a threat? She was only upset. You could've eased the situation. Why push everything to the edge?"

"Enough!" Richard yanked at his tie in frustration, yet the tightness in his chest refused to go away.

For the first time, he recognized something unsettling beneath that emotion. It was anxiety.

He didn't understand any of it. Hadn't he always found Brynn clingy and exhausting? Hadn't he wished she would stop leaning on him so much? Now that she finally had it, why did it feel like he couldn't breathe?

......

At her workstation, Brynn surveyed the space that had seen her through so many long days and late nights, and a strange sense of calm washed over her.

She pulled open a drawer, uncovering the small objects tucked inside.

A faded movie ticket from their very first date, even though Richard had spent nearly the entire showing answering work messages on his phone.

A simple metal bookmark that he had tossed her way after a business trip, claiming it was merely something a client had handed him.

A box of chocolates, warped and sunken from age. His assistant had handed them out to every woman on Valentine's Day, and she had been one of them.

There was also a single fruit candy, its wrapper rubbed thin. He had given it to her long ago when her stomach ached, and her blood sugar had dipped, pulling it from his pocket with an irritated frown.

Every small thing had once held meaning for Brynn. She had kept them as if they were priceless. Now, they struck her as almost absurd.

She let out a faint pull of her lips, gathered the items together, and dropped them into the trash can.

The gentle clatter sounded startlingly loud in the stillness of the office. Her coworkers looked on without a word, unsure what to say.

Brynn placed the last of her personal belongings into a small box, then surveyed the office that had absorbed so many years of her devotion.

The certificates on the wall marked the cases she had fought for. The rows of plants she had selected and tended to at each desk. Even the coffee machine in the break room she had chosen after listening to everyone's tastes.

This place had carried five years of her devotion and affection, but the moment had finally come to let it go.

Without looking back, she walked away, her figure slipping into the elevator within seconds.

The doors eased shut, closing off every lingering stare behind her.

......

Inside his office, Richard stood near the tall window, his posture straight but unnaturally tense.

Although an urgent email waited on his screen, his eyes kept drifting toward the door, unable to settle on the words before him.

The weight in his chest kept growing, as if someone had set a stone on top of his lungs.

Jerold released a weary sigh as he approached. "Richard, you've really messed up this time. Brynn wasn't bluffing."

Richard's brows pinched together, and a faint, dismissive smile tried to hide the unease beneath. "She's just putting on a show. She'd never leave me."

"That was before everything fell apart. This is about the wedding!" Jerold said in frustration. "What woman can stand being left behind on her wedding day? On top of that, I saw her packing for real. She wasn't playing around. She gave away everything she kept here, like she was cutting every tie to this place... and to you."

Richard pressed his lips into a thin line as Brynn's steady, indifferent gaze replayed in his thoughts, deepening the unease curling in his chest.

He searched his memory for the last time she had truly been furious, yet all he recalled were the countless moments she forgave him quickly, no matter how he acted.

"She wouldn't really stay mad at me..." Richard muttered, sounding as if he needed the reassurance himself. "Anyone else might walk out. But Brynn wouldn't..."

Jerold shot him an exasperated look. "That was the old Brynn! People change when they're pushed aside over and over. Listen, go buy her a gift and apologize properly. If you're lucky, she might cool down."

Richard didn't answer right away. Apologize? He had never lowered himself like that. And how was he supposed to choose a gift?

He dragged a hand across his forehead, irritation tightening his features. "I don't know what to buy. You go pick something for me."

Jerold stared at him in disbelief. "Richard Yates! A sincere apology means doing it yourself. You can't just—"

Before he could finish, Richard's phone began to ring.

He lifted a hand to silence Jerold and took the call, his voice slipping back into its usual composed and businesslike tone. "Hello, this is Richard speaking..."

Jerold could only shake his head as he watched the transformation, the earlier panic neatly hidden behind a polished front.

He drifted toward the window and caught sight of Brynn stepping out of the building with a box in her arms. Her slim figure blended into the flow of pedestrians until she disappeared completely from view.

A faint jolt went through Jerold's chest. For some reason, a troubling certainty settled over him. This time, Brynn might actually be gone for good.

Back inside the office, Richard continued talking to the client with perfect steadiness, his tone smooth and controlled, as though nothing had unraveled moments earlier.

However, Jerold noticed his free hand tightening and loosening over and over again, betraying everything his voice tried to hide.