"You want money, yet you also want to create a good image for yourself. You can't have your cake and eat it too," said Zeke.

Upon hearing him, an uproar broke out around us. Everyone looked contemptuously at me, and I could hear a relentless stream of insults being hurled at me.

I looked at Tessa, who still looked completely unfazed. In fact, she even appeared slightly aggrieved, as if Zeke had just described how she felt out loud.

The corners of my mouth twitched, and I smiled incredulously. I was just about to open my mouth when Tessa grabbed hold of me casually.

She tried to sound magnanimous by making peace between us. "Forget it. The past is in the past, and I don't need the money.

"If you want money in the future, just be honest about it. There's no need to make so many excuses."

After hearing what Tessa had said, everyone in the office looked even more indignant. They all felt that I was being too greedy.

"Exactly. Ms. Seinfeld's so rich. He should just say so if he wants money."

"It's despicable of him to curse his mother for the sake of getting money."

"I didn't know Ethan was like that. I used to bring him things to eat because he always seemed to be so frugal."

"People like him deserve to get dumped by Ms. Seinfeld. He won't be able to stay in Jetland any longer."

I looked at a colleague whom I had once been on very good terms with, yet he was stepping all over me just like the others right now.

I thought again about what Tessa had done. Suddenly, everything seemed meaningless.

I was planning to leave anyway. Even if I slammed down my payroll records in front of Tessa right now, she and Zeke would still say all sorts of ridiculous things to make everyone keep humiliating me.

I quietly put my payroll records back in my pocket. I looked up at Tessa and smiled. "We've been together for seven years. You can work out how much of your money I've spent.

"If you can't list out what you spent on me, then please pay me back the hundreds of thousands that you owe me. Otherwise, I'll be suing both you and this company of yours."

She always talked about how money should not be mentioned when it came to relationships, yet the issue of money was omnipresent between us.

She was an heiress in the upper class of Jetland, and everyone thought that she spent lavishly, but she had been spending the money that I had saved up to save my mother's life.

Tessa thought long and hard, after which there was a flash of panic in her eyes.

Of course, she could not remember what she had spent on me, because she was the kind of person who had even made me split the bill with her when buying rubbers.

I had thought about it, and I knew that it wasn't because she was stingy. The truth was Tessa didn't think I was worth spending a single cent on.

Perhaps she wanted to protest, but I no longer wanted to hear it.

When I turned around to leave, Zeke suddenly pushed me. I stumbled and fell to the floor.

"Ethan, don't try to distort the facts. Why would Tess owe you money? Aren't you afraid that we'll call the police? We can get you arrested if you dare to make up rumors.

"If you go to prison, no one's going to take care of your mother, who's lying in the hospital and waiting for you to earn money. Hurry up and apologize to Tess!"

Zeke still thought that he could threaten me. However, nothing was holding me back any longer.

At that moment, my superior happened to pass by. When she saw Tessa, she squeezed into the crowd. She was holding an application form.

"Ms. Seinfeld, Ethan's mother passed away a few days ago, and you still haven't signed to approve the employee condolence payment.

"I've also followed your instructions and withdrawn the application that Ethan made for an advance payment of two thousand dollars.

"It's a pity, though. I heard that Ethan's mother just needed that exact amount to get enough money for the operation."