Ficorpio
Chapter 1
One year into my internship, I decided to break up with Ethan Sterling.
Ethan laughed softly. “What is it now, princess?”
The light from the office tower windows cut across his face, sharpening the elegant line of his features. He still looked perfectly composed, as if this were nothing more than another one of my moods.
“Are you upset because I helped lock down the client and didn’t bring you along?”
I lifted my head and looked at him calmly.
“Ethan,” I said, “I want to break up.”
He propped his chin on one hand and studied me, one brow arching.
“You’re sure you want to break up with me?”
I paused.
We were standing in his spacious Executive Office.
Maybe this was the eighth time. Maybe the ninth. Maybe the tenth. Ethan’s smile carried that familiar, effortless sense of control, the kind that said he had already decided the ending before I even opened my mouth.
“We’ve known each other for ten years,” he said lazily. “You can’t leave me.”
Ten years of knowing me had made him certain I would never leave.
I shook my head. “There’s no such thing as someone you can’t live without. People survive leaving people all the time.”
“Oh?” His smile deepened, threaded with amusement. “So stubborn now, Ava?”
“Ethan.”
I turned to leave, only to run straight into Mia Collins as she came in through the door.
She was holding a file folder in her arms.
“Ethan, about that project… I’m still not sure I’ve got it right. Could you look it over for me again?”
Only then did she seem to notice me. Her voice softened at once, delicate and uncertain.
“Oh. Ava, you’re here too?”
Her wide, innocent eyes landed on my face.
I looked at her and said flatly, “That project is yours. Why should Ethan be reviewing it for you?”
Mia froze.
I was about to walk past her when she hurried back a step, her expression turning wounded.
“Ava, please don’t misunderstand. Ethan and I are only coworkers.” Her eyes reddened as she spoke, her lashes trembling. “I just don’t have much experience, and this project is really important for my evaluation. I only wanted Ethan to give me some guidance. You’re not fighting with him over something this small, are you? He stayed up several nights helping me last week. His stomach problems even acted up because of it.”
I couldn’t help laughing.
“Oh, right. Ordinary coworkers check in on every little detail of each other’s lives every day.
“Ordinary coworkers travel together and stay out all night entertaining clients.
“Ordinary coworkers change into new shoes for you and personally drive you home.
Chapter 2
“Ordinary coworkers call to report in when you’re drunk in the middle of the night.”
I turned my gaze back to Ethan.
“You have no sense of boundaries, Ethan. Don’t pretend you don’t know you have a girlfriend you’ve been with for ten years. As for keeping proper distance from a coworker—apparently that basic decency went straight to the dogs.”
Mia’s face went instantly pale. Her eyes filled with tears, her lashes shaking even harder, every inch of her radiating grievance.
Mia’s lips trembled. Her eyes went red almost instantly.
The air in Ethan’s office pressed down until it felt hard to breathe.
All at once, I found the whole argument pointless.
So I turned and walked out of the Executive Office.
By the time I got back to my apartment, exhaustion hit me so hard I slept straight through the day. When I woke again, it was already midnight.
I picked up my phone and saw Mia’s latest social media post at a glance.
In the photo, she was sitting in a private dining room at some high-end restaurant, smiling softly at the camera.
Her caption read:
Thank you for bringing me into a world I never thought I’d get to see. Thank you for holding my hand and not letting me feel out of place. For me, this isn’t a shortcut—it’s a lesson in growth.
There were two hands in the corner of the picture.
One was Mia’s, lifted as if she had been caught mid-toast.
The other belonged to a man. Long fingers, clean knuckles, an expensive watch at his wrist.
And on his ring finger was the ring I knew better than anyone.
The one I had given Ethan.
My phone buzzed before I could react.
Nora’s name flashed across the screen.
The moment I answered, she said, “I saw the trending topic. If you want, I can have someone bury it.”
I looked at the screen in silence for a few seconds, then said, “No need.”
Seven hours had passed since Mia posted that photo.
If Ethan wanted to explain, he would have by now.
No message. No call.
Nothing.
I lowered my eyes to Ethan’s contact.
His profile picture was still the one I had chosen for him years ago—a smug little cat with its chin lifted like it owned the world.
After all this time, he had never changed it.
My finger hovered over the screen for a long moment before I tapped another familiar number instead.
An hour later, I met David Hayes downstairs for coffee.
The second he saw me, he frowned. “Ava, what happened to your eyes?”
“I was up late working,” I said.
He gave me a look that said he didn’t believe a word of it, but he only sighed. “Even if you’re killing yourself over projects, you still need to take care of your health.”
Then, as if remembering something, he shook his head with a helpless smile.
Chapter 3
“You were exactly like this back when Ethan Sterling first joined the company after graduation. You fought tooth and nail to get assigned to the same department as him. Worked until dawn for weeks. I’d come in early and find you half-asleep over your desk.”
I stirred my coffee and didn’t answer.
After a few polite exchanges, I went straight to the point.
“My transfer has been approved. I’d like to move to the branch office.”
David paused, clearly surprised. “You want to leave Corporate Headquarters? For Fairhaven?”
He hesitated, then added, “You and Ethan…”
“My career and my relationship are separate things.” I took a sip of coffee. “Besides, the Fairhaven Branch Office has more room for me to grow.”
David studied me for a while.
“This isn’t a decision you’re making out of anger?”
“No,” I said. “It’s my decision.”
He didn’t try to persuade me after that.
My phone lit up again. This time, it was Nora.
Her message was short:
Of course you should go to Fairhaven.
I stared at it for a moment, then smiled faintly.
Yes.
Why shouldn’t I go?
I closed the approval email and slid my phone back into my bag.
This place had gotten too suffocating.
Ten minutes later, Nora Whitmore showed up.
She dragged me out of the office building and lectured me the entire way, her voice sharp with fury and worry in equal measure.
“How many times have I told you? If a man’s heart isn’t with you, let him go. Why are you still wasting yourself on Ethan Sterling?”
I lowered my eyes and checked the message on my phone. “I’m not wasting myself on him. I’m handling work.”
“Work?” Nora let out a disbelieving laugh. “Who do you think you’re fooling?”
“I’ve already applied for a transfer. Fairhaven Branch approved it.”
That finally shut her up for a second.
Then she stared at me. “You’re serious?”
I nodded.
Nora’s expression shifted from anger to relief, then to the kind of satisfaction that came from watching someone finally make a clean break. “Good. That’s more like it. Honestly, with your skills and your temper, you could survive anywhere. Why chain yourself to Headquarters and let those people walk all over you?”
I gave a faint smile. “I earned my place here myself. If I can build it once, I can build it again.”
“Exactly.” Nora linked her arm through mine. “That’s the spirit. And as for Ethan—”
Before she could finish, a commotion near the lobby cut through her words.
A few people had gathered by the front desk. One of them was Mia Collins.
Of course.
Some people were impossible to avoid.
Mia stood in front of the reception counter, her eyes already red, looking as if she had been wronged beyond endurance. Across from her, Rachel Brooks from reception looked equally frustrated, both hands pressed against the counter as she tried to keep her voice professional.
“You reserved VIP Suite Three,” Rachel said, barely holding back her irritation. “But the suite you’re trying to use has already been assigned to another client. We told you this when you checked in. How many times do I have to explain it?”