?Chapter 19:


    Sadie’s mouth fell open in shock. “What happened?” she asked, her voice tinged with disbelief.


    “You should check the group chat,” a colleague said, pointing towards Sadie’sputer with a sheepish expression.


    As Sadie turned to her screen, a cautious hope began to bubble inside her. Could it be that Noah had made their marriage public?


    Was he ready to embrace their rtionship openly, to dere their bond to the world?


    Heart pounding with a mix of nerves and urgency, Sadie started herputer, clicking into the work group chat without hesitation. For a brief, hopeful second, her lips curved into a tentative smile.


    But it faltered, then froze entirely.


    The pinned message wasn’t the happy announcement she had longed for.


    Instead, it was a somber rification.


    Her eyes scanned the lines quickly; they were penned by a colleague from the marketing department, one with whom she had previously shed. The colleague confessed to having taken those photos with the sole intent of tarnishing Sadie’s reputation.


    An official notice from thepany swiftly followed, denouncing the colleague’s actions and imposing a strict penalty, while also issuing a stern warning against the spread of rumors.


    So, it wasn’t what she had thought.


    Disappointment crashed over Sadie like a cold wave, leaving a sting as if she had been pped hard across the face. The sensation seared her, sinking ws deep into her flesh.


    “Talk all you want, but at the end of the day, it’s Noah’s feelings that decide everything.” K’s words haunted her, tightening around her heart like a steel vice.


    Was it possible? Noah preferred pinning the me on an innocent colleague rather than making their marriage public, simply to shield K from the scandal of being the other woman?


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    Sadie’s hands balled into fists at her sides, her nails digging crescents into her palms. Yet, she felt numb to the physical pain.


    The ache in her heart dwarfed any physical difort, a deep, throbbing wound far more grievous than any cut could ever be. The realization pierced her heart like a shard of ice, chilling and sharp, drawing forth a silent, seething agony.


    Sadie had given everything to this marriage, putting her own dreams on hold just to stand by Noah’s side, unseen but unwavering.


    Yet, this was her bitter reward.


    A hollowugh escaped her lips, tinged with the taste of disillusionment.


    As the sun dipped below the horizon and the office buzz dwindled to a hushed stillness, Sadie lingered at her desk, lost in thought. The soft luminescence of herputer screen cast ghostly shadows across her features, underscoring the turmoil within.


    She marveled numbly at her ability to endure the day—each sidelong nce and hushed murmur from her colleagues felt like a de twisting in her already wounded heart.


    She had believed herself resilient, armored against the slings and arrows of fate. But the harsh light of truth unveiled her fragility, a delicate ss figure on the verge of shattering.


    “Sadie, why are you still here?”


    The sudden intrusion of a familiar voice jolted her from her reverie. It was Tina Delgado, a beacon of kindness in the often indifferent sea of their corporate world.


    “I’m just… trying to wrap my head around the new project,” Sadie replied, mustering a feeble smile to mask her inner chaos.


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