Or maybe I did. Does it matter? Not legally. Get some sleep, James. I'll have preliminary papers by noon.
He didn't sleep. Instead, he spent the next 12 hours in a frenzy of activity that felt like shedding an old skin. He contacted a realtor about listing the house. He arranged for movers to pack his belongings and ship them to Singapore. He transferred his portion of their joint savings into a separate account, exactly half, down to the penny.
He wasn't running away broke and broken. He was walking away whole. At noon, true to his word, Marcus delivered the papers. At 1:00 p. M., he was in a car to the airport.
At 400 p. M., he was boarding a plane to Singapore, to a new life, to the professional opportunity he'd been sacrificing on the altar of a marriage that had already ended. He sent her one photo before takeoff, him in the business class lounge, laptop open, Victor's partnership contract visible on the screen. The caption read, "Taking your advice, finding myself. Enjoy Paris.
" Then he turned off his phone and didn't look back. The Singapore humidity hit him like a wall when he stepped off the plane, but James breathed it in like oxygen after years underwater. Victor was waiting outside customs, impeccably dressed despite the early morning hour, his face splitting into a genuine smile. "Welcome home, partner, " Victor said, gripping his hand firmly. "Though I have to say, I didn't expect you to commit quite this dramatically.
" James laughed, surprised by how natural it felt. When I make a decision, I make it completely. I can see that. Come, we have much to do and very little time. Your hotel is 15 minutes away.
But first, breakfast. You haven't lived until you've had proper kaya toast and kopi. They sat in a hawker center as the city woke around them, and James felt something shift in his chest. This wasn't running away. This was running towards something.
Victor laid out the project details over their meal. The Meridian Tower, a revolutionary sustainable high-rise that would set new standards for eco-friendly luxury development in Southeast Asia. The clients specifically requested you, Victor explained, sliding a folder across the table. Your work on the Jakarta project caught their attention. They want that same vision, but bigger, bolder.
This could define our firm for the next decade. James flipped through the preliminary designs. His architects are immediately seeing possibilities, improvements, innovations. His fingers itched for his drafting tablet. When's the presentation?
4 days. They moved it up. Can you be ready? I'll be ready. His phone, which he turned back on during the flight, had been buzzing continuously.
43 missed calls, 67 text messages. All from her. He'd glanced at the first few. What the hell is that photo supposed to mean? Are you seriously ignoring me right now?