Judged by Her New Eyes

My girlfriend landed an offer from a Fortune 500 company.
I jokingly told her that my mountains of debt made me unworthy of her brilliant future.
She nodded and immediately broke up with me.
Before I could explain, she had deleted and blocked me.
But
I said I had mansions of debt!
As in, a mountain of sprawling, luxurious estates!

1.
Scrolling through my social media feed, I saw a photo my girlfriend, Clara, had posted. It was an internship offer from a publicly traded company. It was just a branch office, but the prospects were incredible.
Her caption read: "Internship ready."
The comments were a chorus of praise and congratulations:
"Wow, Clara, you're a rockstar!"
"Are you even sleeping at night? Your future is so bright!"
"OMG, Clara, you're too good for your boyfriend now!!!"
My thumb froze on the screen. A knot formed in my stomach. I was her boyfriend, yet I was finding out this huge news from a social media post, just like everyone else.
She had been so busy with her job search lately. Whenever I asked, shed brush me off with an irritated, "Don't bother me, I have my own pace."
"It's a secret right now."
"I'm not telling you."
I tried to be understanding, to respect her process, and swallowed all my questions. But the more I thought about it, the worse I felt.
Maybe maybe she wanted me to ask her directly?
With that thought, I immediately texted her.
"Babe, you got the offer? My girl is amazing!"
"You can finally relax. How about I treat you to a celebratory dinner tomorrow? Your choice of place."

2.
I sent the text, but my phone remained silent.
I refreshed her feed and saw she had replied to several other comments.
"Thanks, girl!" "Love you~"
The replies were warm and enthusiastic.
Half an hour later, Clara finally texted back.
Two cold, dismissive words: "No thanks."
I stared at the screen, confused, and sent a question mark.
"?"
"Bad mood? Want me to come pick you up?"
The message went unanswered, sinking into a digital void.
My thesis advisor was hounding me for revisions, so I put my phone away and tried not to overthink it. By the time I picked it up again, it was eight o'clock. The chat window was unchangedno reply.
The unease in my stomach grew, a tiny flame of anxiety licking at my insides. I waited another thirty minutes, clutching my phone, a bitter laugh escaping my lips. How could someone be so persistent in the face of such coldness?
I couldn't take it anymore. I typed furiously, my frustration seeping into the words:
"Oh, you got the offer? Congrats."
"Funny how I had to find out about something this big along with the rest of your followers."
The next second, my phone rang. It was Clara.
I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice calm.
"You finally"
My words were cut off by a deafening roar of noise from her end. The clinking of glasses, the raucous laughter of men and women, someone shouting what might have been a song.
"Clara," I said, my voice dropping. "Where are you? Why is it so loud?"
I could hear her faint breathing, and then, the piercing sound of someone egging her on.
"Clara, what are you waiting for? Just say it!"
"Yeah, is he really going to stop you from moving on to bigger and better things?"
"If you don't say it, we'll say it for you!"
It was the voices of her so-called best friends.
My heart sank. So, her coldness all day it wasn't a misunderstanding. It was intentional.
She finally spoke, her tone icy.
"Liam, if I remember correctlyyou told me your family has 'mountains of debt,' right?"

3.
I remembered.
One tipsy evening a month ago, I had my arm around her and said, half-joking, "My family we have mansions of debt."
My words had been slurred. She must have misheard "mansions" as "mountains."
But three years three years of love and commitment was all of that erased by a single drunken misunderstanding?
A strange impulse took hold of me. I wanted to test her. I decided to play along.
"That's right. My family has mountains of debt. I'm not good enough for your brilliant future. But"
A sharp, undisguised scoff came from the other end.
"Yeah," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I think so too. Let's break up."
"My friends are right. We were never a good match."
"You're not on my level. Look at you. It's almost May, and you haven't even finished your thesis. I already have an offer. We're on different wavelengths, and the gap is only going to get wider."
"Don't make this pathetic by clinging."
Before I could say another word, she hung up.
I tried calling backthe line was busy.
She had blocked me.
So, that was it? I'd been dumped, just like that, off the edge of a cliff?
But what I had said was mansions of debt.
As in, a mountain of sprawling, luxurious estates.
In three years, I had never let her spend a single penny. How could she possibly think I was poor?
And the thesis I hadn't finished it because I had chosen the most difficult topic, a challenge I relished. I preferred to take my time and do it right.
How could she have misunderstood me so completely?
Three years, and she had never truly known me at all.

4.
After the breakup, I felt like I was suffocating. I called my best friend, Ben, and we went out for a drink. I told him the whole story.
He covered his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter.
"Seriously, Liam. You are the most low-key rich kid I have ever met."
I swirled the amber liquid in my glass. "As long as I'm comfortable, what's the point of brand names?"
Ben clapped me on the shoulder. "Getting dumped sucks, man. But dodging a gold digger? That's a win. Just wait. When she finds out who you really are, she's going to regret this so hard."
I gave him a wry smile. "She blocked me. How is she ever going to find out?"
"Did you even look at her offer letter?" Ben raised an eyebrow. "The company she's interning at? It's a subsidiary of your family's corporation."
I blinked, the realization dawning on me. "No wonder the name sounded familiar."
Ben roared with laughter. "I get it. So many companies under the family umbrella, you can't even keep track, right?"
I didn't answer, just tilted my head back and downed my drink.
Three years of my life, traded for a brutal, sudden breakup. The irony was laughable.
Through a drunken haze, my phone buzzed.
I squinted at the notification and froze.
It was from Clara's best friend, Jessica.
"Liam, are you okay?"
I frowned and sent a question mark.
She immediately sent a screenshot of Clara's latest post: a perfectly curated selfie with the caption, "Hello, freedom. Hello, future."
When I didn't reply, Jessica sent a voice message. I pressed play. Her voice was saccharine sweet.
"Clara is just so impulsive Did you two really break up? Did she block you? If you want to say anything to her, I can pass along the message for you~"
She even followed it up with a cute cat emoji.
I stared at the screen and sneered.
Jessica was the biggest pot-stirrer of the group. Her voice was the loudest on the phone call, cheering Clara on. Did she really think I wouldn't recognize it just because she was putting on a sweet act?
I replied with three words: "Don't need it."
Then, I blocked her.
Now that I saw Clara for who she really was, there was no reason to have any contact with the fake people she surrounded herself with.
I didn't give it another thought.

5.
Occasionally, thoughts of Clara would still surface. But my thesis defense was looming. My days were a blur of research, experiments, and my advisor's feedback. When you're running on fumes, there's not much energy left for heartbreak.
Before I knew it, it was June. The campus was filled with graduating seniors in caps and gowns, most of whom had their futures figured out. My dorm mates were heading off to tech giants or studying abroad.
Compared to them, I was a step behind. But I wasn't worried.
I gave my older brother a call.
He laughed on the other end. "So? Are you going to start your own business, or are you coming back to take over the company?"
"The family business is fine with you at the helm," I said, testing the waters. "I want to try starting something on my own."
"That's great," he said warmly. "But you can't just build a business on paper. How about this: there's a subsidiary that's been underperforming for a few years. Go there, work as an intern in the tech department. Start from the bottom, and see if you can figure out what the problem is."
I had been looking for direction, and this was the perfect opportunity to gain experience and help my brother out. I agreed immediately.
I just never expected fate to have such a twisted sense of humor.
The subsidiary was, of course, the same one where Clara was interning.
She was in marketing. I was in tech.

6.
On my first day, I got a taste of the intern life. The department manager dumped all the tedious, grunt work on me. From organizing spreadsheets to proofreading data, I was so busy I barely had time to breathe.
Fortunately, the work wasn't difficult for me.
What was strange, though, was that the other new intern, Evan, had it easy. He had a light workload, and the manager was constantly checking in on him, asking if he needed anything.
Was Evan the manager's nephew or something?
It wasn't until I overheard a conversation in the breakroom that I understood.
"Did you hear? The CEO's son is interning here!"
"Really? Which department? He's so low-key"
"Wow, if I could catch his eye, I'd be set for life."
I took a sip of my coffee and unconsciously touched my nose. The CEO's son might be rich, but he wasn't stupid. What were these people thinking?
Then, I thought of the ex-girlfriend who had dumped me for being "poor," and I couldn't help but shake my head.
Just as I was about to leave, I heard them continue.
"But a rich kid would be wearing designer clothes, right? None of the new interns are dressed like that. The most expensive thing I've seen is on Liam, that thousand-dollar shirt of hisbut he wears the same one every day."
I glanced down at my shirt and had to laugh. I just happened to love the cut and feel of this particular brand, so I had bought the entire collection.
Another voice immediately shot back, "It's definitely not him! It has to be Evanhe has the same last name as the CEO! None of the other new interns are named Vance."
The coffee cup in my hand stilled.
Suddenly, it all made sense.
No wonder the manager was fawning over Evan.
I narrowed my eyes. Being mistaken for someone else wasn't so bad. It was the perfect opportunity to see just how many opportunistic, shallow people were hiding in this company.

7.
That night, exhausted, I collapsed onto my king-sized bed. My phone vibrated with a friend request. Without looking closely, I assumed it was a coworker and accepted.
The moment I did, a string of messages flooded in:
"Liam! Don't get the wrong idea. I'm only adding you because I have something important to discuss."
The familiar tone made me grimace. "Clara?"
She replied instantly: "It's been a month, and you're still not over me? I know I'm irresistible."
"But let me be clear. Don't think you can win me back just by following me to this company. You look pathetic when you're this desperate. We are never, ever getting back together."
I stared at the screen, speechless. I had never realized how narcissistic she was. If she hadn't changed her profile picture and username, I would have never accepted the request.
I couldn't resist sending a sarcastic emoji. "Relax, I have zero interest in getting back together. As for being at the same companypure coincidence."
Clara: "It better be."
"If there's nothing else, let's just delete each other." I had no desire to drag this out. In my opinion, a good ex is a dead ex.
But Clara quickly typed back: "Wait!"
"I need to ask you about someonethe new guy at the desk next to you, Evan. Do you know him well?"
I finally understood. The only reason she had contacted me was to get information about Evan.
"So, you only added me to ask about him?"
She seemed flustered, sending an angry emoji. "What's wrong with that? We have a work project together. Can't I ask a simple question?"
I almost laughed out loud. What kind of important work project could two interns possibly have together?
Not wanting to waste another word, I blocked her.

8.
The following days were a blur of work. The manager started assigning me Evan's tasks as well, under the guise of "giving the new guy more experience." Meanwhile, the supposed "prince" of the company spent his days scrolling through his phone and accepting gifts.
Many of the young female employees tried to get his attention.
"Evan, I bought too much coffee. You can have this one!"
"Evan, you don't drive? You take the subway? Me too! I love the subway! We should ride together after work!"
"Evan, there's a new Japanese restaurant that just opened. Want to go after work?"
Among the crowd of admirers, I spotted Clara.
She was clearly dressed to impress. The click-clack of her heels grew closer, pausing for a moment beside my desk. The familiar scent of her rose-scented shampooher favoritewafted over.
She didn't even glance at me. The moment she saw Evan, her face broke into a dazzling smile, her eyes curving into gentle crescents.
"Evan, there's a new movie out this weekend. I have an extra ticket. Want to go?"
Clara was beautiful. Especially among the other young women, she seemed to glow.
Evan's eyes lit up, and he agreed without a second thought.
Clara tossed her hair and walked away, her heels clicking on the floor. She never looked at me once.
Watching her leave, I was suddenly reminded of the first time I saw her. It was at the university's welcome gala. She was on stage, dancing in a faded cotton dress.
The spotlight hit her, and she shone like a swan. No fancy makeup, no beautiful dress.

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