I Made My CEO Wife Regret Ignoring Me

After Womens Day, my CEO wife created a Mens Day and gave every male employee a gaming keyboardexcept me.

I overheard colleagues in the break room:

She set this up just for her boyfriend Liam. Even bought him a high-end gaming PC.

He keeps bothering the CEO. No wonder shes avoiding him.

I remembered the flashy setup the intern Noah got this morning.

Amy never gave me a gift, not even on anniversaries. Lately, shes been distant, only talking about work worries.

I turned down Gray Corps offer to help her startup, worked tirelessly, even agreed to a secret marriage.

All I got was her silence during rumors and clear favoritism toward the intern.

Holding the hard drive with the latest tech, I called Gray Corp.

"Deal. Technology for equity."

...

A few seconds of silence, then Hannah Gray, known as the "tech industry's Iron Lady," couldn't hide the excitement in her voice.

"Charles, don't worry. I guarantee your decision will be the best choice you've ever made!

Tomorrow's Eastern Pacific tender, with your technology, we're set!"

As soon as I agreed, the phone in my hand was snatched away.

I turned to meet Amy Quinn's cold gaze, a group of gloating employees standing behind her.

She ended my call without a glance, her tone icy.

"It's just a keyboard. As a tech lead, do you really need to make a scene at HR?

If word gets out, people will think Noah is deliberately making things difficult for you. Where would that leave him?"

A bitter smile played on my lips

I hadn't even reached HR, and she was already so worried about Noah.

But for the past year, in the eyes of colleagues, I'd become a lecherous man destroying her and her boyfriend's relationship, with vicious rumors flying everywhere, yet she acted deaf and ignored it all.

Seeing the boss angry, the others naturally understood and joined in with harsh words.

"Manager Gray, being an old bachelor, probably never received a keyboard before. Is that why he's so sensitive?"

"Are home-wreckers always this shameless? Ms. Quinn tried to avoid you and not give you a keyboard, but you still insisted on coming over!"

"Men's Day, as the name suggests, is for young, handsome guys like Noah and us. What's an old fossil like you even thinking?"

Every word pierced me like an arrow. Amy Quinn's face, however, showed no ripple of emotion

I instantly understood that they were probably her mouthpieces, which was why she was so calm.

I trembled with anger, looking coldly at this woman I'd been married to for seven years.

"I am also a male employee of the company. Is there a problem with me fighting for the benefits I'm entitled to?"

Seeing my eyes redden, a flicker of emotion finally crossed Amy Quinn's face, and she sighed lightly.

"If you want"

Noah Dubois suddenly appeared, clutching the gaming rig, and interrupted her, sobbing.

"Manager Gray, it's my fault. As an intern, I don't deserve this!

If you like it, take it. Please don't use your managerial position to pressure me. I'm really scared!"

His few close colleagues in the company also stepped forward, complaining passive-aggressively.

"This morning, as soon as Noah received the keyboard, Manager Gray made him print hundreds of pages of garbled files within an hour.

Noah stood by the printer until his back was breaking, but what came out was clearly useless paper that no one would read.

Isn't this blatant workplace bullying?"

Amy Quinn saw the pile of half-printed documents on the desk, and that hint of emotion on her face instantly vanished.

She pulled out a stack of what looked like gibberish, angrily tore it to shreds, and scattered it all over me.

"And I thought about compensating you. Our Quinn Industries has always valued employee care as its corporate culture.

You, a degenerate who bullies subordinates, are utterly disgraceful!"

Behind the scattered papers were Noah and his friends' triumphant smiles.

But Amy Quinn didn't know that what was written on those papers was my latest technical report, which I had slaved over for five sleepless nights.

I had asked the intern to print it this morning because I wanted to present it to Eastern Pacific Group, the largest client in the industry, before the bidding closed, to secure the project directly.

She grabbed another stack of papers and savagely slapped them across my face.

"Apologize to Noah, now!"

The sharp edges of the A4 paper left several cuts on my face. The tingling pain, however, was nothing compared to the desolation in my heart.

I bent down to pick up the documents I had painstakingly worked on, my voice as cold as my heart.

"He didn't follow my instructions to produce the files within an hour this morning because he wanted to show off his new equipment. He's the one who should apologize!"

Amy Quinn's face grew even darker. She stepped forward and grabbed my collar.

"Charles Gray, when did you become so deceitful and malicious?

You're clearly in the wrong, and for a bit of jealousy, you'd abandon all dignity?

Kneel down and apologize to Noah, and I... I might let you stay on the team!"

The crowd of petty people erupted.

"You old home-wrecker, using your position to bully and harass the rightful person, and you still have the nerve to demand an apology?"

"A pile of waste paper, wasting company resources and disrupting our work. What right does such a selfish, lowlife man have to be a manager?"

"You usually know you're cheap. You don't even take salary or benefits, just cling to Ms. Quinn. Today, for a measly flower, you finally couldn't keep up the act, could you?"

I couldn't help but let out a self-deprecating laugh

When Amy Quinn and I married, she was penniless, but she knew I liked to relax by playing games, and she often saved up to buy me gaming equipment.

Our lives were humble then, but our hearts were full.

Until she clamored to start her own business, pinching every penny, with no time to buy me equipment.

As a renowned tech expert in the industry, I had no choice but to invest my money and efforts to support her.

It wasn't until last year, when the company began to thrive, expanding its team and hiring many interns, that she aimed to capture the market.

I watched her every step of the way, knowing her struggles as an entrepreneur, so I joined Quinn Industries without a salary, giving all benefits to the new recruits.

Even when rumors about her and Noah reached my ears,

Even knowing that Noah, an intern, could expense anything without receipts or limits,

Even though he'd been here only a year and couldn't even manage basic printing, his year-end bonus was a sports car,

I believed Amy Quinn's explanation, "to show care for subordinates and enhance team cohesion."

But for today's benefit, I always thought, given my preferences, she surely wouldn't omit me.

Yet, I never expected that my years of silent endurance and support would only be seen by everyone as undeserving.

I pointed at the data on the document, looking at Amy Quinn with heartache.

"This is the technical data I created with my blood and sweat. If it had been completed according to my timeline this morning,

this document alone could have secured the Eastern Pacific bid ahead of time. Now it's all ruined. Shouldn't he be the one to go?"

Noah, whom I was pointing at, his eyes darted around, then tears streamed down his face.

"Manager Gray, I just got Ms. Quinn's favor, and you're setting such a malicious trap for me?

No wonder you gave me a time limit to print so many documents.

It turns out you couldn't develop the software Ms. Quinn requested and were afraid of losing tomorrow's bid, so you wanted to blame me!

Are you really going to harm me just to cling to Ms. Quinn?"

Others also chimed in.

"I heard Ms. Quinn has been dissatisfied with the tech department for not breaking through the bottleneck for a year. This old fox is cunning, using Noah as a scapegoat!"

"So it didn't matter if the printed documents were garbled. It was just to give Noah an impossible task, purely for blame-shifting!"

"How insidious! No wonder a man tries to climb the ladder by being a home-wrecker. Turns out he knows he's incompetent!"

Amy Quinn's eyes were like daggers. She shoved me onto the pile of documents on the floor.

"You're truly scheming to calculate against Noah!

I wondered why you volunteered for the tech work and then went quiet for so long. Turns out you were spending all your time plotting against Noah!

Apologize to Noah immediately, or don't even think about staying with the company!"

But she forgot, back when the company was just starting and couldn't afford employees, I often filled in for all positions.

Including printing hundreds of pages within an hour, which she always considered basic.

But when it came to Noah, it became me deliberately making things difficult.

I gave a desolate smile, stood up, brushed off the paper scraps, took off my ID badge, and packed my belongings.

"No need for threats. I'm quitting right now!"

I printed another document, signed it, and handed it to her.

"Sign this, and I'll send you the mailing address."

Seeing the words "Divorce Agreement," Amy Quinn froze, then instinctively grabbed me as I was about to leave

Others assumed I was handing her a resignation letter and cheered.

Only Noah, seeing her hold me back, his face instantly clouded over. He quickly pulled Amy Quinn's arm away.

"Ms. Quinn, are you trying to drag Manager Gray back to apologize to me?

If he resigns as an apology, I might not be able to accept it..."

Amy Quinn then recovered herself. Always mindful of her boss image, she quickly nodded along with his words.

"Exactly, how can I let this scoundrel leave so easily?"

She yanked me back, pressing me hard against the wall.

"If I win the bid tomorrow, I'll be a legendary heroine in the business world!

How can you just leave at a time like this?"

The fierce and unwilling look in her eyes,

made it impossible for me to tell if she was keeping me for the bid, or for a love that had been worn down to a mere inconvenience by time.

But I had long lost the interest to guess her thoughts. My heart like ashes, I stared straight into her eyes.

"Since you think I'm incompetent, and you resent me for interfering with your love life, why stop me?"

Amy Quinn's face stiffened. She glanced at Noah behind her, making a clumsy attempt to cover up.

"You're neglecting your duties and bullying a colleague. Don't drag me into it!"

Then she leaned in, gritting her teeth and whispering.

"Just because I've been busy with work these past few months and a bit less intimate in bed, you're going to make a fuss over a keyboard and turn everything upside down?"

I shook my head, speechless, and forcefully pushed her away. The contents of the cardboard box in my arms scattered across the floor.

Noah immediately picked up the most conspicuous item, a photo album. He opened it and sneered.

"No wonder Manager Gray is in such a hurry to leave Quinn Industries. Turns out he saw Ms. Quinn was out of reach and found someone new!"

Others glanced at it and followed suit with mocking laughter.

"Today, seeing he didn't even get a keyboard, he knew Ms. Quinn was a lost cause and started looking for a new sugar mommy. How utterly pathetic!

Looks like he's been eagerly riding cars to hook up with new targets. Shameless!"

But Amy Quinn's face turned ashen as she looked at the contents

The album contained no photos, only train tickets.

It was from college, during the National Computer Competition. She, as part of their school's logistics team, fell for me at first sight and confessed passionately.

But back then, I was already the school's renowned prodigy, unmatched in software technology. Compared to her, a student who liked to play all sides and often failed classes, we were worlds apart.

I gently rejected her, but after the competition, she came back again and again, even standing for hours on trains, to win me over.

Moved by her persistence, I agreed to a relationship.

When we got married, she gave me an album made of all those tickets, tears streaming down her face as she hugged me.

"It took me thousands of miles to catch you. How could I not cherish you?"

But now, this album of tickets had become the most ridiculous irony.

Seeing my silence, the employees assumed they had guessed my illicit affair.

They immediately took out their phones, pointed them at my face, and started a live stream.

"I've never seen such a shameless kept man. Failing with one, he immediately goes to ruin the next. Everyone beware!"

Instantly, my swollen face, paired with the title "Most Afraid of an Old Kept Man Who Tries Hard," spread across the entire internet.

Netizens delighted in the gossip, defamation flowing freely.

"So old and still wanting to be a mistress. Isn't earning money in bed tiring?"

"Who told him he's incompetent? No skills, so he has to rely on his body!"

Some also questioned.

"This man looks familiar. He seems to have won many tech awards before. He should earn quite a bit of money. Is it really necessary to be a kept man?"

Seeing the public outcry, I was furious. I grabbed Amy Quinn's collar.

"Whether I'm a kept man or not, you know best. Tell everyone..."