Hard work after winning the lottery

That line of dates, which she had highlighted in bold red, lay silently on the screen like an ominous sign.

Hua Yun didn't think much of it.

She thought it was just another ordinary marker on her long journey of looking up.

It wasn't until three days later, on Monday morning.

A storm that swept through the city, without warning, shattered all her naive fantasies.

This bombshell exploded on Monday morning, blasting across the entire 66th floor.

It all started with a colleague from the marketing department exclaiming in the break room.

"Oh my god! Look at the financial headlines! The biggest news of the year!"

Intrigued, several secretaries who were getting water immediately gathered around.

The next second, gasps of shock filled the air.

"The Zhou family and the Su family...are getting married?!"

"Mr. Zhou is getting engaged to the heiress of the Su family? Is it true?!"

Hua Yun, holding the freshly washed coffee pot, suddenly froze in place.

A buzzing sound filled my ears, and the world went silent instantly.

She could only see her colleagues' excited and exaggerated lip movements, but she couldn't hear what they were saying.

Li Wei frowned and walked over.

"What's all the noise about during work hours?"

The colleague from the marketing department seemed to have discovered something amazing, and excitedly handed the phone to Li Wei.

"Sister Wei, look! Breaking news!"

Li Wei's gaze fell on the phone screen, and her expression paused for a rare moment.

Hua Yun's gaze involuntarily followed.

That was a headline push notification from a well-known financial portal website.

The bold, black-lettered text, like a poisoned blade, pierced her pupils.

[A powerful alliance! Zhou Yanjin, heir to the Zhou Group, and Su Wan, daughter of the Su family, are reportedly getting married soon, possibly next month!]

got engaged.

Those two words, like two mountains collapsing with a deafening roar, instantly crushed her heart into dust.

The picture below the title made her forget to breathe.

The background of the photo is a glittering charity gala.

Zhou Yanjin was dressed in a sharp black suit, her posture upright like a pine tree.

Standing next to him was a woman in a champagne-colored long dress, with slightly wavy long hair and a gentle demeanor, who was looking up at him with a smile.

A perfect match, a match made in heaven.

The man's expression remained as aloof as ever, but there seemed to be a subtle, almost imperceptible tenderness in his eyes.

Hua Yun had never seen him look like that before.

The captions under the photos were even more cruel and merciless.

[The photo shows Mr. Zhou Yanjin with Ms. Su Wan, daughter of Su Mingcheng, Chairman of the Su Group.]

Su Mingcheng.

Su Wan.

So that's how it is... So that's how it is.

The name she entered last week, the name of the man she was about to meet, was that of her future father-in-law.

In that instant, the world lost all its color.

All that remained was the glaring group photo on the phone screen and the dark, heavy headline.

My heart felt like it was being gripped by an icy hand and then crumpled into a ball of trash.

"Stop watching, everyone."

Li Wei's voice pulled her back from the boundless ice cellar.

She pushed the phone back to her colleague, her tone serious.

"Do not spread any rumors in the company before there is an official statement, especially on the 66th floor."

"That's the rule."

She glanced around, her gaze lingering on Hua Yun's pale face for half a second before looking away.

"Go back to work."

The crowd dispersed instantly, and the tea room returned to silence.

Only Hua Yun remained standing stiffly in place, like a sculpture that had lost its soul.

She didn't know how she got back to her workstation.

She felt as if every step she took was on cotton, unsteady and powerless.

The hushed whispers of her colleagues around her felt like countless fine needles pricking her eardrums.

"I know Su Wan. She's a top student who graduated from an Ivy League school. She's also very beautiful. She and President Zhou are a perfect match."

"This is truly the pinnacle of business alliances. With these two companies joining forces, the entire business district will tremble."

"No wonder I've been hearing rumors about collaborating with the Su family lately; so this was paving the way for it..."

Every word sounded like a death sentence being read out to her.

She turned on her computer, and every word in the document on the screen turned into distorted symbols.

She couldn't understand it, and she couldn't concentrate on it.

The only thing that keeps replaying in my mind is that photo.

The image of him and the woman named Su Wan standing side by side.

So harmonious, so natural.

It was as if they were meant to belong to the same world.

She was nothing more than a lowly believer who had mistakenly entered the temple and presumptuously spied on the gods.

"Hua Yun"

Li Wei's voice rang out from above.

Hua Yun snapped back to her senses and looked up like a startled child.

"Sister Wei."

"It's 9:30, Mr. Zhou's coffee," Li Wei reminded him expressionlessly, revealing no emotion whatsoever.

"...Okay, I'll go right away."

Hua Yun practically fled into the small tea room.

The place she once regarded as a "sacred ritual" now resembled an execution ground.

She took out the can of Blue Mountain No. 1 coffee beans that she had personally labeled and scooped them into the grinder with a spoon.

But her hands were trembling uncontrollably.

Finely crushed coffee beans were spilled halfway onto the kitchen counter.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down.

I silently repeated those steps, which were already ingrained in my bones, over and over again in my mind.

Water at 85 degrees Celsius.

Brewing time is 2 minutes and 30 seconds.

However, as she lifted the pouring kettle and poured the scalding hot water into the filter cup, her wrist trembled violently again.

A few drops of hot water splashed onto the back of her hand, leaving a small red mark.

She felt no pain at all.

Because the hole in her heart was letting in a lot of cold air, freezing all her senses.

She didn't know how she finished making the coffee in the cup.

All she knew was that every step she took as she carried that cup of coffee toward the CEO's office was incredibly difficult.

The bone china cup on the tray made a soft, crisp clinking sound as her hands trembled.

It was as if the death knell was tolling for her grand yet silent unrequited love.

She placed the coffee on the shelf by the door and fled back to her seat.

Ten minutes later, the familiar, steady, and powerful footsteps approached from afar.

Click, click, click.