He Exposed Me for Laughs, I Cut Funding

On my wedding anniversary, I go to Anthony Scroll's company in an attempt to surprise him.

No one at the front desk stops me from entering. But what stops me in my tracks is the fact that a photo of me is printed on the welcome mat outside the CEO's office.

There's also a sentence printed on the mat that says, "You'll be bestowed with wealth if you step on her face."

My hands start trembling out of rage. As soon as I open the door to the office and try to bring up the topic in front of Anthony, Alexis Timmer, a shareholder, as well as one of Anthony's "boys", throws a stack of useless documents at my face instantly.

The sharp edges of the papers leave papercuts on my cheek, sending white-hot pain flaring through my senses.

Alexis has one leg crossed over the other as she chews on a piece of gum innocently.

"Oh, hey Kimberly! Sorry about that. The papers came flying out of my hand for no reason. You see, the programmers are extremely stressed, so the mat is meant for them to vent their stress.

"Anthony has agreed to the usage of your photo, by the way. After all, it makes things even livelier for the company. A housewife like you will never understand our niche humor."

Anthony takes off his earphones before shooting me a berating glance. Then, he passes a bottle of water to Alexis.

"Alex is just like one of the boys. Stop using your own rules to restrict her."

As Alexis twists open the bottle cap, she tilts her chin in my direction smugly.

"Also, Anthony hates it whenever you show up at the company with your stupid surprises, Kimberly. The food that you bring him always ends up getting eaten by us as a form of punishment."

I followed Alexis Timmer's finger to see that she was pointing at the trash can.

Tossed carelessly into it were the handmade pastries I had brought over last time. Grandma had woken up early in the morning and painstakingly shelled walnuts for hours for me to bake with back then.

Now, however, I could see that someone had even spat on them.

My mind went blank at the sight.

Anthony Scoll walked over and began pushing at my shoulders impatiently to herd me out of his office.

"Do you have any sense at all? Can't you see that we're in the middle of working on the critical code? And what are you wearing? What if the investor sees you? What would they think then? Hurry up and go home. You'll just humiliate us both if you stay here."

I looked Anthony straight in the eyes and said, "Anthony, today's our third wedding anniversary."

He paused momentarily before scoffing. "Wedding anniversary? Only people with too much time on their hands like you celebrate those occasions. We're here trying to change the world. As if I would have the time to play house with you!"

From behind us came a whistle from Alexis. "Tony, stop wasting your breath on her. My code isn't running properly. Quickly come over and help me take a look, will you?"

Her voice was coy and sweet, not at all like the usual boyish image she portrayed.

Immediately, a gentle expression took over Anthony's face, and he turned to call back to Alexis. "Coming."

To me, he said, "Kimberly, take a cab home yourself. You're an adult, so stop making me worry about you all the time."

With that, he slammed the door shut in my face.

Through the adjoining glass window, I could see Alexis pressed all up against Anthony's back as she leaned forward to point at her screen, a charming smile on her face. Meanwhile, Anthony was stroking her hair adoringly.

My fingers drifted up to touch my faintly throbbing cheek as I allowed a cold sneer to curve my lips.

"Change the world? Anthony Scoll, you seem to have forgotten just who it was who wrote the core calculation that allowed a good-for-nothing like you to ascend to the throne of 'genius entrepreneur' back then." I sneered inwardly.

Instead of returning home, I headed to the hospital to get my injuries looked at.

The doctor told me I was lucky as the wounds weren't deep. If there had been just a little bit more force, I would've been left with scars.

After I got home, I went to the bathroom to apply the ointment the doctor had prescribed me.

As I stared at the pallid face in the mirror, my thoughts began to drift.

Back in college, I had been the champion of the National Coding Competition. However, because of Anthony, I stepped away from the field and changed my focus into learning how to cook and clean. Yet, in his eyes, I was nothing but a "boring housewife".

At that moment, my phone buzzed twice.

One was for a bank transfer notification informing me that I had received 20 dollars, and the other was a message from Anthony.

There was no apology or concern, just a message that read, "Alex didn't mean to do that. She's just a bit too playful. Use the money to buy yourself some bandaids. Don't hold it against her, okay? She's still young."

Following that, I received an invitation from Alexis to join a group chat named "Future Unicorn Core Members".

When I joined the chat, the group happened to be active, with messages flying by my screen.

However, what caught my attention was that most of the messages were meme stickers of that unflattering photo of me.