Don't Wait for the Rain to Clear

It started with a sudden downpour. I turned around to buy an umbrella. By the time I got back, Winston Sterling had already draped his overcoat across Sera Thorne’s shoulders. He pulled me under the umbrella, his tone gentle, as if soothing a spoiled child. "Sera can't handle the cold. Just let her have it this once, Nat. Be a good girl. Don't make a fuss." I looked down at my own shoulder, which was already completely soaked through. I didn't say a word. We had been building our startup for five years. Everyone always said Winston and Sera were the dual heart and soul of Sterling Tech. One wrote the code, while the other pitched the product. Meanwhile, I was the one managing the budgets, chasing down clients, advancing money for our office rent, and pulling all-nighters to grind out business proposals. Yet, all I ever got from him was a single, offhand sentence. "Nat, you're always the reasonable one." But I finally understood. It was always the reasonable one who got pushed out into the rain, time and time again. When the car door opened, Winston practiced an all-too-familiar routine, adjusting the passenger seat cushion for Sera. That was a lumbar support cushion I had bought for myself after injuring my waist. I threw the newly purchased umbrella straight into the trash can. Then, I pulled up my phone and clicked send on the equity exit agreement I had prepared long ago. Three minutes later, his reply came back as a brief, three-word text. "Don't be silly." What he didn't know was that at that exact same moment, I had also opened another email. Chapter 1 When Winston Sterling returned to the office, I was just hanging my soaked coat over the back of my chair. Water dripped steadily from the cuffs, pooling into a small puddle on the office floor. The receptionist frowned as she watched the water drip. "Hey, Director Cross, didn't you go with Mr. Sterling to meet with Genesis Capital? How did you end up getting completely drenched like this?" Before I could open my mouth to answer, the elevator doors slid open again. Sera Thorne stepped out, perfectly wrapped in Winston’s overcoat. Her face was just the right shade of pale, and she was holding a warm cup of coffee carefully in both hands. Winston followed closely behind her, whispering low, attentive instructions. "Go straight to the lounge first. Stay away from the air conditioning vents." Sera nodded softly. As she passed by my desk, she paused. "Nat, please don't get the wrong idea. I just suddenly felt unwell, so Winston..." I cut her off. "Is the coat warm, Director Thorne?" Sera froze, her eyes instantly welling up with tears. Winston’s brow furrowed aggressively. "Natalie, do you really have to speak with such a sharp edge?" I looked directly at him. "I just asked a simple question." "Sera has a weak constitution, and you know that perfectly well," he replied, his voice carrying that familiar, heavy impatience. It was the exact tone he used whenever he thought I was making a scene out of nothing. I looked down and wrung the water out of my cuffs. "I was out in the rain too." Winston stiffened for a second. His gaze fell upon my shoulder, which was entirely dark and soaked through, and his expression softened a fraction. "Alright, look. I'll buy you a brand new one later. Tonight's launch event is critical, so don't bring your personal feelings into work." A faint, bitter smile touched my lips. "Am I still the main presenter for tonight's launch?" He fell silent for two long seconds. Sera immediately jumped in. "Nat, please don't overthink this. The investors suddenly wanted to hear a much more technical breakdown at the last minute. That's the only reason Winston asked me to step in." Winston took over the conversation smoothly. "You just need to handle the overall coordination behind the scenes. You know the script best out of everyone, so just make sure there are no slip-ups on site." I just stared at him. I was the one who had overseen every single detail of this launch event—from scouting the venue to sending out the media invitations, managing the budgets, and planning the entire itinerary. Yet, in the end, the person standing on that stage was still going to be Sera Thorne. On my phone, an email from Genesis Capital had already been sitting in my inbox for two days. 【Dear Miss Cross, if you confirm your exit from Sterling Tech, we are highly interested in continuing our discussions regarding an independent advisory partnership.】 I hadn't replied to them yet. Back then, I genuinely thought I was just exhausted. I didn't realize I was actually preparing to walk away for good. My colleagues began posting rehearsal photos in the company group chat. Sera stood in a pristine white blazer in front of the main projector screen while Winston bent down to carefully adjust her microphone. The caption under the photo read: Look at the incredible chemistry between Mr. Sterling and Director Thorne! No wonder Genesis Capital specifically demanded to hear a roadshow from our two core pillars. I stared at the words "two core pillars" for a very long time. Five years ago, on the night before our very first server subscription was set to expire, Winston had sat on the floor of our cramped, rented apartment, clutching his laptop with bloodshot eyes, completely frantic. I had wired him five thousand dollars, claiming it was emergency money sent by my family. In reality, that money was earned from working shifts at a warehouse for two months straight, loading heavy cargo until the skin on my back peeled from the brutal sunburn. That night, he had held me tight, repeating the same promise over and over. "Nat, in the future, half of this company belongs to me, and the other half belongs to you." Now, looking at the equity exit agreement I had sent him, he had only replied with three words. 【Don't be silly.】 At seven o'clock in the evening, the launch event officially commenced. Sera stood directly beneath the spotlight. She spoke beautifully about entrepreneurship, about perseverance, and about how Winston had led the technical team through endless dark nights when things were at their absolute worst. Old photographs began flashing across the massive screen. One photo showed Winston sitting in front of a computer while Sera handed him a cup of coffee. But the far right side of that photo had been cropped out entirely. That cropped section was me, holding a second-hand hard drive as I walked through the office door. Thunderous applause erupted from the audience. Winston stood in the very front row, his eyes shining with absolute pride. I stood right beside the control console, my finger resting heavily on the switch key. Suddenly, I felt like nothing more than a complete joke. When the launch event finally ended, he walked over to my side. "You worked hard tonight." I didn't say anything. Assuming I was still angry about what happened out in the rain, he reached his hand out, intending to affectionately pat my head. "Don't keep a long face. Let's go home, and I'll whip up some pasta for you." I tilted my head, deliberately dodging his touch. His hand froze mid-air, and his expression instantly darkened. "Natalie, I've already had an incredibly exhausting day today." I pulled out the freshly printed documents and handed them to him. "Just sign it." Winston stared down at those few pages of paper, the warmth in his eyes completely dying out, degree by degree. "Do you really have to humiliate me on a day like today?" "It wasn't just today," I said, looking him dead in the eye. "Today is just when I finally stopped tolerating it." Chapter 2 At the celebratory dinner that night, Winston didn't sit next to me. He took his spot at the head of the table, with Sera Thorne seated to his right, his black overcoat still casually draped over the back of her chair. I sat in the seat closest to the door. Just as I picked up my fork to start on the appetizers, someone at the table started teasing him. "Mr. Sterling, Director Thorne was absolutely flawless on stage tonight! You have to give her a real reward for that, right?" Winston let out a soft chuckle. "Her bonus is doubled." Sera lowered her head, the tips of her ears flushing red. The private dining room instantly erupted into a chorus of laughter and cheers. Someone then turned their gaze toward me. "Director Cross, don't go getting jealous now! You’re family to Mr. Sterling, while Director Thorne is his partner in the trenches. It’s completely different." Winston glanced over at me as well, as if declaring me innocent before I could even defend myself. "Natalie is reasonable. She won't let something like this bother her." I wrapped my fingers tightly around my water glass, the burning heat of the glass stinging against my fingertips. Reasonable. Those words felt like a tiny needle—piercing into me without leaving a drop of blood, yet aching deep inside for years. Suddenly, Sera slid a plate holding a slice of cake right in front of me. "Natalie, Winston specifically had them save this piece for you. He mentioned you love sweet things." I stared down at the slice of mango cake. Three years ago, I had ended up in the emergency room due to a severe mango allergy. Winston had stayed by my side, keeping watch over me all night long. The very next day, he had thrown out every single product containing mangoes from our entire apartment. And now, he couldn't even remember what would literally kill me. I didn't move an inch. Winston’s brow furrowed in disapproval. "Sera went out of her way to save that for you. Who exactly are you throwing a tantrum for?" I lifted my eyes to meet his. "I'm allergic to mangoes." The entire dining room instantly fell dead silent. The expression on Winston’s face froze completely. Sera scrambled to apologize, her voice laced with panic. "I am so sorry, Natalie! I completely forgot. My head has been so foggy lately because of this low-grade fever, I must have..." Her voice trembled slightly, and tears began rolling down her cheeks. Winston immediately pulled out a napkin and handed it to her. "Nobody is blaming you." Then, he turned back to face me, his voice dropping to a low, warning hiss. "It’s a minor oversight. Don't make a scene and humiliate everyone here." A sharp laugh escaped my throat. "A minor oversight?" I reached into my pocket, my fingers brushing against the cold metal of a ring. Winston had given this to me during the third year of our startup. It wasn't expensive. Back then, he told me that once the company went public, he would replace it with the absolute best diamond money could buy. I used to believe him. I pulled the ring off my finger and placed it directly onto the glass table. The sound of metal hitting the glass was incredibly soft, yet it was loud enough to make everyone in the room freeze. "Winston, let's break up." He stared down at the ring, his expression turning ice-cold in an instant. "Natalie, have you finally had enough of your little tantrum?" "I am exiting my shares, resigning from the company, and breaking up with you," I said, executing every single word with absolute precision. "Starting today, you don't ever have to placate me again, and you don't have to expect me to be reasonable anymore." Sera stood up in a panic, reaching out to grab my arm. "Natalie, please don't do this! Winston is just putting up a tough front, but you are the person he cares about most deep down." I stared down at her hand. Clasped around her wrist was my silver bracelet. It was a spare piece of jewelry I kept stashed away in the glove compartment of my car. I pulled my arm back, snapping it out of her grasp. "Sera, have you just gotten completely used to wearing my things?" Her face drained of all color. Winston slammed his hands down and stood up abruptly. "Natalie!" His chair screeched harshly against the floor. "Is your sole goal today to bully Sera until she cries before you're finally satisfied?" I looked at him, completely unfazed. "She wears my bracelet, she rides in my passenger seat, she wears your overcoat, she uses my support cushion, and she feeds on your blatant favoritism. Tell me, Winston—who exactly is pushing who?" A volatile rage swirled deep within Winston’s eyes. "If you walk out of that door today, don't you dare come back begging for my forgiveness." I picked up my purse. "Don't worry. I won't." The ring remained resting on the table. As I reached the doorway, Sera’s faint, fragile voice echoed from behind me. "Winston... what should we do with this ring?" Winston didn't give her an answer. And I never looked back. At that exact moment, I finally forced myself to admit the truth. It wasn't that he didn't know how much I was hurting. He just genuinely believed that Sera’s tears would always be more important than my wounds. Chapter 3 The next morning, I submitted my formal resignation. The HR director stared at her monitor, her finger hovering over the approval button, completely hesitating. "Director Cross, does Mr. Sterling know about this?" "He's about to find out." The very second the words left my mouth, a wave of chaos erupted from the engineering department. A developer dashed out of the conference room, his face totally drained of color. "The client dashboard just crashed! The demonstration API that went live last night was modified, and the core reporting suite is completely wiped!" I stood up immediately. We had just secured the investment term sheet from Genesis Capital at last night’s launch event, and the first batch of enterprise clients was scheduled to begin their live trials today. If things fell apart right now, our series funding would completely evaporate. Winston walked out of his executive office, his expression terrifyingly cold. "Who accessed the permissions?" The engineering manager cast the system logs onto the primary presentation screen. The last high-level administrative operation had been executed using my account credentials. The timestamp read 1:47 AM. Every single eye in the room locked onto me. After getting home last night, I had spent my time packing everything Winston had ever given me into a cardboard box. By 1:30 AM, I was already fast asleep. Winston stared at me. "Natalie, explain this." "It wasn't me." Sera stood off to the side, looking completely pale and shaken. "But you’re the only person who holds the password to that account." I turned my gaze directly onto her. "And you." She froze. "Last month, you said you needed to audit the client inventory list. I granted you temporary administrative access." Sera’s eyes instantly brimmed with tears. "Natalie, I know you’re furious about what happened last night, but you can't just throw false accusations at me like this." Winston instinctively stepped forward, placing his body directly between her and me. I had witnessed this exact movement too many times to count. Every single time Sera felt wronged, he would instantly step up, physically walling me off to turn me into the problematic person who needed to be disciplined. I looked at him calmly. "Trace the login IP address. Pull the security footage. It will take you exactly ten minutes." Winston didn't move a muscle. The engineering manager spoke up in a low voice. "Mr. Sterling, the investors are already demanding an incident report." Sera pressed a hand against her forehead, her voice trembling violently. "If our funding falls through because I was the main presenter last night, I really don't know how I'll ever look the team in the eye again." Winston closed his eyes for a brief moment. Then, he slid a document across the conference table right in front of me. "Take the fall for this first. Just say it was an operational error during your offboarding transition. The company will protect you, and I will personally cover any financial damages out of my own pocket." The conference room descended into a dead, suffocating silence. I stared down at that piece of paper, a roaring sound filling my ears like pouring rain. "You know it wasn't me." Winston remained silent for two long seconds. "I'm not saying it was definitively you. But the company cannot fall into a state of panic right now. Sera is our product lead, and she just spearheaded the launch. She cannot afford to have a permanent stain on her professional record." A hollow laugh escaped my lips. "So I can?" His brow knitted tightly together in frustration. "You're the Director of Operations. The industry will just write this off as a procedural oversight on the logistics side. This isn't going to actually ruin your career." I picked up the document. The tension in Winston’s eyes relaxed slightly. But in the very next second, right in front of his face, I tore the paper into shreds. "I won't sign it." His expression turned completely hostile. "Natalie, do not force my hand to handle this strictly through corporate disciplinary channels." I tossed the shredded pieces into the trash can. "Do whatever you want." By 3:00 PM, an internal HR notification was blasted out to the entire company channel. Effective immediately, Director of Operations Natalie Cross has been suspended from all duties pending an internal investigation due to personal emotions compromising the offboarding transition, resulting in a critical client-facing trial incident. The moment the notification went live, my phone blew up. Clients called to demand if I was sabotaging the firm as an act of personal retaliation. Old colleagues sent texts asking how I could have let myself change this much. Even my mother, Clara Cross, called, her voice incredibly cautious and delicate as she spoke. "Nat... did you and Winston get into a fight?" I stood inside the emergency stairwell, leaning my back heavily against the concrete wall, my throat aching so intensely it physically hurt to breathe. "Mom, I quit." Clara fell silent for a long time before she finally answered. "Then come back home. Your father and I can take care of you." I covered my eyes with my hand, and the tears finally broke through. At that exact same moment, a text message from Winston flashed across my screen. 【Take two days to cool your head. Once this all blows over, I'll take you to the beach.】 I blocked his number permanently. Chapter 4 On the third day of my suspension, I returned to the office to pack up my remaining things. When the receptionist saw me walk in, she quickly averted her eyes, looking completely uncomfortable. My cubicle had already been halfway cleared out, and my nameplate had already been stripped from the desk. The board of directors was desperate to give Genesis Capital an official explanation, so my offboarding paperwork had been fast-tracked much quicker than I had ever anticipated. I placed my old notebook into a cardboard box. Sitting at the very bottom was a faded, yellowing receipt. It was for the five-thousand-dollar server subscription renewal. The payer's name read: Natalie Cross. Right next to it lay my very first company badge. On the back, there was a sentence I had scribbled in tiny print all those years ago. Save up five thousand dollars, and Winston won't ever have to beg anyone for help again. Staring at that line, a wave of sheer absurdity washed over me. The office door was pushed open. Sera walked in, my grey cashmere shawl draped casually over her shoulders. The moment she noticed me, she instinctively reached up and wrapped it tighter around herself. "Winston said you didn't want this anymore. I easily get cold, so I figured I’d put it to use." I set my cardboard box down. "Take it off." She blinked, stunned. "Natalie..." "I said, take it off." Sera’s eyes instantly flushed red. "Why do you always have to be like this? I’m already so terrified that I haven't been able to sleep for days. What more do you want from me?" I took a deliberate step closer to her. "Are you losing sleep because you used my account credentials, or because Winston pinned your dirty laundry onto me?" Her face completely drained of color. From the doorway, Winston’s voice suddenly thundered. "Natalie!" He strode into the room, instantly pulling Sera securely behind his back. "Are you cornering her again?" A bitter laugh escaped my throat. "Winston, your timing is always impeccable." His brow furrowed tightly when he caught sight of the packing box on my desk. "You were suspended, not fired. What are you doing packing up your things?" I forwarded the formal termination email directly to his phone. "The offboarding process is already complete." He looked down to read the screen, and his expression changed instantly. "Who approved this?" "The board." "That's impossible. It's completely invalid without my signature." "Winston, Article 37 of the company bylaws explicitly states that executive termination takes effect upon a majority vote from the board of directors. If you recall, I was the one who pulled an all-nighter to draft that amendment for you." He completely froze. Sera spoke up from behind him in a fragile, hushed voice. "Winston, the representatives from Genesis Capital are going to arrive any minute now. Please don't get into another fight with Natalie on my account." Winston instinctively turned his head to look back at her. With that single glance, every remaining shred of my hesitation completely dissolved. I picked up my cardboard box and headed straight for the exit. He chased after me, keeping his voice down to a harsh whisper. "Natalie, where do you honestly think you can go if you leave this place? Every single ounce of your resources, your network, and your projects from the past five years are rooted entirely in Sterling Tech." I stopped in my tracks. "I've already signed a new partnership agreement." He blinked, caught entirely off guard. I looked at him with absolute tranquility. "For this current round of due diligence, Genesis Capital’s independent advisory consultant is me." The elevator doors slid open. Frank Cole stood inside, flanked by two board directors and the corporate legal counsel. He looked directly at Winston, his tone entirely detached and professional. "Mr. Sterling, regarding your company's operational incident, shareholder disputes, and executive departures, we require Director Cross to join us for a separate, private briefing." The color drained from Winston’s face, degree by degree, until he looked entirely hollowed out.