Rash as it may seem, I’m finally doing it. I’m leaving the offices of Horowitz and Chao and focusing on my art full-time. It’s what I want to do and should I hit any major or minor bumps in the road, I have a wonderful and very rich man to keep me afloat.

 

This has been a long time coming, but I never thought it’d be as satisfying as this. Seeing the blocky, beige, hellhole of a building still brings nothing but bad memories, but this'll be the last time I have to walk inside.

 

There were some things I had left in my office that I couldn’t part with. Nothing too irreplaceable, just pictures and a couple of knick knacks I’d have a hard time finding again. But I also had to walk in there to give my old life one good last look. This time, I'll actually walk away. This time, my life will change for the better, that’s indisputable.

 

I walk inside and see my old boss, the man who Brittany dumped Scott for. Or cheated on Scott with. I don’t have the details of their breakup, nor do I want them. I hope to never have to hear from Scott— or Brittany— again.

 

By the sheer look of acknowledgement in his face, I can tell that my boss knows everything about my history with Brittany, although she probably made me out to be some sort of villain in her retelling of the events. It’s either that, or he’s aware that I know of his little relationship with Brittany and I know that he’s married to someone who, if I’m being unclear, is not Brittany.

 

He waves to me quickly and speeds up as he walks away from me. How is it that all men who sleep with Brittany turn out to be such flaccid and spineless wimps of human beings? It’s embarrassing for them and for her.

 

Thankfully, today, I don’t have to see her. I was just coming to get my stuff and leave. The only person I didn’t mind seeing was Lyssa, who welcomed me on my last visit to this workplace prison with a warm embrace.

 

“We'll still hang out, right?” she asks me with tears in her eyes.

 

“Of course we will! Hell, we might hang out even more now that I'll have money,” I tell her.

 

We hug again as she goes back to her office and I continue on my way to mine.

 

It doesn’t take too long for me to throw the couple of things I wanted from my office into the small cardboard box I brought with me. My smile grows in size with every new thing I placd in my box until it’s full, and my desk is only left with the items that were bought by and belong to the offices of Horowitz and Chao.

 

And just like that, my time at this job is over. There is no reason for me to have to go to back, ever. I can forget I ever even worked at this place and make sure that no matter wherever I’m heading in New York, that I always avoid the street it’s on.

 

The law offices of Horowitz and Chao are nothing to me. I walk out the door and feel reborn. The way I was supposed to feel all those months ago when I left my old sketchbook here and ended my relationship with Scott. Scott. Scott.

 

Scott Withers, who is now standing inches in front of my face.

 

“Hazel, we need to talk.”

 

“No, we don’t,” I tell him as I try to skirt past him.

 

He grabs me by my left arm, making me spill some of the contents of my box onto the floor.

 

“Shit!” he exclaims. “I’m sorry, I just—”

 

“Get the hell away from me,” I demand, screaming at the top of my lungs.

 

I turn my attention from him to my knick knacks, one of them now broken. What an ass. Of all the days he could have chosen to be the pathetic mess he’s turned into, why did he have to choose today?

 

This was supposed to be my triumphant departure from the depressing series of events that was my old life. Yet here I am, reminded of my mistakes embodied by a mistake of a human being. Scott fucking Withers.

 

“I need you to take me back, Hazel. We can make it work. I made some mistakes but we can move past it all and be a great couple again,” he assures me.

 

He’s nothing but a joke. Making me drop my shit on the floor is a mistake. Repeatedly fucking the person who was for some reason my best friend is hardly a mistake. And there’s no way in hell I could ever move past that.

 

“Scott,” I start, “We were never a great couple. I'll give you this: when we first started going out, I didn’t hate you. Hell, I’d even go as far as to say that I thought I loved you. But you blew it. By not caring about me, what I liked, or really anything in my life. And I don’t even think I need to remind you that you fucked my best friend! Or that I’m in a happy relationship with Liam. I don’t know what you're expecting to happen here, but it sure as hell better not be forgiveness, because I have none for you, you spineless piece of shit.”

 

He stands there staring at me until he says, “I deserve a second chance, Hazel.”

 

There’s nothing that could happen in my life or to the fabric of reality that would make it so I’d give this entitled little man a second chance. Honestly, what is he thinking?

 

Without saying another word to him, I hoist up my box to a more comfortable position and head back towards the car that Liam rented for me so that I could move my stuff out of the office. Of course, I can feel Scott only a few steps behind me.

 

“Why won’t you let me convince you?”

 

“Because I don’t need any convincing, Scott! I don’t want to be convinced. I have a real man in my life right now and that’s a hell of a lot more than you could offer to try to ‘convince’ me!”

 

So that he wouldn’t be allowed another word in the conversation, I slam the door to my car and speed off, almost running over his feet.

 

What I said would have been harsh had it been directed at anyone else, but I didn’t say a single word that wasn’t completely and wholly true. It might have been perfect for Scott Withers to show up today. He’s a remnant of my old life. Just like the offices of Horowitz and Chao. They'll both be out of my life forever from this point on.