The Girlfriend Selection - Chapter 8

Chapter 8 Fred hadn't slept in three days. It wasn't that he didn't want to. Every time he closed his eyes, all he saw was Hannah's face. After that night, his PR team pulled an emergency meeting and worked nonstop, trying everything to contain the damage. But it didn't matter. The situation online had already spun out of control. Videos from the gala and all the evidence spread everywhere. His company's stock crashed. Partners started pulling out one after another. Reporters camped outside the office every day.

The friends he used to call brothers turned on him without hesitation, pushing all the blame onto him to save themselves. "The whole selection thing was Fred's idea. We were just dragged into it." "Yeah, he threatened to cut off business ties if we didn't go along. We're victims, too." The same people who used to laugh and drink with him now acted as if they had never known him. But what broke him the most was that he couldn't find Hannah. He searched everywhere, but there was no trace of her. It was as if she had disappeared off the face of the earth.

There were no flight records, no bank activity, nothing. Every message he sent went unanswered. Every call went straight to a dead line. Only then did he realize that, in those five years, the one who had actually fallen in love was him. Ayla came to see him, too. She cried, said she was pregnant, and tried to force him to take responsibility. But Fred had already lost it. He grabbed her hard, shouting like a man on the edge. "You're the one who seduced me! If you hadn't shown up, Hannah would've won. I would've married her already!" Ayla panicked, struggling to break free.

They ended up shoving and pulling at each other until she finally tore herself loose. She backed toward the door, clutching her stomach, shaking as she stared at him. "Fred, you're pathetic! Hannah leaving you? You had it coming. You really think she needed you? You needed her. Now, she's gone, and you're nothing." Then she slammed the door and left. Fred stood there for a long time, unable to move. Hannah had left him, not the other way around. He didn't eliminate her. She eliminated him. Slowly, he sank to the floor and leaned against the wall, his face in his hands.

In the days that followed, he held the company together on his own, relying on years of experience to barely keep things from collapsing. He didn't go bankrupt right away, but the damage was done. The company was a shadow of what it used to be. He became withdrawn, short-tempered, and drank more than he should. And no matter what he did, he couldn't get Hannah out of his head. Regret settled in deep. He regretted his arrogance, regretted not valuing the woman who had stayed by his side for five years.