When the Lights Go Out in Manhattan Chapter 4

The next day, Julian summoned me from my cubicle to his corner office overlooking Manhattan via internal line.

Chloe Summers was lounging in his Herman Miller boss chair worth thousands of dollars.

She cupped her face innocently and smiled at me.

"Long time no see, Eleanor."

"Though I see Julian every day. I keep telling him we should hang out more, but you know how he is."

Chloe was a minor lifestyle influencer on Instagram.

Young, pretty, always wearing the latest designer clothes.

In the past, whenever I saw her, I would involuntarily lower my head, ashamed of my Uniqlo cashmere sweater and plain jeans.

But today, Chloe didn't see a trace of inferiority in my eyes.

Not only that, I smiled at her, my tone light.

"I'm a homebody anyway. Don't worry about me. You guys have fun."

Hearing this, Julian, who had been standing with his back to me looking out the floor-to-ceiling window, turned around.

The faint blue shadows under his eyes betrayed the fact that he hadn't slept well.

"Eleanor, Chloe is hungry. Give her the lunch you made for me."

For years, I had prepared low-fat, high-protein healthy lunches for him strictly according to a nutritionist's recipe.

Last Friday, I overheard him complaining to his assistant.

"The healthy meals Eleanor makes are so bland, even my dog wouldn't touch them. That's the consequence of marrying the wrong woman."

Thinking of this, I spoke in a flat tone stating a fact.

"I didn't make lunch today."

Julian looked at me in disbelief and asked an incredibly stupid question.

"Why? You know I only eat your cooking for lunch."

Chloe chimed in with passive-aggressive sweetness.

"Julian, you must have done something to upset Eleanor. Otherwise, why would she let you starve?"

Julian's face darkened for a moment, then he suddenly asked what I wanted to eat, telling his assistant to order on the app.

"Don't worry about me. Just order what Chloe wants. I'll go down to the food court and grab something."

Seeing me turn to leave, Julian quickly grabbed his suit jacket.

He followed me without room for argument, insisting on coming with me.

The result was me having to awkwardly share a small table with the two of them in the noisy food court.

While eating, Julian and Chloe chatted non-stop.

They grew up in the same country club in the Hamptons.

The people and things they talked about belonged to a world I had never set foot in.

I used to try to smile along, trying to join their conversation.

But every time I opened my mouth, impatience would flash in Julian's eyes.

At first, he disliked that I couldn't keep up, acting like a clown trying desperately to squeeze into high society.

Later, when I became cautious and silent, he accused me of being aloof and deliberately ignoring his best friend.

Since everything I did was wrong, I simply chose to say nothing.

I focused solely on tasting the bowl of Vietnamese pho in front of me.