A Pointless Tantrum

Rebecca Shaw ended the call before I could explain anything. I was a little bewildered.

The waiter came over to me and said sheepishly, "Sir, we're closed."

I nodded and got up to leave. Holding the cake in my hand, I walked back home.

I opened the cake box all alone. Scooping up a spoonful of cake, I proceeded to eat it. It was too sweet and wasn't delicious at all.

When I unlocked my phone, I noticed that Hugh Somers had sent me a photo. The photo depicted him and Rebecca hugging each other in swimwear.

Hugh's taunting voice message began to play. "Hey, Derek, Rebecca will be keeping me company tonight. Sorry!"

I sent a short message in reply. "Whatever."

Then, I blocked him.

If we weren't working in the same company, I wouldn't have added him on WhatsApp at all, but now, he still had the gall to taunt me!

However, not long after that, I was about to go to bed when Rebecca came back.

When she saw me lying on the bed, she shouted angrily at me, "Derek Quinton! You really think you're all that, huh? Hugh managed to score a huge deal, so why can't I reward him a little? I can't believe you'd call him just to threaten him! How dare you!"

She had just finished speaking when she slapped me across my face.

I was completely stunned. I never thought I would receive a slap from her on my birthday.

In her fury, Rebecca didn't even wait for me to explain as she pointed at me. "Apologize right now, or you'll work in retail starting tomorrow!"

I was mad as well. "Fine! Retail it is! Remember. You asked for this, so don't regret it later!"

Grabbing my clothes, I slammed the door on my way out.

Rebecca began screaming, "Derek! Come back here!"

Came back? As if!

I left without so much as a glance back.

…

The next morning, I went straight to the retail store.

At 8:30 am, the company group chat was in an uproar.

"Derek, where are you? How dare you skip work! Come back here!" Rebecca began recklessly spamming messages aimed at me in the group chat. She was sending messages to the group chat because I had already blocked her, providing her with no way of contacting me.

I took a photo of the retail store and sent it to the group. I typed, "Ms. Shaw, this was your decision last night, and I'm reporting to work right now. Do you have anything else to say to me?"

In an instant, all my former colleagues from my previous department began sending me private messages.

Some of them asked, "What's going on, Mr. Quinton? I can't believe she'd tell you to work in retail! You're a programming expert, after all!"

I also received a message asking, "Why is Rebecca wasting your potential? She must be out of her mind!"

Someone messaged me in frustration, "Mr. Quinton, how could you just sit down and take it?"

I didn't reply to those messages. I simply added those contacts to a new group and calmed them down.

After all, I was still waiting for Rebecca to change her mind. I was giving her one last chance.

However, Rebecca was pissed. She called me with her other phone, saying, "Derek, get back here right now! Even if you're working in retail now, you still have to hand over your work here!"

I laughed as soon as I heard that. "Rebecca, what do you take me for?"

Hugh's voice rang out, "Rebecca, don't mind him. He's just jealous."

"Humph! He can't even keep private affairs out of official business. What is he even jealous of?" Rebecca said in disdain, "Derek, I want to see you here in 30 minutes!"

She gave me the final warning straight away and ended the call. I was upset as well.

Had Rebecca ever wondered who the company had relied on to make it this far?

I didn't say anything else. After typing out a resignation notice, I brought it to the company.

As soon as I met Rebecca, I handed her the notice along with the handover checklist.

Rebecca was instantly pissed. "Derek, are you threatening me?"

I replied, "Of course not. I was just tired. I want a break."

Pressing her hand on the resignation notice, Rebecca stared at me as she spoke in a calmer tone, "I'm sorry for yesterday. I couldn't find time to celebrate your birthday with you. I'll make it up to you today."

She didn't mention anything about my resignation notice.

I knew she couldn't afford to leave me.