Chapter 1

He still would not let up.

"Jason, you’ve been with the company for years. You should know the rules by now, right?

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a job these days? I’m only docking your pay because we go way back. If you were anyone else, I would’ve told you to pack your things and get out!

"We’re both men. You think I don’t know how long it’s normal to spend in the bathroom?"

I could not help laughing.

I had spent five years at this company giving it everything I had, and I had focused only on closing deals and bringing in business.

My performance had always spoken for itself, and plenty of companies had offered to pay my contract buyout to poach me. However, I had stayed out of loyalty to this place and the people here. I had never considered leaving.

Even with only five days left on my contract, I had planned to renew it.

Still, there was no need to do so anymore.

My boss threw that insulting pay stub at me without a hint of remorse.

"Think carefully. Are you staying or leaving?"

I picked up the paper and replied calmly, "I understand. I won’t use the bathroom during work hours anymore."

He was startled for a second, clearly surprised that I would swallow my pride so easily.

However, when he saw me standing there looking defeated, he broke into a smug grin.

"That’s more like it. Not a single minute wasted."

As I reached the door, he took one last shot at me.

As I was about to leave, he sneered, "I don’t know what some pathetic wage slaves are trying to prove. You stood there arguing with me for all that time, and what happened? You still came crawling back to work like a good little dog. I can’t stand people who act like you!"

I opened my mouth, but I said nothing. I simply walked out.

Outside the office, everyone was in a good mood. Payday always had that effect.

However, the moment they saw how quiet I was, the room fell silent.

The company’s newest intern, Logan Reed, did not care at all. He swaggered past me and snatched my pay stub without asking.

He looked at it and put on an exaggerated expression of shock. "James, you only got 3,500 dollars? That’s not even enough to buy one pair of my sneakers.

"Aren’t you supposed to be one of the company’s biggest assets? Guess you’ve really fallen off."

He passed my pay stub around the office, laughing as he kept repeating, "James, what did you do? Did you seriously screw up that badly and piss off the manager?

"How’d you end up with only this much?"

My coworker, Helen Walls, patted my shoulder and asked with concern, "James, why did they only pay you this much? Did payroll mess up?"

I forced a smile.

"New company policy. Five hundred dollars for every minute spent in the bathroom."

Helen looked confused. "What kind of nonsense is that? The company’s never had a rule like that."

The smile disappeared from my face.

Before I could say anything, my manager, Mr. Lawrence, slowly walked out of his office.

"Let’s clear this up. The company has a new policy. Five hundred dollars for every minute you spend in the bathroom.

"We tested it on our team leader, James, this month. The results were pretty good, so we’ll implement it company‑wide starting next month.

"And one more thing. Just because you’ve been here longer doesn’t mean you can order everyone around.

"Everyone needs to mind their own business and follow the company’s policy."