Chapter 2

The moment the meeting ended, I intercepted Ms. Rothschild. "I'd like to know the criteria for this award, Ms. Rothschild."

Ms. Rothschild looked as if she'd been expecting me. She wore a stern expression as she adjusted her glasses. "Let's take this to my office, Valerie."

I took a deep breath, reigned in my urge to explode on the spot, and followed her to her office.

Her office practically reeked of institutional bureaucracy.

Ms. Rothschild sank into her executive chair and slowly began. "I know you're good at what you do, and you've made significant contributions to the institute, Valerie. But…"

Her tone abruptly shifted as she tapped a thick attendance log on her desk. "Look at your own attendance record! How many times have you been late this month? How many times have you left early?

"Eugene clocks in on time every single day and is never absent. He takes his job seriously, and the project team speaks very highly of him. We're a state-run institution, not a private business. Discipline comes first! Do you understand?"

I suddenly understood—the algorithm I considered priceless was worth less to her than a perfect attendance record.

Without sparing her another glance, I turned on my heel and walked out of her office. I marched straight toward the door to Ms. Prescott's office.

Ms. Prescott was an old comrade-in-arms of Mom's. Back then, she'd practically begged me to work for her. She'd leveraged her longstanding friendship with Mom to poach me from one of the country's biggest tech companies.

My only condition at the time was flexible working hours. I didn't want to be tied down by rigid rules and regulations, and she agreed.

"Ms. Prescott," I got straight to the point, "I can't accept what happened today. You, of all people, know how many problems I've solved for this institute.

"What exactly has Eugene done? If I hadn't pulled an all-nighter to rewrite his underlying codebase from scratch, his project would be nothing more than a pile of junk right now!"

After hearing that, she sighed and patted me on the shoulder. "Calm down, Valerie. I know this has been unfair to you. I'll have a word with Sienna."

I returned to my workstation, but no matter what I did, I couldn't calm my mind.

It wasn't long before raised voices began echoing from Ms. Rothschild's office. I don't know what possessed me, but I got up and walked over to the corner of the hallway.

Ms. Prescott's voice was firmer than I'd ever heard it before. "Let's get one thing straight about Valerie, Sienna. I was able to recruit her back then because I called in a favor from her mother. This young lady's once-in-a-blue-moon talent.

"She's the one who cracked those notoriously difficult projects in our institute. So cut her some slack and stop riding her about her attendance!"

As soon as she finished speaking, Ms. Rothschild jeered, "You're far too concerned with personal connections, Regina! I don't care who recruited her. No one gets special treatment under my watch!

"Discipline is non-negotiable. No matter who breaks the rules, they will pay for it! If you keep protecting her, you're not only harming her, but you're also harming this institute too!"

The door creaked open, and Ms. Rothschild stormed out with a grim expression, only to run straight into me in the hallway.

Her brows drew together, and her eyes were filled with disgust and contempt as she fumed, "Young lady, you need to keep your feet on the ground. Don't run to your higher-ups to complain the moment you encounter a little hardship.

"If you have that much time on your hands, you should spend it figuring out how to do your job better!"

Having said her piece, she marched off without a backward glance, leaving me alone with Ms. Prescott, who looked mortified.

I took in her resigned expression, and without saying a word, I returned to my workstation. My monitor was filled with lines of complex code that had once been my greatest pride. Yet, at this moment, it felt as though it was silently mocking me.

All of a sudden, I remembered an email that had been sitting in my inbox for months. It was from Mr. Smith, the Human Resources Director at Nebula Technology.

I could still remember the last sentence in the email. "Our doors are always open to you. All you have to do is say the word, and we'll expedite the hiring process."

I hesitated for a moment and ultimately decided not to click on the email. Still, the thought had already taken root in my mind.