Seeing Sophia coming toward them, Arielle smiled at Thomas and said, “Go take a long piss or something!” Thomas was dumbfounded. “Excuse me!” Arielle said without changing her expression, “I see Sophia Green making her way here. Let me talk to her in private.” Thomas frowned but did not turn his head. He left after saying, “Whatever she says, don’t take it to heart. I will give you an explanation later.” Arielle frowned but nodded before he left. Arielle acted unconcerned and started playing with her phone as if she had not seen Sophia. “May I take this empty chair?” Sophia asked, emphasizing the word empty. Without waiting for a reply, she took Thomas’s chair and tea as if she was marking her territory. Arielle kept her phone aside and said coldly, “Miss Green, I have company as should have been evident by the teacup on the table and the coat hanging on the chair.” Sophia sneered aloud, “Miss Ward, why are you so hostile towards me? I am here to offer an olive branch.” Arie
**Three weeks later** Arielle had all the proof to sue both Emma and Sophia. When she was about to take action, Thomas’s mother, Emelia Payna, approached her. It derailed her plans. Emelia threatened to make her disappear if found entangling with Thomas, who was due to marry Sophia. Arielle waited for two weeks for an explanation from Thomas, but he did not say a word. Thomas merely explained that Sophia was the girlfriend he had at college, the one who had tried to use him without knowing his identity. Thomas had assured Arielle that he did not have any feelings for Sophia, he had not had any in years, and Sophia was nothing to him. But he could tell something was bothering Arielle. His worries came true when he arrived in her apartment to see candlelight dinner, wine, and a table full of his favorite dishes. “What’s wrong?” He asked straightaway. “It’s scary how well you know me,” Arielle laughed bitterly. “El, what is it?” He panicked. “Let’s break up!” She said, looki
**Two weeks later** The second last Monday of Arielle’s contracted time in PGI proved to be a difficult one. Emma and Sophia had managed to collate some ‘evidence’ against Arielle and were determined to push her to the abyss. As soon as lunch break started, the main LCDs on the reception hall and the cafeteria blew up. A video, composed of a few small clips strung together, was played in a loop. Emma and Arielle were having an altercation in the break room that ended with Emma dumping hot coffee on Arielle. Arielle left the office without informing anyone. Since there was no audio, people only saw Arielle ignoring Emma and being disrespectful. Emma was, after all, a Payne, former CEO of PGI, and current Managing Director. Arielle was just a specially recruited contracted employee. Worse still, she seemed to be dating the CEO, sleeping her way to the top. The next video showed Sophia apologizing and begging Arielle while the latter only had a disdainful, indifferent expression
Arielle spent the entire week drowned in insults and jabs aimed at her, but she was too busy to care. A few people were in awe of her indifference and ability to endure. While a bunch of people thought she was too shameless to care. The majority, however, kept their opinions to themselves. Unbeknownst to them, Arielle was listening to everyone and keeping note of overly verbose people. A part of her job was cleaning the company, which meant she had to root out the bad apples. This rumor had helped Arielle by creating an environment of conflict. It was a chance to evaluate people’s characters. Arielle disliked people who thrived on gossip and other people’s misery without empathy or remorse. She would include them on her list of toxic people ruining the work culture. It was up to Thomas what he wanted to do with them. Finally, the day of the banquet came. Arielle showed up with a date who happened to be the man whose hotel room she had entered in one of those videos. It thr
The hall was still silent as everyone processed what was going on. Arielle, the one slandered the entire week, was friends with Evan, the top jewelry designer of Soul Jewelry, the most unique and best jewelry brand in the world. She had purchased a 10 million dollars worth of necklace for her 5-year-old goddaughter. Emma Payne and Sophia Green, the rich kids born with silver-spoon, were involved with the case of fake jewelry and bribing and threatening. Emma recovered and threw the necklace at the floor, which not unexpectedly broke to reveal a small chip with a glowing red dot. Sophia was shivering and looked ghastly. As if on cue, a police officer, accompanied by the manager, came looking for Miss Sophia Green. Arielle interjected as Sophia started to make a scene. “Officer, why don’t you have dinner and wait for a while? I also have to sue Miss Green. It might save time for you as well. Please!” Arielle said respectfully. The officer nodded, and the manager himself brought
Arielle no longer said anything. She played a video of that managing director who she had slapped. The manager made lewd remarks to Arielle and asked her to sleep with him for better benefits. Arielle slapped him in the face without a word. After that, an image showed his computer stats, followed by other images revealing his unusual relationship with some female employees. He had spent 85% of his time in PGI watching porn and sleeping around. Another short video showed a few former employees who had quit. All of them said the same thing. They quit because they did not want to sleep with that manager. When asked why they had not complained, they all answered the same - the manager was supported by Mr. Green. Mr. Green was a board member, a shareholder of PGI, founder and CEO of Green Group, and Sophia’s father. Another hushed silence followed the hall. Arielle became serious and announced. “PGIans, you can rest assured that no project of PGI has been leaked, at least not thr
Thomas arrived at his family Villa at 4 am. He was slightly drunk and had the beginning of a headache. He did not want to go inside despite reaching the gate. He knew what awaited him inside. Thomas had half a mind to take a U-turn and bring his grandmother along, but he did not want to disturb his elderly grandmother. As soon as Thomas opened the door, a vase flew at him. He dodged but barely. “What the hell is wrong with you?” He glared at his elder sister, Emma, who was clearly out of prison. “You tell me, what’s wrong with you? How could you let some random bitch harass your sister like that?” Thomas was not surprised to see his mother speak up for Emma. It was one of the reasons why Emma was that spoiled. “Mom, first of all, mind your language. She is not a bitch. Emma was the one who went and provoked her repeatedly without any rhyme or reason.” “I spent a few months and 300 million dollars to get her to audit our company which is a shell from the inside and would have
**3 years later** Arielle sat on a couch watching financial news as she had been doing since she was 10. In the last three years, John was often on the news. Thomas was as low-key as ever. But she was content. PGI was doing well as she had expected it would under his management and with the scope and plans they had discussed. Admittedly, the share prices of PGI had doubled in the last three years, which was an unprecedented growth for a listed company that was already doing quite well. That day, however, it was Thomas who made an appearance. Arielle’s breath hitched seeing him after three years, even if it was just on TV. She heard his entire speech attentively as he talked about the company and its future. However, his parting words kept ringing in her ears repeatedly. “Three and half years ago, I had contacted the best financial analyst in the industry, Miss Arielle, and sought her help. It was owing to the personnel and project clean-up by Miss Arielle that helped PGI becom