Chapter 2

Chloe's serious tone made me frown. "Our company has that kind of nepotism culture?"

"Of course! How else do you think someone who fails her performance reviews every single month manages to keep her job? It's all because Mr. Jenkins pulls strings for her!"

Mike, who had been silently shoveling food this whole time, spoke up in a bitter tone. Those extra 25 miles every day had him seething with resentment.

At the mention of Mr. Jenkins, everyone looked at me with sympathy.

Stephanie patted my shoulder. "Just wait... Mr. Jenkins is definitely going to call you in for a talk today!"

I waited all afternoon without receiving any summons to the office for a 'chat.' However, that was because all the company leadership had been called into a board meeting.

Near the end of the workday, Stephanie glanced over at Cindy's cubicle. "You lucked out! Let's bail right when we clock out and not give her a chance to corner you."

Her relieved expression on my behalf made me laugh. "Stephanie, you're way too worried. I'll be fine. I didn't break any company policies, so Mr. Jenkins can't exactly punish me just because I asked Cindy to pay me back for a drumstick, right?

Even though I said that, I still left the office right on time. It was not because I was afraid Cindy would actually do something to me, but because I had made an appointment to pick up my wife's prenatal checkup results from the hospital.

After getting the test results, I could not help but touch the ultrasound printout in my pocket. Before I could even enjoy the moment for a second, my wife's call came through.

"Honey, how did my checkup go? Is our baby okay?" Sarah Taylor's anxious voice made me feel wrapped in overwhelming happiness.

Even though I knew she could not see me, I nodded anyway. "The doctor said you and the baby are both perfectly healthy."

"That's wonderful! Once I finish up this work in a few days, I'll stay home and focus on the pregnancy."

Ever since we saw those two lines on the pregnancy test last week, we had been anxiously waiting for today's results. However, life had other plans. Yesterday, she had been suddenly assigned to a business trip.

"I'll take good care of myself and the baby. Thanks for doing this, honey. I'll be back in two days."

"Just focus on work. I'm only picking up a report. It's not like I'm the one who's pregnant, so how hard could it be?"

After hanging up, I could not help but think of Cindy. Even though we were both soon-to-be parents, I really could not relate to her behavior at all.

The moment I got home, my phone buzzed several times in a row, and I opened it to find I had been added to a new group chat.

[Theodore Lloyd, you've been with the company for two months now, and you're about to be up for permanent hire. I've arranged for an excellent veteran employee to mentor you, so you need to learn from her properly, understand?]

[Mr. Jenkins, don't worry! I'll definitely mentor Theodore well!]

[I have complete faith in you.]

Watching Cindy make her confident messages in the chat, I felt a wave of unease and immediately screenshotted it to send to Stephanie.

[Stephanie, our company doesn't actually have a mentorship tradition, does it?]

[Never has! Cindy's performance score last month was even lower than yours. What could she possibly teach you?]

[This is definitely just an excuse Mr. Jenkins cooked up so she can get back at you!]

Before I could reply, Cindy's call came through, and she immediately launched into a seething interrogation.

"Theodore, what's your problem? Didn't you see Mr. Jenkins' message in the group? Why didn't you respond?! You have no sense of workplace manners at all. Looks like I really do need to teach you a thing or two!"

It had only been a minute since the message, and I had never realized I had the obligation to instantly reply to work messages after hours. Nonetheless, since she was technically my "supervisor" now, I still needed to show basic respect.

"Sorry, Cindy. I just got back from the hospital and haven't had a chance to check my phone."

"Oh, the hospital... Are you trying to say I'm overworking you? Young people these days are always using health as an excuse. I'm this far along in my pregnancy, and I'm still working hard at my job every single day!" Cindy's passive-aggressive tone was practically dripping through the phone.

I twitched my lips. If anything, she worked hard at mooching off her coworkers. Of course, I could not actually say it out loud.

"You've misunderstood. I didn't mean it like that."