Rise After the Fall

She turned to me, her voice softening.“Ma’am, do you need any help?”Following her gaze, I looked down at my clothes.Blood from my nose had dripped onto them. It looked like a mess.I nodded, raising a hand to wipe the blood away.Then I turned around and followed a server to the lounge.After the door closed, I could still hear Daniel shouting outside.“You want to call the police? Go ahead if you’ve got the guts!“A nobody from some second-rate college. Without me, who would give her such a good job?”The lounge door shut, cutting off all the noise from outside.I lowered my head and looked at the woman reflected on my phone screen.Both sides of my face were swollen red, with clear finger marks printed across my cheeks.My hair had come loose, too.I looked like a crazy woman.…The door handle turned, and someone came in.It was Emily, one of the company’s old-timers.Now she had worked her way up to Vice President.She sat down beside me.“Lily,” she said, pat

“Sure. But this will be the last thing I handle within my responsibilities.”He knew exactly what I meant.Approve my resignation, and I’d solve the problem.Refuse, and there was nothing to discuss.“Fine. Lily, you’re really something.”He agreed through gritted teeth.Once I got his answer, I turned and walked toward the tech department.The issue at Apex Technology was complicated. A mistake in the underlying code had triggered a crash in the chain system.The engineers were already overwhelmed. When they saw me walk in, their eyes held a mix of expectation and embarrassment.I didn’t respond to any of it.I sat down and connected to the system.Memories of every system upgrade and custom request Apex had gone through, buried deep in my mind, surged forward instantly. An hour later, the alarms stopped, and the data was restored.Mr. Johnson’s call came directly to my phone.“Lily, thank you! I knew you’d handle it!”His tone sounded relieved, then he lowered his voi

I gave her the company HR’s email address.“Apply on your own,” I said.“That place isn’t worth it. But your ability deserves somewhere better.”On the fourth day, in the conference room of my new company, Lextron Technology, I sat at one end of the long table with a brand-new project plan spread out in front of me.Around the table were not only my new colleagues but also several “old friends” who had come specially. There was Mr. Johnson of Apex, Ms. Moore of Orca, and Mr. Taylor of Witop.“Ms. Frasier—no, I suppose we should call you Director Frasier now.”Mr. Johnson laughed as he raised his glass.“The three of us talked it over. Working with you in the past was always a pleasure. Now that you’re at a new company, it’s only right that we show our support.“Besides transferring all our existing orders, each of us will also bring in two affiliated companies and sign next year’s strategic cooperation with Lextron.”Ms. Moore continued smoothly, her tone straightforward.“

There were no words, only a photo.In it was Daniel.He wore the greasy uniform of a fast-food joint, his hair disheveled, squatting by a trash can and smoking.His gaze was empty as he stared at the distant neon lights, his profile under the dim streetlamp looking frail and defeated.In the background, across the street, the LED screen faintly showed a news clip of Lextron Technology’s conference. My face appeared clearly on the screen.The sender was anonymous.I guessed it was probably a former colleague still bitter about Trehill, or someone wanting to see Daniel humiliated.I stared at the photo for a few seconds.There was no satisfaction or pity, only a near-calm indifference.The mountain that once crushed me had long since eroded into a heap of dust by the roadside, unnoticed.And I had crossed that mountain, now seeing a wider world beyond.I hit delete and blocked the number.Some images aren’t worth keeping, just like how some people didn’t deserve space in memo