Chapter 1

"I can't cover your shift," Hubert Gray, my colleague, said. "I'm playing golf this afternoon. I don't have time."

With that, he turned his back on me.

"Hubert, please," I pleaded. "My grandma's dying. I need to get there right now…"

He clicked his tongue in annoyance, then raised his voice. "I'm not trying to be harsh, but what does your dying grandma have to do with you? If you've got time to bother other people, you might as well finish that proposal. Stop inconveniencing everyone!"

His voice rang through the office, silencing the chatter around us. One by one, my colleagues turned to stare.

I held his gaze for a few seconds.

"What? Am I wrong?" Hubert shouted, clearly uncomfortable under my stare. "Covering someone's shift is a favor, not an obligation. I simply don't want to swap shifts with you!"

I opened my phone and typed "shift" into our chat. More than 600 messages appeared.

"Jonas, I'm meeting some friends tomorrow. Can you cover my shift?"

"Jonas, I'm going out of town this weekend. Can you take my Saturday shift?"

"Jonas, I've got a wedding to attend next week. Can you cover my shift for me?"

As I scrolled further back, I noticed that Hubert had eventually stopped bothering with greetings or even asking nicely. His messages had become blunt commands.

"Cover my shift tomorrow."

He couldn't be bothered to show any courtesy or gratitude. All he did was inform me coldly.

Over the past two years, Hubert had asked me to cover for him more than a hundred times, and I'd agreed to eight out of every ten requests. But the moment I needed his help, suddenly I was nothing but a nuisance.

I knocked on my boss, Jeremy Langdon's, door.

"Come in."

"Mr. Langdon, my grandma is seriously ill. I'd like to take some time off."

He glanced at me over his glasses.

"What does your grandma being ill have to do with you? I can't approve that," he said. "Company policy requires leave requests to be submitted at least three days in advance. Last-minute requests don't count. If you fail to show up, it'll be treated as an unauthorized absence."

I left his office.

Hubert was sitting across from me, humming to himself with a smug grin.

"Jonas is just putting on an act. He doesn't want to work, so he's using his family as an excuse," he drawled. "Well, I'm not letting him get away with it! He'll learn that earning money isn't easy and that nobody owes him a favor."

He burst out laughing.

Just then, my phone rang.

On the other end, Mom struggled to speak through her tears. "Jonas… Your grandma's gone."

…

After my bereavement leave, I returned to work as usual.

Hubert arrived carrying a cardboard drink tray, handing out coffees to our colleagues one by one.

"Zara, here's your pumpkin spice latte, just the way you like it. Lillian, I got you a cappuccino. Thought you'd enjoy it.

"Olivia, here's some ginger tea. I remembered you're on your period, so I figured something warm might help with the cramps."

Hubert wore a warm, sincere smile, his expression so flawless it was impossible to find fault with.

Around him, my colleagues showered him with praise.

"Thanks, Hubert! You're always so thoughtful!"

"Hubert, you're too generous! You really shouldn't have!"

"Come on, we're all colleagues," he said, dismissing them with a wave. "It's nothing!"

But when he reached my desk, his hands were empty.