Bound To The Seduction

Chapter 17: Only Colleagues

A week passed.

On a Monday morning, Sarah received a call from HR to collect her belongings and finalize the formal procedure at work. She tidied herself and did her best not to look too miserable. Her mom always said that the world should always see your smiley face. As nicely as they put it, this was more like 'return all the company's property, grab your things, and get the hell out of here'.

It did not take her too long since she only had a laptop and a handful of documents. She had already transferred all the company's documents to a flash drive and handed in each one of them. She did not even get to keep one as a future reference. They even had the audacity to ask her to hand in her personal project that she was working on!

Guess what, they wanted her to finish the incomplete project because they couldn't find anyone else to do it better than her. Why are you firing me then? She couldn't help but wonder. Anyway, she was done in an hour and left the HR's office. She went to her former office to get her things.

"Hey Sarah, I heard you got back at Manager Chen." Mandy, her friend at work, said as soon as Sarah walked in.

"No, that was an accident," Sarah said without bothering to give further explanation.

"Don't be so modest," Mandy said excitedly. "Guess what, he's been locking himself in his office these few days. He hasn't yelled at us in a while." This successfully attracted the attention of all the six employees in the office.

"Oh, I heard he ordered people to search his house and smash all hidden cameras. Tell us, what happened?" Someone joined in and the rest of the employees gathered at Sarah's desk. They couldn't miss out on this juicy gossip.

"And he banned everyone from taking pictures whenever he is in the company."

"I didn't know you could hold a grudge for that long," someone sneered and shook her head. "He only posted your sleepy face with drool on a stupid company forum and you got back at him in front of all the important people."

"Sarah you are my queen. All the other managers don't dare go overboard with us anymore." Mandy threw her hands in the air and cheered, "Yay! Now we don't have to walk on eggshells all day."

"If my unemployment makes people this happy, then I guess it is worth it," Sarah said with a sigh as she resigned to her fate. They wouldn't understand it anyway even if she explained it for the whole day.

"What?" they exclaimed their expressions changed immediately, "they told us that you are suspended." Most of them revealed worried expressions.

Sarah was not foolish, it was well known that everyone was working to feed themselves and no one would offend someone else without a reason. She knew that the people in the company were not all so sensitive, so how would they know what had happened?

She arranged the few documents on her into a neat stack and placed them in a box. She had placed most of the important ones in her small stylish backpack. She did not speak for a long time and they all got anxious. She picked up the last of her items as she composed herself and raised her head to meet those anxious gazes. "They lied."

Sarah leaned on her desk and crossed her arms as she watched the colorful expressions on their faces. Their thoughts remained hidden behind the surface as they said a few words of sympathy. Even though they concealed it very well, she still caught a trace of glee in their carefully crafted words of sympathy.

Sarah smirked. How could she not understand their way of thinking? Her exit meant one competitor less, and a higher chance of getting a promotion. Who wouldn't want a chance to earn a little more in this material-based world?

If blood brothers could betray and kill each other for money, who would care for a totally unrelated person?

"Are they going to fire us too?" someone asked in a panicky voice as the rest scampered to their working stations.

"No, no, I have to cut ties with Sarah. I can't afford to be fired."
Mandy ran to her workstation and returned with every gift that Sarah had once gifted her. She placed them on Sarah's desk and said, "Take this with you; they might think we are close and fire me too."

Sarah picked up the grey coffee mug and stroked it with her thumb. She had given this mug to Mandy half a year ago when they joined the company. Like any other new employee, the old employees were not so friendly to them. She had faced hard times with Mandy and they made a promise to take care of each other. she had given her this mug on the same day they made that promise.

She looked at the mug one last time before tossing it into a trash can under her desk. There are no real friends in the workplace; only colleagues. Mandy did not hesitate to throw her under the bus at the first sign of trouble. She smiled bitterly at her discovery as she picked up her box and walked out of the office.

She walked out with her head held up high. She refused to bow down to her failures. As she walked out of the gate, she turned around to look at the building one last time. She would never want to set foot in this company again.

She took a deep breath and headed in the direction of the bus stop. And then her steps came to an abrupt halt. In the corner of her eye, she caught sight of a familiar figure in a coffee shop on the other side of the road.

She spotted Clara and the head of the IT department having coffee in the nearby coffee shop. She frowned, and then it all started to make sense.

The glitch, the proposal disappearing and the inexplicable firing, all had something to do with her. Brandon's betrayal was also her doing. She felt her anger rising and several emotions whirled up in her. She walked straight ahead, concealing the chill in her eyes. She headed to the bus stop with the box in her hands.