NO REASON

Chapter 7: Bitter Sabotage

It's been a week since our dinner at the Italian restaurant. That night, I invited Abel to my place, hoping for something more, but he only gave me a sweet kiss on my forehead before leaving. I was a bit disappointed, but I couldn’t deny how warm and caring he was.

Since then, we've been texting regularly, sharing updates about our lives. Sometimes, though, Abel takes hours to reply, and I worry he might be losing interest. But when he does reply, I feel a wave of relief and reassurance that our connection is still strong.

Despite these moments of doubt, I find myself liking Abel more each day. He brings joy and excitement into my life, filling the empty spaces with laughter and companionship.

As I think about us, I wonder what the future might bring. But for now, I’m happy to enjoy our time together, savoring each text and every look as we see where things go.

---

“MONIQUE!! GET OVER HERE!”

My boss’s angry voice snapped me out of my daydream. With a sinking feeling, I rushed over to her desk. Her heels clicked loudly as she tapped away, her frustration clear. She slammed a paper down in front of me, her face red with anger.

“What is this, Monique?” she demanded, her tone sharp.

Confused, I looked at the paper. “What’s wrong?” I asked, my heart racing.

She pointed at the document. “This project report for Anderson Corporation,” she said angrily.

“It’s full of errors, missing important data, and the formatting is a mess! We need to submit this tomorrow, and you’ve messed up our whole deal with Anderson!”

Panic surged as I scanned the document. Mistakes jumped out at me—wrong figures, incomplete sections, and disorganized formatting.

“I don’t understand,” I stammered, my voice shaking. “I worked so hard on this... How could it be so wrong?”

Her anger grew as she criticized me more and more. No matter what I said, she saw me as the only one at fault.

When I looked closer at the document, I saw changes I hadn’t made. Someone had tampered with my work to sabotage the project.

Before I could say anything, my boss’s rants continued. She blamed me for everything, and the truth didn’t seem to matter.

Feeling helpless, I left her office. I had been set up, but by whom and why? I had no answers, just the consequences of a betrayal that ruined my trust and threatened my future.

At the end of the day, HR gave me a letter saying I was suspended for two months without pay. Tears filled my eyes as I headed to the locker room.

I heard voices inside and hoped I could talk to my colleagues for support. But when I listened, my hopes were crushed.

“Serves that b!tch right,” one voice sneered. “She thought she was better than everyone.”

I froze, my heart pounding as I heard their cruel words. “I still think we should have deleted everything,” another voice added. “They would have fired her right away.”

It felt like a punch to the stomach. These people I thought were friends had been plotting against me. Tears streamed down my face as their betrayal hit me hard. How could they smile at me and then stab me in the back?

Feeling completely alone, I walked into the locker room. The silence was heavy compared to the laughter that used to fill the space. Their eyes followed me as I got my things from my locker.

One girl tried to break the ice, her voice filled with false sympathy. “We heard about what happened, Monique. We’re really sorry.”

Her words sparked a furious anger inside me. Without thinking, I grabbed a sharp pen from my bag and threw it at her, barely missing her face. The room gasped as the pen hit the floor, and the girl dropped to her knees in relief.

“YOU'RE ALL HYPOCRITES,” I shouted, my voice shaking with rage. “How dare you sabotage me and then act innocent. Do you think I’m stupid?”

“Oh please, stop being dramatic,” one of them snapped back. “If you didn’t act so superior, none of this would have happened.”

My anger boiled over. Tears streamed down my face as I tried to control my emotions. “When have I ever acted better than you?” I cried. “I worked so hard on that project. I spent months on it, and now it’s ruined because of your jealousy.”

A bitter laugh escaped me, a mix of sadness and anger. “Maybe I am better than you because only people like you would do something so low.”

With that, I turned and stormed out, leaving them in stunned silence.