Resignation of Bien

Uncompensated

Bien scrolled through his social media, bored to life. The silent noise of the people skimming through the shelves of the convenience store, buzzing in his ear. Joanna was at the cashier, paying for the hotdog she got. It was always the same, one for Bien, two for her.

Bien stopped when he saw Christian's photo in an article, posted on their social media page, written by Susan. For the first time, he saw something produced by Susan that wasn't badly rendered. But Sandro's layout still didn't look professionally made.

Christian was apparently the talk of the town, being one of the hottest CEO in the region. Bien tapped the article. He didn't care enough to read through, he just scrolled through the photos used in the article—all seemed stolen from his Instagram. Christian looked good in all styles. There was one photo where he was in his red formal wear with accents of silver glitters, another was a casual getup at the beach, and another one he was flexing his abs.

"Such a tease," Bien hissed.

"Who's that?" asked Joanna, as she settled the hotdog sandwiches on the table.

Bien scrolled one last time and read all the comments. They all loved him. Most of them had inappropriate comments and indecent proposals. Until he got to the negative ones. They were accusing him of being gay—they could sense it, they said.

"He's not gay," Bien whispered. "He has a girlfriend."

He tapped the reply button and watched the text cursor blink on his screen. He wanted to say something bad, to go keyboard warrior mode. But he couldn't be rude publicly. He couldn't give Sir Vil and the rest something they could use. Not now that he started a silent war. He scrolled up and turned off his phone.

Joanna repeated her question. Bien shrugged. "Just someone featured on our page. One of the hottest CEO, according to the article."

"Christian?" Joanna asked. "OMG! I saw that article! He is hot!"

Bien grabbed one of the hotdog sandwiches and plugged it into Joanna's mouth. "You shouldn't talk when your mouth is full."

"Harsh," she said, biting half of the hotdog sandwich. She took another bite before she placed down the hotdog. "Anyway," she opened. "Things are not looking good at the station."

Bien wouldn't know. He wasn't staying at the office after his show. There was no more reason for him to stay longer. Sandro was the one doing the editing, Mr. Noel was already overseeing the shows, Larry wasn't messing up the technical side anymore, and Lucas could already handle his show on his own—he was even bringing in more views in live broadcast than any one of them combined, and Joanna's Joanna so there wasn't anything to worry about her. While he was waiting for the next meeting so he could present his plan for their social media presence, it felt as if nobody needed him anymore. He was just a regular radio DJ, not the Bien they used to rely on.

"What's been going on?" asked Bien, trying to sound as though nothing was bothering him.

"Sir Vil's been going straight to the bosses," Joanna continued, her frustration growing. "He's bypassing me and Mr. Noel. It's like we're invisible."

Bien leaned against the table, wiping mustard off his fingers. He shrugged.

Joanna's eyes widened, a mix of worry and disbelief. "You can't just ignore it, Bien. Office politics is a game. You're too open about your moves."

"I'm not playing games, Jo," Bien retorted, his tone sharp. "My work is irreplaceable. They need me and they know it."

Joanna shook her head, a blend of amusement and concern in her gaze. "You're too confident. It's going to bite you one day."