My coworker and I were browsing the mall on our lunch break. I glanced at a Sephora, and she immediately grabbed my arm, pulling me inside. "Ooh, see something you like, sweetie? Spend a hundred and get forty dollars off. Help me hit the minimum!" She pressured me into piling a bunch of sale items I didn't want into my basket so we could check out together. The final bill came to $118. My share was $58; hers was $60. "Sweetie, with the $40 discount, my part is basically covered, so we're even, okay?" she chirped. "Plus, look! There's a gift with purchase. I’ll chip in a dollar so you can get this $15 shampoo. It’s all yours. See how thoughtful I am?" She nudged me forward. "Go on, scan your rewards card so we can check out." I gave her an innocent look. "Oh, I'm not a member." She pouted theatrically. "Then sign up! It's only five bucks!" She snatched my phone, ready to do it herself. But the payment screen flashed a notification: Insufficient Funds. My coworker, Lillian, froze. She'd already torn open the packaging on her items, confident I wouldn't back out. 1 Lillian stood there, locked in a tense standoff with the cashier, before finally shooting me a venomous glare and reluctantly signing up for the rewards program herself. She stepped up to the register under the cashier's impatient gaze. "So, that's forty dollars off, right?" "Ma'am," the cashier said in a monotone, "too many of your items are already on clearance. The best we can do is twenty percent off." "What?! Then I don't want any of it!" "Ma'am, you've already opened the packaging. You have to pay." Lillian's face flushed crimson. She whirled around to face me. "Zoe, just use Afterpay. I'll pay you back later." I pulled out my phone and tapped at the screen for an eternity, feigning confusion. "After… what? I don't think I have that." Lillian's patience snapped. She grabbed the phone to set it up for me, only to let out a strangled cry when she saw the credit limit it offered. "How is your limit only a hundred dollars?!" "I've, uh, never used it before," I mumbled. "Then request an increase!" "But... it says here any increase won't take effect until next month." "You...!" The cashier had seen enough. "Ma'am, are you going to pay or not? I'm about to call security." "Fine! Can we use her hundred dollars from Afterpay, and I'll pay the rest?" "No, ma'am. The transaction has to be processed as one payment." I silently cheered for the cashier. Usually, they could split payments, but she was clearly done with Lillian's drama. Finally, cornered and out of options, Lillian had to put the entire purchase on her own credit card. All the way back to the office, her eyes were fixed on me, dark and resentful. "Zoe, I remember you used to save money every month. How can you not even have five dollars to spare now?" Her probing gaze scanned me from head to toe, as if searching for a hidden wallet. I showed her the screen of my investment app. "I locked it all up in a high-yield CD. I don't even have enough for living expenses right now. I have to ask my mom for lunch money." "You didn't do that just to avoid splitting things with me, did you?" "Of course not..." Her face instantly darkened, her voice turning sharp and accusatory. "Zoe, if I hadn't begged our manager, Ms. Evans, to keep you, you wouldn't have even made it past your probation. And this is how you treat me? You're going to nickel-and-dime me now?" She raised her voice. "If you think I'm taking advantage of you, then just stop having lunch with me! I only ask you because you look so pathetic with no one else to eat with. And in return, you make a huge scene at Sephora over a stupid discount?" "That was over a hundred dollars! That's half a week's rent for me! All because you wanted to go shopping, I helped you get a discount, and then you tried to stick me with the bill!" Her voice was so loud that the entire office had gone silent, all eyes on us. 2 Before I could say another word, a few colleagues drifted over. "Zoe, how could you do that?" one of them chimed in. "You know Lillian's family situation is difficult. Why would you set her up like that?" "Yeah, Lily, do you still have the receipt? Just make her pay you back for her stuff." "Honestly, you should just stop having lunch with Zoe," another added, patting Lillian’s shoulder. "Come eat with us, so she can't bully you anymore." Lillian covered her face with her hands, but from an angle only I could see, she shot me a triumphant smirk. I lowered my head, my fists clenching at my sides. It was always like this. Lillian had started at the company two months before me, yet we were both made permanent on the same day. I'd been on my way to ask Ms. Evans about the length of my probationary period when Lillian pulled me aside, a conspiratorial whisper in her voice. "Sweetie, you have no idea. Ms. Evans was about to let you go. I had to tell her that if you left, I'd walk too. That's the only reason she reluctantly kept you on," she'd said. "She's still not your biggest fan, so you'd better not get on her bad side." It was my first job out of college. I was clueless about probation standards and office politics, so I swallowed her story whole. Overwhelmed with gratitude, I started treating her to lunch, chipping in extra for her share of group orders, and always covering the difference so she could get free delivery on her coffee. She accepted it all without a second thought, as if it were her due. It wasn't until a few days ago, when I overheard her talking to Ms. Evans, that I learned the truth. She was the one who had failed her probation. She had only saved her job by claiming that if she was fired, I would quit in solidarity. I, on the other hand, had been made permanent ahead of schedule. From that moment on, my guard was up. But she'd been there longer, was better at networking, and was more popular. Every time she twisted the truth, my explanations just made me look like I was being cheap. She delighted in having me as her "lunch buddy," all because I owed her a "huge favor." Everyone else just thought she was being kind to the lonely new girl. This time, however, I had reached my limit. With a cold laugh, I fished the crumpled receipt from the trash and slammed it onto her desk. "If you all feel so sorry for her, why don't you pay for her stuff?" I pointed at the list of items. "I have dry skin. She has combination-oily. Take a good look at this pile of oil-control skincare and tell me who really wanted it, and who got dragged along to help someone else get a discount!" My sudden counterattack left everyone stunned. It was the first time they had ever seen the quiet, agreeable Zoe fight back. 3 Lillian panicked. "What oily skin? My face isn't oily at all!" But the more frantic she became, the more curious everyone else grew. The coworker who had spoken up for her first glanced at the receipt, then at Lillian's shiny forehead, and fell silent. Another colleague chimed in, her tone hesitant. "Lily, that's… not quite what you told us just now." Lillian's confidence began to crumble as the looks from her coworkers turned from sympathy to suspicion. "Sweetie, I'm so sorry," she said, quickly changing her tune and turning to me. "My big mouth got away from me again. I didn't realize everyone would react so strongly..." She forced a laugh. "It's fine, everyone, we bicker like this all the time. Don't be mad at Zoe. Let's just get back to work." Normally, this tactic worked. It would make everyone think I had started the fight, and their opinion of me would sink even lower. But this time, no one took her side. After a few awkward chuckles, the small crowd actually dispersed. Seeing that her attempt to guilt me into giving her money had failed, Lillian's face soured even more. "Zoe, why did you have to embarrass me in front of everyone?" "Whatever," she huffed. "You owe me an apology. Buy me a coffee, and we'll call it even." I ignored her, my eyes fixed on the proposal I was typing. It was due this afternoon, and I had no more time for her games. "Did you hear me? If it weren't for me begging Ms. Evans, you would've been long gone—" I whipped my head around, my glare sharp enough to cut glass. "You want to go ask Ms. Evans right now? See who she really wanted to keep?" I leaned in. "It seems strange for a company to make an underperforming intern permanent ahead of schedule. But someone who barely scraped by after a three-month probation? Now that seems a lot more plausible, don't you think?" The color drained from her face. Her bravado vanished, and she snapped her mouth shut. If Ms. Evans found out she'd lied to secure her position, even her signed contract wouldn't save her from the consequences. The rest of the afternoon was blissfully peaceful. I put the finishing touches on the proposal I'd spent two weeks perfecting. But thanks to the dodgy new hot pot place Lillian had insisted on for lunch, my stomach started churning violently. I saved my work hastily and made a mad dash for the restroom. When I returned to my desk and submitted the final proposal, I saw Lillian watching me, a strange, knowing smile playing on her lips. 4 The next morning, I rushed into the office right on the dot, only to be met by our manager's roar, a sound so loud it nearly rattled the ceiling tiles. "Zoe! In my office, now!" As I dropped my bag, I caught a glimpse of Lillian, sitting at her desk and calmly inspecting her nails, the corner of her mouth curved into a smug, triumphant arc. Ms. Evans's office door flew open with a bang. She slammed a stack of papers onto her desk. "Explain this. Why is your proposal identical to Lillian's? And why did she submit hers a full half-hour before you did?" My mind went blank with a deafening buzz. I suddenly remembered running to the restroom yesterday, so rushed that I'd forgotten to lock my computer. And when I came back, Lillian had been darting her eyes away from my screen. Taking a deep breath, I opened my cloud storage and local drive. A dozen documents, all neatly labeled with dates, lined up on the screen. The earliest file was last modified two weeks ago. "Ms. Evans, I wrote this proposal myself. I have backups of the entire process," I said, my voice steady. "Here are all the daily drafts, including the initial research data, mind maps, and all my email correspondence with the client." Ms. Evans squinted at my screen, her expression growing darker by the second. Lillian had somehow materialized at the doorway, her voice trembling. "Zoe... I know you've never liked me, but you can't just accuse me of plagiarism..." Her eyes instantly welled up, making her look like a terrified rabbit. I let out a cold laugh. "Accuse you? All my work, every step of it, is right here. Where's yours?" Lillian's face turned a blotchy red. She stammered for a moment before blurting out, "I... I don't keep backups! I just write it all in one go!" "Oh, really? Then why does your 'one-go' version contain the same incorrect data points that I hadn't gotten around to fixing from last week's draft?" I projected both proposals side-by-side on the large screen, circling seven or eight identical errors in bright red. The office was dead silent. A few coworkers quietly scooted their chairs back a few inches. Ms. Evans slammed her palm on the desk. "Lillian! Last time, at the team-building event, you falsified an invoice. I let it slide as a first offense. But stealing a colleague’s work? Half your salary this month is gone, and you can forget about your bonus! One more time, and you’re fired!" She grabbed her mug and took a long swig, then pointed at me. "And Zoe… great proposal. I’m doubling your bonus. But let this be a lesson. From now on, you take your laptop with you to the bathroom!" Lillian’s nails dug into her palms. With a sudden shriek, she lunged at me. "Zoe, you set me up! Are you trying to ruin my life? You know about my toxic family! I'll be ruined if I don't have money!" I sidestepped her easily. "That sounds like a you problem. Maybe your 'toxic family' shouldn't have taught you to steal other people's work." 5 The truce between Lillian and me was officially over. Her reputation in the office plummeted. No one wanted to associate with a backstabbing plagiarist. On payday, a small crowd gathered curiously by the finance office. Lillian had been sniffing around all day, trying to find out what I made, but now that she was a pariah, no one would tell her anything. I made a point of unfolding my pay stub in plain sight. With full attendance, overtime, and a doubled bonus, my paycheck had broken five figures. A few friendly colleagues congratulated me. "You earned it, Zoe. You were working insane hours and running all over town last month. I'm not even jealous." Lillian's face turned the color of beet soup. She snatched the pay stub from my hand, her shriek nearly piercing my eardrums. "You made this much? I only got two thousand!" She quickly reined in her emotions, forcing a grotesque smile. "Zoe, since you made so much this month, you have to treat everyone, right?" I waved my hand magnanimously. "Sure. The new bistro downstairs is on me. Everyone's invited... except for Miss Lillian, of course. I wouldn't dare. Who knows if you'd order a feast and try to sneak it home in your purse like you did at the last team dinner?" Her composure finally shattered. She lunged at me again, ready to claw my eyes out. A few male coworkers stepped in, grabbing her arms as she thrashed, her furious glare locked on me. "This is my bonus you're flaunting!" she roared. "You stepped on me to get it! You took what was mine! I don't care—either you treat me to dinner or you give me half of that bonus!" The sheer audacity of it was almost impressive. I laughed, a sharp, humorless sound. I opened my expense tracking app and turned the screen for everyone to see. "You want to talk about who owes who? I've got a list." "From last March until now, you've mooched 87 lunches, 53 coffees, and 21 shared cab rides off me. I'll round down for you. That comes to a grand total of twelve hundred dollars. You can transfer it to me now." Gasps rippled through the onlookers as they saw the itemized list. The whispers started immediately. "She mooched that much? What a parasite!" "So when she told us Zoe was being cheap, she was just straight-up lying?" "Wow, Zoe, you have the patience of a saint for putting up with her this long." Lillian looked like a chicken being strangled. She stumbled backward, and under a chorus of hisses and boos, she fled into the restroom, shooting me one last look of pure, undiluted hatred. 6 The next morning, all hell broke loose in front of our office building. A haggard-looking couple with faces like crumpled maps had Lillian cornered, shaking her by the arm and screaming. "You deadbeat girl! You promised to send five thousand a month! Where is it?" Lillian was a sobbing, sniffling mess. "I got docked this month... I really don't have any money..." The woman collapsed onto the pavement, wailing. "Ungrateful child! We would've been better off raising a pig! You're going to quit this job right now and come back home to get married!" Lillian clung to the company's front door like her life depended on it, a picture of such desperation that even the new interns looked away, embarrassed. Suddenly, she turned on her parents. "This is your fault! It was your idea! Why else would I have stolen someone's proposal? Now my best friend won't even speak to me!" she shrieked. "Everyone at work hates me! Are you happy now?! I'm not getting married! This is all your fault!" Then, her eyes found me in the crowd of onlookers, her expression shifting to one of undisguised pleading. A flicker of pity stirred in me. Lillian had often complained about her family, about growing up in a household that blatantly favored her brother. He got the best of everything, while she had to scheme and scrape for every penny of her own. Maybe she truly wanted to change, but the damage her parents had done was too deep, making it nearly impossible for her to form healthy relationships. I hesitated, then stepped forward. "Sir, ma'am, if you don't stop this, we're going to have to call the police." "This is a family matter! Call them, see if we care!" the man sneered, and to prove his point, he kicked Lillian hard in the shin. "You useless girl, if you get your father and me arrested, the first thing we'll do when we get out is kill you!" Seeing me step in to defend her, Lillian's expression became a complicated mix of shame and hope. She started apologizing to me profusely while dodging their blows. Gritting my teeth, I took out my phone and transferred half of my newly acquired bonus to her. "You want money, right? Take it and go! And stay away from her!" The couple's demeanor changed instantly. They exchanged a greedy look, snatched the phone to check the transfer, and stalked away, still muttering under their breath that Lillian had better send the rest next month. The drama was finally over. As the crowd dispersed, Lillian threw herself into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably. "Zoe, you're too good to me... I'm so, so sorry for everything!" "I'll never take advantage of you again!" "I swear, I'll pay you back!"
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "384647", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel