Chapter 17: Care To Explain?
Julia’s POV:
The next morning I came to the office earlier with high spirits, holding a radiant smile on my face. My confidence seemed to startle the other new employees who kept sneaking glances at me and whispering among themselves.
Their actions made me realize Yasmine must’ve already spread the rumor about me probably getting fired for causing the big mishap with the company order.
Martha had to leave the office early since her daughter was unwell, but today when I stepped inside the office building, she rushed towards me fast and grabbed my hand, looking overwhelmingly concerned, “J-Julia…is what I am hearing true? D-Did you really mess up the big order?”
Compared to the other employees who were busy gossiping behind my back, watching her true concern beaming in those anxious eyes pleased me. Beneath her eyes, there were big eyebags as if after hearing about this rumor last night, she must’ve struggled to sleep out of her worries for my sake.
“Martha…don’t fret too much. Justice will be served, and you do have faith in me, right?”
“Of course! I trust you, Julia! I know you could never cause such a mistake…” Her acknowledging words and the trust she chose to put in me instead of listening to others inspired me deeply, as I reverted my smile of gratitude.
Patting her on the shoulder before I could speak a word more, I saw Yasmine scornfully gazing at me from a distance, standing close to the vending machine. It was the perfect timing because I was keen to have a word with Yasmine as well!
Walking past Martha, I reached her close and asked Yasmine in a stiff tone, “Yasmine, follow me to my desk.”
“What for?” To my surprise, she had already eliminated all the courtesy in her tone, and a sly smug grew on her face, “Why should I go with you? I am sorry, but I am not in the mood for your morning lectures right now. I just came to grab my coffee and—”
“Miss Yasmine, I hope you don’t forget that I am still your senior, both in designation and experience…so do you want me to issue a complaint against you for disrespecting your senior?”
I interrupted her sentence using my hoarse, angry voice which winced her a little, making her scowl at me. She couldn’t dare to argue anymore and obediently followed me inside to my work desk, but stood stoic there when we reached.
“What do you want from me now? I know you must be stressed from the thought of finding a new high-paying job like this one after getting fired from here, but you shouldn’t pour your stress out on your juniors. This is pure harassment. I can also issue a complaint against you since you’re already on the blacklist.”
While she was venting at me, without showing any sign of getting irked, I calmly grabbed my phone from the bag and shuffled my gaze back to her. She seemed a little startled to watch me act calm instead of getting triggered by her words. But before she could charge another word, I opened a picture from my phone gallery and showed it on her face.
“Miss Yasmine, care to explain what’s this?”
Her arrogant face immediately turned pale from fear, as she couldn’t blink her eyes while looking at the picture. Last night after I had overheard the gossip from those interns, I intentionally stayed back late at the office and found out it was indeed true, that after 8 pm Supervisor Todor didn’t let anyone stay there.
But, I was smart enough to use this opportunity and wait at the parking lot until late at night, hiding behind a big pillar. It was almost past 10 pm when I saw Supervisor Todor finally walking down to the parking lot but he wasn’t alone… Draping his arm around Yasmine’s slim waist, both of them were giggling while walking towards his car.
I was already suspicious about something brewing between them, but thanks to those two interns, it made my doubts even clearer.
Upon stepping inside his car, the next second I saw both of them intimately kissing each other, and Yasmine took the first initiative! Even though the sight purely disgusted me, still I clicked the picture of them at that moment to use it as my secret weapon for turning the entire fiasco around!
Now, the moment I showed Yasmine the picture I had captured, her face lost every color, and holding a gaze of disbelief, she quivered, “Y-You…T-This…W-What…”
“Now, if you try to claim this is a photoshopped picture, I have also retrieved the CCTV footage from the parking lot yesterday. Unfortunately, that footage video has more lewd moments between you and Mr. Todor, in comparison to this picture.” Watching the look of harrowing fear on her face provided me great satisfaction, as I was finally able to muster control over the situation.
“T-This is wrong! This is a breach of my privacy! I…I will report you, Miss Julia! I won’t let you beat me…” Panicking hard, Yasmine raised her voice when she shrieked at me but thankfully there wasn’t anyone around us at that moment.
I calmly smiled at her antsy reaction since I had already expected it to come through. “You can go ahead and report me, Yasmine. But…I can simply send this picture and the footage video to Mr. Todor’s wife who’s returning to the country soon. I hope you are aware that she’s a renowned prosecutor, so…are you prepared for what you’ll be facing next, Yasmine?”
“Shit…Fuck…” Clenching her trembling fist, Yasmine rolled her dreadful eyes on me when she whimpered, “W-What…What do you want from me?”
“The truth.” Finally, I darted my cold gaze towards her and asked in a domineering voice, “Confess the truth to me and I will make sure to protect your dignity, Yasmine.”
“It’s…all Mr. Todor’s doing…” Her voice crooked a little out of nervousness when she finally revealed, “He promised me a promotion if I aided him to kick you out, since he couldn’t stand your nerves. He…intentionally handed you the responsibility of that order to screw you over…and…I agreed to be a part of it because…I was promised to get your position after you’re fired from here. He has the access of all of our emails, so he’s the one who messed up the order and even deleted your mails from the inbox. That’s all…I know…”
“Great.” I had already recorded her statement tactfully when she spoke, and with a shimmering radiant smile on my face, I urged her, “Then…since you’re already ‘too close’ to him, I guess you already hae access to his computer, right?”
“W-What?”
Flinched at my remark, before Yasmine could say a word, I marched closer and tossed a cryptic sneer at her, “This is not a question, but an order from your senior. You have the access, right? So…I need you to do me a favor now. You do want to be safe, right, Miss Yasmine?”