Broken Reliance, Renewed Longing

“You haven’t forgotten why I was injured, have you?” I asked coldly. “Benjamin is in jail because of you. Do you still think you’re some kind of saint? Any normal person who had caused such harm would be so overwhelmed with guilt they’d barely be able to eat. Yet here you are, stirring up trouble.”

With me standing between Rachel and the girls who were arguing with her, their expressions shifted. Unwilling to concede defeat, the second girl, Aria, retorted, “Even if what you say is true, you should think about the company. You’ve been an intern for quite a while. How many projects have been delayed because you’re not doing your job and always making fuss and how much has it cost the company?”

I smiled at her smart comeback. I glanced at the drawer near me and broke into a wide grin. Rachel stared at me in confusion as I walked toward the table beside her and opened the drawer. I kept a smile on my face while reaching for one of her hands and placing it gently on the table, then took out a pair of scissors. I lifted them high and drove them down forcefully. My expression was calm and devoid of aggression and everything happened in a flash. No one had time to react.

The sharp, piercing scream reverberated through the lab. Rachel’s tears flowed instantly, her makeup smudged beyond recognition. The scissors stopped just one centimeter above her palm. I remained composed while returning her words.

“If the scissors had gone a few inches lower, would you still keep this from the manager’s table?”

Rachel trembled, frozen in fear. Her eyes, the only part of her body still moving, were teary and burning with hatred as they locked onto me, as if she wanted to devour me.

Suddenly, a sharp pain pierced through my right shoulder, causing my body to lurch sideways. My balance faltered and I stumbled, slamming my lower back into the corner of the table. The impact made me gasp in agony, the pain radiating through my spine.

As I struggled to regain my composure, my eyes met the scene unfolding before me. Benjamin was standing beside Rachel, his hand gripping her shoulder with a protective urgency. His face was flushed with a mix of anger and concern, his eyes blazing with a fierce intensity.

“Cora, there’s a limit to what you can joke about. I could even hear the commotion from outside. Look at her! You’ve made her cry. This isn’t a joke; it’s workplace bullying!” He paused for a moment before continuing,

“If you have a problem with me, then come at me. Don’t take out your anger on an innocent girl. She has nothing to do with this.”

As he spoke, his grip on Rachel’s shoulder tightened, a protective shield against the scene that had erupted around us. The room was filled with a tense silence, broken only by the muted sounds of Rachel’s sobs and Benjamin's resolute declarations.