Chapter 3

I work as a website maintenance specialist at an internet company. My boss is a friend of Jasper's, and the job is pretty laid-back.

One day, I noticed something was off as soon as I arrived at the office.

Seeing my confused expression, a coworker filled me in. Apparently, the boss had asked her for a bunch of operational documents earlier. Word was, he was planning to sell the company.

When a company changes hands, layoffs are often inevitable.

So everyone looked pretty on edge.

At 10 AM, the boss indeed came out to tell us about the company being sold.

The good news, though, was that none of the current employees would be let go.

The new owner was loaded and wouldn't be so heartless, but performance reviews would definitely be stricter going forward.

Our boss had treated us well, all things considered. For a startup, survival was tough, and we could understand that.

Plus, changing ownership without layoffs was even more rare in the current economic climate.

So we suggested having a farewell dinner together that evening.

"Of course we'll have dinner! It's on me tonight. Your new boss is coming by this afternoon, so everyone be on your toes!"

Then, looking at me, he said:

"Callie, come in and help me receive them this afternoon."

I nodded.

I understood what he meant.

If there was one person in this company who had the most free time, it was definitely me.

And if there was one employee who was the most expendable, that would be me too.Though they say there won't be layoffs, someone like me might not be so lucky.

The boss is trying to help me make a good impression on the new owner. I appreciate his thoughtful intentions.

At 3:30 in the afternoon, the boss messaged me on WhatsApp that the person had arrived.

I prepared some welcome materials and headed to the conference room.

But as soon as I entered, I froze in shock.

The conference room wasn't large, seating only about a dozen people.

Now sitting in the middle on the right side of the table was none other than Nash. Who else could it be?

Seeing me standing stunned in the doorway, the boss quickly spoke up to prompt me:

"Callie, why are you spacing out? Nervous about meeting your future boss? Don't worry, come on in."

He then explained to Nash:

"Mr. Sterling, please excuse her. Callie usually handles website maintenance. Our office manager is out sick today, so she's filling in temporarily."

Hearing this, Nash lifted his eyelids to give me a brief glance, and said coolly:

"A website tech doing admin work - quite the job rotation experience."

Not grasping his deeper meaning, the boss eagerly agreed: "Yes, yes, exactly."

Nash's words snapped me out of my daze.

He was pretending not to know me, so I should just play along and act like I didn't know him either.I laid out the printed documents, poured some tea, and was about to leave the conference room when Nash stopped me.

"Miss Levi, leaving before the work is done? Do you think this job is just for you to experience the hardships of common folk?"

I glanced at Nash, then at my boss, before lowering my head and muttering "Sorry" as I took a seat in the back corner on the left side of the conference table.

The proceedings moved quickly; they must have already come to an agreement beforehand.

I even felt that Nash didn't need to come in person at all.

Life really does play tricks on you.

Nash is going to be my boss from now on. Looks like I need to consider finding a new job.

While I was fretting about finding new employment, I heard my boss politely ask Nash:

"Mr. Sterling, would you like to join us for dinner this evening?"

I thought Nash would surely decline, as my boss was clearly just being courteous.

But he accepted.

Not only that, he seemed to read my boss's mind, knowing our plans for tonight, and continued:

"Why don't you invite the rest of the company to join us? It'll help smooth out our future collaborations if I get to know everyone."

As he said this, he looked at me:

"Isn't that right, Miss Levi?"