[Must Read]
"I told you to cover one celebrity scandal, but you couldn't even do that! And you dare call yourself a senior reporter, you fuckin' retard!?"
Earl flinched when the huge pile of files was suddenly thrown at his face, while his boss's fuming shriek reverberated across the walls of the hall.
His remaining journalist colleagues nervously exchanged glances as a silent audience gathered at the corner of the office hall, a bit far from where the whole ruckus was happening.
But none of them dared to stand up against the bald, old fart who was brazenly throwing off a tantrum.
It took Earl a few seconds to swallow his rage before he raised his ocean eyes at the man who didn't even look a little sorry for grazing his porcelain white chin with the sharp paper clip.
As blood dripped down his cheeks, he wondered only if murdering your boss for giving you unbearable stress at work had been legal in this world, Earl would've attempted it a long time ago.
"Sir, if you remember, actress Mila had already attempted suicide two months back under the pressure of online bullying."
Earl took a deep breath as he bent down to gather the papers from the ground as he continued, "So, how could I possibly expose these files to the public, knowing I would definitely be pushing her off to the edge?"
"That's none of my fuckin' business!!"
That old man's growl grew fervent this time, while he clenched his jaws before rebuking him, "We didn't open a charity business here! We are media reporters, and this kind of gossip news is mandatory to keep our company running! It's been 8 years since you were appointed…Are you a thick-skulled person not to get that point till now?
"Just because of your incompetence, we lost our chance to expose this scandal, and look, our rival company snagged away our biggest opportunity! Shouldn't you be ashamed of yourself, moron!?"
Ruining someone's life for the sake of gossip material was a grave sin that someone like Earl with high morals would never commit. At that moment, immense regret flared inside him for taking on this job despite everything, if the hospital bills were not piling up endlessly.
But now, getting thrashed at work by your senior before the other subordinates who had looked upto you until now, Earl felt more mortified than death.
The moment he stood up from the ground gathering those papers, his boss growled in a jittery tone, "I am giving you one last chance to redo your mistakes. Go and make these files public within an hour. We can't waste a second—"
"I refuse."
"What?"
Clenching his grip on the hard file cover, Earl furrowed his brows, asserting his words while his boss rolled his death glare, "I can't ruin someone's life for the sake of cheap publicity stunts, especially when she is a woman. So, I refuse your order, Sir."
"You do realize what you're saying now, right, Mr. Earl Brent? If you refuse my order, then I do not have any need for a nuisance like you either!"
"Alright. Then, I am quitting right now, Sir." A painful lump of anxiety formed deep down his throat, making Earl struggle to utter those words for a second, with a forged small smile on his pale face.
Carrying the fear of an unknown future awaiting him next, before Earl could turn around, his boss grabbed a glass of water and splashed it all over him, followed by a vicious shriek.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY? YOU ARE QUITTING? I AM THE ONE FIRING YOU RIGHT NOW, YOU INCOMPETENT MORON! AND I WILL MAKE SURE YOU WON'T LAND A JOB ANYWHERE IN THIS INDUSTRY! NOW GET LOST!!"
Life is totally unpredictable, and Earl had to experience it in the worst, humiliating way possible.
Though a few office colleagues tried to console him while he was packing his stuff up, the rest of them were busy buttering up the boss to get assigned for the task he had left behind.
At 35 years of age, with bare minimum savings left in his account and getting fired from a high-paying stable job wasn't in his bingo card.
A part of his mind blamed him over standing upto his high morals which would become futile now that he's unemployed.
Yet still, sitting on a wooden bench at a nearby park, he fiddled with the small ring box he had carried until now, and then opened it to glance at the diamond ring.
He had brought the ring a week ago from his 6 months of savings, for Julie, his long-term girlfriend, to propose to her in the desired way a man should.
But a dream of happily ever after with his beloved woman felt quite the luxury when the thought of a dark future ahead shuddered his core.
RING…RING…
At that time, when he was lost in his thoughts, his phone rang aloud. Earl noticed there were 10 missed calls from Julia already.
Knowing he had forgotten to call her back earlier amidst the ongoing office chaos, when he called her back this time, he heard a cold grunt, "Earl? I have been waiting at the restaurant for an hour already. Where are you!?"
Shoot!
Tonight was supposed to be one of the happiest moments of his life, since he had already booked a dinner reservation in her favorite restaurant, hoping to propose to Julia with a grand surprise.
With the autumn winds gradually wafting a colder breeze, by the time winter approached, Earl had almost planned on holding the wedding, knowing her fascination with winter.
But in the span of a night, everything had turned into a complete mess.
For a second, Earl was stunned with disbelief, knowing that he had completely forgotten about his date night, which was something he had never done before.
But holding onto a faint hope that Julia will understand him as she has always done until now, he didn't mean to make her worry much by telling the real reason.
Earl clenched his phone in his grip as he mumbled awkwardly, "Julia…I was about to call you in a moment. A-Actually, I have to do overtime tonight, so…can we meet some other time—"
"That's it, Earl. I am done…I can't do this anymore…"
Her cold murmur formed a painful knot deep down his chest, as if for a second he suddenly couldn't breathe anymore. Inhaling a deep breath, he tried consoling her, "Julia, I am sorry, I know we were about to meet after a month, but something urgently came up and—"
"And I am sick of being the only one who has to bear with this suffocation every time something comes up for you, Earl. I think we should stop seeing each other before bitterness swallows the love we had for each other…"