I couldn't help but look at the faces of my HR Department Leader and the CEO before me with mixed feelings.

As soon as I graduated, I landed a job as a saleswoman here and worked extremely hard for about 10 years. I had sacrificed my entire youth to work with Neoform. The truth was I accompanied them from when it used to be an unknown small company to a huge company that became well-known as a dark horse in the IT industry.

Yet, what did I get from them after all those 10 years with them? They paid me with nothing but a severance letter that stated that I only got a severance pay worth my one month's salary. Seeing this couldn’t help but make me laugh in frustration.

“Sir, Ma’am, I’ve been working extremely hard for this company for the last 10 years. How could you lay off the Best Saleswoman in the company when I haven’t made any fatal mistakes? And … how dare you only give a severance pay for my one-month salary?” I asked the HR Department Leader and the CEO angrily.

Personally, it seemed that Leticia, the HR Department Leader, got used to laying off too many employees at the end of the year.

In fact, the woman surely had gotten used to it to the point that she became so cocky as he talked to me in a very arrogant tone, “Well, Miss Hawking, this is the company’s rules. May I remind you that your job is a saleswoman, which is a very sales-oriented job that is mainly based on commissions? Since you’re leaving the company, you’re not contributing to any of the company’s sales. So, why would the company need to give you more money?”

Whoa! Was that something that an HR Department Leader could say easily?

Realizing that I would only waste my time talking to such an arrogant and stupid HR Department Leader who seemed to not understand any labor law, I stared at Neoform’s CEO, Jonathan Warren, in anger and asked him, “Sir, why me?”

Jonathan Warren, the current CEO of Neoform, used to be an employee just like me. Surely, that man could see how I managed to rise to my current position with his own eyes. Not to mention what happened this year because we all managed to go through the pandemic which caused such strong market competition that had never happened before.

Since we were dealt with such a strong competition, I often had to work overtime for the company until very late. In fact, I was still even responding to customers’ inquiries until 3 or 4 a.m. the next morning. Not only that, I even lived inside the company for a period of time while I continued to work overtime to think of better solutions as well as built connections for the company.

I was very confident that Jonathan could see how hard I worked for Neoform.

Yet, what he said really slapped me on my face, “Helena, you should’ve realized what the company’s interests lay by now. You can see that our company’s performance isn’t very good. Unfortunately, it means that we must cut costs to increase our efficiency in performance. We’ve made calculations, showing that you staying here will be extremely expensive … unfortunately, you have to be laid off.”

“Besides, you need to understand that our company is in a crisis. You’re still young, so other companies will hire you in no time. Don’t you think you shouldn’t think about the severance pay a bit too much?” he asked me again.

Jonathan kept talking, “Helena, you’re a saleswoman. Obviously, your job is to make people buy the products. But if our company’s products aren’t good, can we sell them? Since you’re able to bring projects worth billions of dollars, our products have shown how good they are. That’s why you become the Best Saleswoman!”

“Instead, you should’ve thanked Neoform for giving you a platform to show yourself,” he concluded arrogantly.

His bullshit did nothing but convinced me. Yet, the man seemed to be deluded into believing his own lies. Besides, he said every one of his words with a strong conviction as he stared me right into my eyes.

In the past, Jonathan was also a salesman just like I was. But he then married the former CEO’s daughter. From then on, his career progression was smooth sailing. As soon as he became the current CEO, he seemed to forget that he used to be an employee as he began putting guilt into his employees like any other CEO.

Then, realization suddenly dawned on me as I looked at the CEO’s face. Out of nowhere, I remembered what he said during last year’s company dinner party. Although I managed to sign projects worthy of billions of dollars, I recalled that the other companies who cooperated with us specifically asked me to handle negotiations with them in the future.

It reminded me of what Jonathan said about hoping that I would continue to set a new standard for other employees at last year’s dinner party. It turned out that he meant it to boost other employees’ morale to get projects as good as mine.

More realization came. I remembered that I just finished negotiating with the other companies’ representative early in the morning before I was told that I would be laid off this afternoon. As soon as they got what they wanted, they kicked me off just like that.

When I thought of the new year’s plan for sales that I just wrote wholeheartedly, my heart sank. In a company like this, such sincere efforts would never ever be rewarded justly.

At this point, I made the decision that I didn’t wish to stay in such an inhumane company like Neoform any longer.

“Make my severance pay as worthy as 11 months of my salary. I will not accept even a penny less.”

“What? Did you say 11 moths of your salary? Did you want to rob us?” Alan, the HR Deparment Leader, asked angrily as he stood up.

Then, the woman angrily mocked me as she shouted, “You’re just nothing but a scammer! How dare you ask Neoform that huge amount of money!”

I just glared daggers at the curly-haired woman before me who looked pretty similar to Jonathan. After all, it was no secret that Alan was Jonathan’s cousin. In fact, both Jonathan and her were rumored to change several company’s employees several times with their relatives.

Not only that, Alan was infamous for being extremely rude when she was laying off employees. That woman would repeatedly attack employees’ personally, hurting them even more. I was able to see how true that gossip was with my own eyes as I currently experiencing it.

At this point, I realized that how Neoform was a really terrible company. The employees were filled with no one but people with connections from the bottom level to the top one.

“We can only give you severance pay worthy of two months of your salary,” Jonathan eventually said.

The man then continued to speak as he said, “Miss Hawking, our company’s reputation is pretty fearsome. If you still refuse to take this severance pay, it’ll make your life even harder. Don’t try to defy us, okay?”

“That’s right!” the HR Department Leader shouted arrogantly.

She kept continuing, “Let me tell you, you only get 3 days at maximum to think about it. Also, I already kicked you out from our Slack group. If you refused to take the severance pay within three days, we would consider that you were absent. Thus, the company would have legitimate reasons to fire you.”

Jonathan kept persuading me as he continued, “That’s right, Helena. I remembered that you just paid the down payment for your new house. Don’t you still need to pay the mortgage? So, why don’t you take the severance pay instead of wasting your time with us?”

However, I just ignored that man as I took out my phone. Sure enough, it showed that I was kicked from the Sales Department and the whole company’s Slack groups. These two people were truly evil. They kept pushing me to take the severance pay. Surely, they already planned how to kick me out of this company.

In the end, I ended up signing the severance letter.

What Jonathan said was indeed my weak point. After all, I came from a poor family. Recently, I spent many years of my savings to pay my house’s down payment. Hence, I had no extra money with me anymore.

I remembered when Jonathan found out that I was paying my mortgage as he comforted me by saying, “As long as you really work hard for our company, I’m sure that it wouldn’t even take three to five years to pay off your mortgage.”

At the time, I thought that he was being caring about his subordinates. However, I would never expect that it turned out that he wanted to use this as my weak point to force me to agree to be laid off. That man was surely slick as hell by using my weakness to make me agree with him.

Eventually, I came back to my cubicle in frustration as I had to prepare to pack my things up. To my shock, I saw that my things were already stuffed carelessly in cardboard boxes and put aside without care. Then, I could see that there was a man who seemed to be in his mid-twenties who sat on my chair. Not only that, this asshole was eating my snacks!

I hadn’t even gone through the whole process of being laid off, but why people were so rude to me?

It made me so mad that I immediately grabbed the snacks from the man’s hand as I angrily asked, “Who are you, Sir? Why do you think you can treat my things away like this?”

But the man just scanned me with his eyes as he smirked evilly before he asked me back, “Are you Miss Helena Hawking? The Top Saleswoman?”

“Well, you look pretty. But you’re already wrinkling, don’t you think? Women as old as you should just stay at home to please their husbands and raise children. So, why would you still work at the office?” he continuously asked me in a mocking tone.

After that, he loudly mocked me more, “My cousin, Jonathan, is right. Sales are just about talking. You women are nothing but being pretty because you still need us men to get the sales!”

When I looked at the nametag he wore ‘Alan Warren’ before I continued to look at his face which was also pretty similar to Jonathan’s, the realization hit me all of a sudden. This man might be another of Jonathan’s relatives.

“And,” he then said.

In an arrogant tone, he continued, “I wasn’t the one who touched your things. In fact, your things were all stuffed by your coworkers that sat next to your desk.”

“I just told them that I was Jonathan’s cousin and I would join Neoform to replace you, then they quickly rushed over to stuff your things and put them on the floor,” he said, ending what he said.

When I heard it, I couldn’t help but look at my own coworkers who were helping to stuff my things away. These were all young men whom I had brought with me since I joined this company. They always followed me and greeted me with respect. In fact, the youngest one had been following me for around three years.

Yet, they were all lowering their heads in silence.

This was bone-chilling.

Except Violet Brown, who had just been promoted to be the Neoform’s full-time employee.

The young woman stood up and spoke for me as she tried to defend me by saying, “You guys have been helped by Helena here, but you dare to betray her like this?”

She angrily shouted, “If Helena leaves, I’ll leave too!”

Just when I was about to stop her, Violet took out her own resignation letter as she said, “Helena, you don’t have to say anything. I already made up my mind to resign from this place.”

As she was helping me pack my things carefully, she whispered to my ears, “Helena, I’ll go wherever you go. I’ll never ever forget your kindness in helping me here. Pay no mind to Alan Warren’s bullshits. Remember, I’m here. Helena. You’ll always be the best!”

What she said truly brought tears to my eyes. Frankly, Violet had only been in this company for half a year. Not to mention, I wasn’t actually very close with her. I could remember what she said about my kindness in helping her was actually a small thing that I helped her, which was actually no big deal for me as I was already experienced.

However, her sincere expression was far better in friendship than the others who spent three to five years of working with me only to betray me.

People’s hearts were indeed unpredictable.