Cindy barked, "Enough! I'm not going to waste my breath. Get back to the office right now!"

Hearing that, I instinctively checked the time. "Cindy, it's already nine at night. Is there some emergency that can't wait until tomorrow?"

"Of course there is! I wouldn't be calling you if it wasn't urgent! Get over here right now!"

Cindy's tone got me worried, too. I thought there might be a problem with the project data. Without taking time to ask for details, I grabbed the bag I had just set down and rushed out the door.

When I got to the office, it was completely dark. I stared at the empty office in confusion and called her back."Cindy, I'm at the office. Why isn't anyone here?"

"Oh, just go in and check my computer."

I followed her instructions and walked over to her cubicle. "Your computer is off. Do you need me to update some data?"

"As long as it's off, that's fine. I was just worried I forgot to shut down my computer, so I had you come back to check."

I instantly see red. I had to take several deep breaths to swallow the curse words on the tip of my tongue.

"Cindy, if you're not sure about something like this, you can come back and check yourself."

"Young man, don't you know I'm pregnant? Isn't it your job to help me with these little things? Besides, I'm teaching you a lesson: you can't leave your computer on when you clock out. You need to conserve company electricity, understand?"

"Thanks for the reminder, Cindy."

I did not want to talk to her anymore and just wanted to hang up as quickly as possible, but I did not expect that response would set Cindy off again.

"A senior employee teaches you something, and instead of being grateful, you give me attitude? Who do you think you're talking to?! And today too, eating your chicken drumstick was me doing you a favor. I let you provide nutrition for my precious baby, think of it as good karma! And you? You don't know how to be grateful at all, and you even wanted me to pay you back!"

So, she deliberately made me come all the way back to the office for nothing tonight because of the lunchtime drumstick. It was so absurd that I did not want to put up with it anymore, but I still managed to control myself and reason with her politely.

"Cindy, the child isn't mine, so logically speaking, I have no obligation to provide nutrition for him. Asking you to pay me back was perfectly reasonable, but if you don't want to, that's fine. It's only two bucks, so I'll just treat it as my treat. Still, I hope things like tonight won't happen again, or I'll report you to the company for abusing your authority for personal revenge."

I did not give her a chance to respond and hung up straight away. Before putting down my phone, I checked to see if she had sent me any more messages.

Cindy had not sent anything else. I thought she had taken my words to heart and that the matter was over.

However, when I got to the office the next day, she threw a binder at me in front of all our coworkers.

"What kind of work attitude is this?! How dare you make me wait for you? I guess you don't want to get hired as a permanent worker, do you?!"

Luckily, I reacted quickly and blocked it with my hand, or the sharp corner of the binder would have hit me right in the face. Even so, the sharp plastic edge still scraped a bloody mark across the back of my hand.

I winced in pain and glanced at the wall clock.

"It's five minutes before nine. I'm not late, am I? And I didn't receive any notice from any supervisor requiring me to come in early."

"You need a notice for something like that? As an intern, you should arrive thirty minutes early to clean everyone's workspace! I can see that with no one managing you these past two months, you've really gotten full of yourself!"

Cindy held her lower back and snorted. "Starting tonight, you can't leave until you've checked all the power outlets after work, and in the morning, you must finish all the cleaning before we arrive! What's wrong with a young guy doing some work?"

"May I ask which supervisor assigned me this task?"

"Mr. Jenkins put me in charge of you, which means he gave me the authority to assign you tasks! If you're not happy with my arrangements, feel free to complain to him about me. You're pretty good at reporting people, aren't you? Go ahead and report me!"

After hearing her words, I nodded and went straight upstairs to knock on Lionel's office door. "Mr. Jenkins, I'd like to ask if the company has a policy requiring interns to handle cleaning and check power outlets?"

At the desk, Lionel was still holding his phone. Cindy had probably just messaged him.

"If a senior employee assigns you these tasks, she definitely has her reasons. As a newcomer, what's wrong with doing a little extra work? Can't even handle that much?"

"No, I can handle hard work. I just don't want to be targeted for no good reason."

The moment I finished speaking, a loud bang made me jump.

Lionel and Cindy really were family, because they slammed the desk and stood up in exactly the same way.

"What are you trying to say? You think that Cindy is deliberately making things difficult for you over a drumstick? You're way too narrow-minded. I need to seriously reconsider whether you're right for our company."

I had not expected him to threaten my permanent position, so I sighed helplessly. "Mr. Stone, I just think that since the company has cleaning staff, there's really no need to assign an extra person to do these things. Plus, I still have data organization and quarterly reports to work on–"

Lionel impatiently cut me off, "If you can't finish your work, that's a competency issue! You know full well your workload is heavy, yet you have time to come here and complain about your coworker?

"I'm warning you: there will be executives from headquarters coming to inspect at this week's quarterly presentation. If you screw up, forget about getting hired permanently–just pack your bags and get out!"

I clenched my teeth, but in the end I said nothing. I lowered my head and went back to the office.

Cindy was sitting there with her feet up, munching on snacks. The second she saw my frustrated expression, she grinned.

"Oh my, why so down? Let me guess... Your little complaint didn't work out?"

Stephanie was afraid I would go and argue with Cindy again, so she pulled me to my desk in a hushed voice.

"Don't go over there, Theodore! She's gloating! Let's just ignore her!"

I nodded gratefully. In truth, I had not planned on dealing with Cindy anyway. I would rather spend that time focusing on work.

According to Lionel, the presentation was the day after tomorrow, which meant I had to have all the reports ready by tomorrow.

Coming in early and staying late meant I was basically working overtime anyway. The only problem was that Cindy left her mess everywhere these past two days, wasting a lot of my time cleaning up.

In her eyes, my willingness to clean was a sign of surrender to her "authority."

"See that? You're still too green to mess with me!"

My eyes never left the screen, and only after I had finished revising the report according to my supervisor's notes did I shift my gaze to her.

"You might be mistaken, Cindy. I'm cleaning your workspace because I'm a neat freak and can't stand filthy habits. I'd suggest you pay more attention to personal hygiene. After all, the office doesn't belong to just you."

With that, I shut down my computer. I ignored Cindy's shrieking and cursing behind me, grabbed my bag, and left.

My work was done, so why would I stay late with her?

But when I opened my computer the next day, I froze in shock. The folder that had contained my reports was now completely empty.

Stephanie saw me go stiff and asked with concern, "What's wrong, Theodore? Are you feeling sick?"

"My reports..."

Before I could finish, Lionel's voice came from outside the office door.

"Well, we were all wondering which executive would be visiting today, but I didn't expect you to come personally..."

Cindy looked like she had been waiting for this moment, putting on an exaggerated expression right as they pushed the door open.

"Theodore! Did you lose the quarterly reports?! Oh my goodness! How could you make such a mistake?"

Cindy's shrill voice echoed through the entire office.

Due to her outburst, everyone turned to look at me.

Lionel had just walked in, and his eyes widened with rage. He stormed straight over to my desk.

"Theodore, is what Cindy is saying true? How could you make such a mistake? Pack your things and get out right now!"

"I..."

I had just opened my mouth to explain when Cindy cut in.

"What?! Some people pretend to stay late every day and act hardworking. And the result? Can't even turn in a single report! Did you lose it, or did you just never do it at all?"

Though it was phrased as a question, she did not give me time to answer and pulled a flash drive out of her pocket.

"Good thing I could tell you were unreliable, so I prepared the presentation in advance! Ms. Taylor, please don't worry. Even though pregnancy has been so hard on me, I always take my work seriously. Today's presentation will absolutely satisfy you!"

Cindy dramatically touched her belly, trying to emphasize her effort and sacrifice.

However, the chairperson at the door was not looking at her. Instead, she gazed at me with an almost amused expression.

"Mr. Lloyd, is everything she's saying true?"