"What have I done?" The girl stared in disbelief when she saw a man sleeping soundly beside her. Her gaze then peeked under the blanket that covered her entire body.

Now, the girl named Ivory Karyl could only tap her forehead lightly. "Oh God, I must be really crazy. I don't even recognize this man."

Her panicked expression was clear and couldn't be hidden. "Come on, try to remember something. Maybe you did something silly last night."

Her eyes shut tightly, and her brain was forced to recall the events of the previous night. Slowly, a coherent sequence of events started to emerge.

It all began when Ivory was called into her boss's office. Even though she had just arrived at the office, the girl hurriedly entered Theo's room. Without hesitation, she approached and faced him. "You called for me, sir?"

Theo, who had been focusing on his laptop screen, looked up to see a girl in a black suit with matching pants staring at him.

The man, whose hair was already graying, closed his laptop and took a deep breath. "Do you know why I called you here?"

The girl shook her head innocently. Theo then looked at her sharply. "I’ve never had any issues with your performance since you started. But I just received a report that lately, you’ve been frequently late and delegating all your work to your colleagues."

One of Ivory’s eyebrows raised. "I’ve been late because of some things I needed to take care of at my apartment. But for heaven's sake, I’ve never delegated my work to anyone or slacked off for a whole day. Even when I'm late, I always complete everything, even sacrificing my sleep for overtime work."

"So you’re accusing me?"

Immediately, the girl waved her hands in front of Theo's face. "No, no, it’s not like that. I know you are a wise person, but maybe there's a small misunderstanding here."

"Unfortunately, this is a company. I don't care if there's a misunderstanding or not; all I care about is keeping the company moving forward. If you become an obstacle to that, I won't hesitate to get rid of you."

Ivory's heart sank upon hearing those words. Theo's statement cut deeply. "Get rid of me? Sir, you yourself said my performance has been good and there were no issues. But with one vile accusation like this, you’re firing me. This isn’t fair."

The man had now stood up and was staring sharply at Ivory before walking closer without shifting his gaze. "This is my company, my rules. If you want to work here, you should have known the rules from the beginning."

Ivory, being stared at like that, felt nervous. She then clenched her hands under the table, her face showing panic that couldn’t be hidden. "I was just doing my job. But I also had an emergency outside of work that made me come late."

"Well, I have other matters outside the company too, and I want you to leave this job."

At this point, Ivory couldn't hold back her frustration any longer. She looked up and stared at Theo defiantly. "You're firing me just because they who accused me are prettier and sexier than I am, right?"

Okay, Ivory had crossed the line with her words. But Theo, hearing this, just curled one side of his lips up with a teasing smile. "People always have their own rules. If you continue to cling to your old-fashioned principles, you won’t survive in this cruel world."

Ivory clenched her fists below. "Fine. I’ll leave. Even if I go, I’ll leave with dignity. Good afternoon, sir."

But before the girl could leave, she made sure to step on Theo’s foot with her sharp heels, making the man wince. "What are you doing?"

Theo's words were ignored by Ivory entirely. The girl continued to walk quickly out of the room. As soon as she reached her division, she grabbed her bag and left without a word.

Meanwhile, a girl in a white striped blouse watched Ivory leave with a sly smile on her face. Now she had gotten rid of the girl she disliked so much.

Ivory then walked with heavy steps to the street. "Oh God, why did I say that? I need a job. He didn’t even give me my last paycheck. Oh no. What should I do now?"

Soon after, her phone rang. Seeing her mother’s name on the screen, the girl sighed before answering. "Yes, Mom?"

"Ivory, how much longer until you get paid? Your brother wants new shoes. He says his old ones are worn out. Also, I want to add to my jewelry collection. The old ones are outdated."

Hearing her mother’s words made Ivory massage her temples hard, trying to minimize the headache. "Mom, can’t you, just once, call to ask about me? How my day is, or if I’m okay? Why do you only call when you need money?"

"Ivory, what’s your problem? I’m your mother. Isn’t it okay to ask for money from you?"

Once again, Ivory couldn’t understand her mother’s line of thinking. Rather than letting her emotions get the better of her, the girl quickly ended the call on her own. "I really need an outlet right now."

So she quickly hailed a taxi passing by. With her savings nearly depleted and her life falling apart, she decided to spend all her money on having fun. "I envy how people can become rich. Anyway, why does my life have to be like this?"

Ivory yelled inside the taxi, making the driver glance at her. As soon as she looked up and saw the driver looking at her, she just smiled innocently as an apology.

Ah, she was also embarrassed in front of the driver.

A few minutes later, the taxi stopped at a luxurious building. A place where people could blow off steam or just have fun.

Ivory certainly wouldn’t be doing that since she didn’t have a boyfriend. She just bought drinks until she was drunk and forgot all her problems, even if only for a moment.

After getting what she ordered, the girl poured three glasses and drank them all at once. "I think this is still not enough."

After finishing her tenth glass, Ivory’s head suddenly felt dizzy and spun.