Chapter 447

“Hey everyone, I’m Edward. Please take care of me!” Edward greeted everyone with a big smile, even bringing coffee for his new coworkers. The others simply nodded and immediately returned to their work; it was clear everyone was incredibly busy.

As the new hire struggled through the jargon-filled meeting, he alternated between scratching his nose and secretly texting Miriam: Save me from this corporate nonsense—I’d rather be anywhere else.

Edward was absentmindedly balancing a pen on his lips when he suddenly noticed everyone staring at him. Flustered, he snatched the pen away, cleared his throat awkwardly, and pretended to start taking notes with exaggerated focus.

After the meeting, everyone rushed back to their desks, except Edward, who strolled back at his own pace. Seeing how hard everyone was working, he turned to the person next to him and asked, “Why is everyone in such a hurry?”

“There’s a quarterly review. No one wants to get caught slacking. Gotta make a living, you know?” his colleague replied.

“Oh, I see,” Edward said, then asked, “So, do we ever do team dinners or hang out after work?”

The guy looked at him like he was a clueless kid. “Team dinner? Who has time for that? There are a bunch of new projects lately. If we get out on time, that’s already a win.”

Edward groaned inwardly. Overtime again? Seriously? Guess that means no dinner with Miriam, he thought.

“You’re new, so just focus on learning the ropes,” the colleague added. “Headquarters is way tougher than the branch offices. By the way, which university did you graduate from? You look pretty young. Did you get a PhD or something?”

Edward dodged the question and asked, “What about you? Where did you go to school?”

“Me? Just Northern University, nothing special,” the guy replied, as if it were no big deal.

Edward’s jaw dropped. Just Northern University? Wow, talk about humblebragging, he thought. He coughed awkwardly and started asking a few other colleagues about their schools. He instantly regretted it. Everyone here was from some top university. He felt too embarrassed to even mention his own, suddenly feeling like he didn’t belong at all.

It was almost time to clock out when Edward went to find Jonathan. “Hey, Mr. Lynn, I need to talk to you about something,” he said, quickly correcting himself. Jonathan had already told him not to mention they were cousins at work. Jonathan was looking over a contract, head down, not even glancing at him.

“What is it?” he asked coolly.

Seeing no one else around, Edward finally spoke honestly. “Jonathan, I don’t think I can keep doing this job.”

“Why?” Jonathan asked, still flipping through the paperwork without looking up.

Edward spread his hands, looking helpless. “Everyone here is super talented, and I’m just barely scraping by. It’s not fair to them. Plus, I really don’t like sales. I don’t understand a thing in meetings.”

“And?” Jonathan prompted, already moving on to the next contract in his stack.

“Just tell my mom I’m not cut out for sales, okay? Ask her to stop making things hard for me.”

“I’m the one making things hard for you?” Jonathan finally shot him a blank look.

“Because of your job, your mom and your aunt call me at least thirty times a day. Who do you think is really getting the short end of the stick here?”

Edward choked, swallowing hard. “Well, how about transferring me to another position? Let me be a security guard, or…?”

“I don’t care about the pay or benefits, just don’t make me work overtime. I need to hang out with my girlfriend. I’m not single and…” He caught himself. “You’ve got a girlfriend now, too. Don’t you need to spend time with her?”

Jonathan’s brow twitched slightly as he looked down. “She’s on a business trip. She doesn’t need me around.”