Chapter 1
I asked the doctor to change my pain medication to an appendectomy.
The doctor looked at me quizzically, “Why the sudden change of heart? Not going to be with your wife?”
I smiled bitterly, “Because she just died.”
The doctor froze for a moment, then gave me a strange, sympathetic look without saying anything more.
As soon as I opened SnapChat, I saw Ryan tagging everyone in our work group:
“Sorry for the misunderstanding, everyone. The post I shared earlier was just a joke. I hope you all don’t read too much into it.”
This deliberate show-off of an apology made me want to vomit.
Rachel immediately replied:
“Ryan, you don’t need to apologize. It’s obviously a joke, and we’re not all so thin-skinned that we’d take it seriously.”
As soon as our head translator spoke, those cunning colleagues who had been lurking suddenly chimed in:
“Exactly! The office atmosphere is usually so dull, it’s refreshing to have some young blood cracking jokes.”
“Rachel, your comeback was so sharp! That’s why you’re our boss!”
“Ryan, looks like our only thin-skinned colleague hasn’t responded yet. Maybe you should message him privately to explain!”
Watching my colleagues constantly sucking up and putting others down, I felt a mix of emotions.
Half of these people were my former mentees. The more affectionately they used to call me “mentor,” the more cold-hearted they were now.
What could I expect when Rachel was the head of the translation team and Ryan was her new favorite?
To them, I was just a pushover who had cut ties with my parents for Rachel’s sake.
I sighed deeply and exited SnapChat, not wanting to let them ruin my mood.
But before I could put down my phone, Rachel called again. I answered impatiently, “What do you want?”
She took a deep breath on the other end, seemingly suppressing her anger:
“Jack Thompson, I need you to write a peace speech in English and Farsi right now. Ryan needs it for tomorrow! Make it easy to read, don’t use any complicated words, got it?”
Her tone left no room for refusal, as if she were ordering a dog around. I instantly flared up.
This trip to the Middle East wasn’t just about giving a peace speech; it also involved coordinating with humanitarian aid teams from multiple countries and communicating with locals. Ryan’s mediocre English skills were nowhere near sufficient for the job.
But Ryan wanted this experience as a stepping stone for his career advancement, so he had begged Rachel to let him go.
Rachel, completely focused on him, had assigned Ryan without any discussion.
Now, with the departure date approaching and Ryan not even having prepared a speech, they were scrambling to have me clean up their mess. How shameless!
So it wasn’t an emergency back home, but rather realizing his incompetence and potential exposure.
Rachel took her little troublemaker to play the role of a grandson in the countryside, while leaving me here to write the speech. No way!
“Hey, did you hear me? Send it to me for review first! If it’s good, I’ll pass it on to Ryan.”
Rachel’s tone was impatient. I laughed coldly and refused outright:
“I’m not writing someone else’s speech. If Ryan can’t write it himself, why don’t you help him? After all, you’ve been doing most of his work during his probation period. What’s wrong with helping him advance his career?”
“Ms. Head Translator, if there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.”
Before I could end the call, Rachel’s furious voice nearly split my eardrum:
“Don’t you dare hang up! Jack Thompson, have I been giving you too much face lately?”