Y/N

"What? Are you kidding me?" I threw the tablet on the table and stood up.

"I'm not kidding mam!" my manager said, "I really can't find a single site where there is a mention of this company from Saudi!"

My face was full of disbelief.

"So the thing is...," she continued, "They have no official branches, no previous projects and most importantly, they are not verified. A multi-national company can't have no branches in at least their own country!"

"So you are telling me that...that they are a fraud?" I asked her, hoping the answer to be a 'no'.

"Of course mam. I haven't seen a multinational company who has no official branch at even in a city!"

I sat down. I was in dilemma. On one hand, I wanted this partnership to happen, but on the other hand, I believed what she was saying.

So at last, I concluded that the company was a real fraud. They only came here so that they will act as an MNC and take away all our shares and then, disappear.

I called my financial analyst and asked her how much loss the company would experience if I cancelled this deal. She told me that we had to face a solid loss of over 150 million dollars. But, did I had a choice? No.

I cancelled the deal immediately and filed a case under article 347 for the fraud company.

I was heartbroken. I was so happy at first but then suddenly everything shattered. There was no way in which I could mend the loss. I wondered what my father would do after listening to the huge fraud.

Suddenly my manager rushed into my cabin.

"What's the matter?" I asked her.

"Your father is calling for you at the reception. He is mad at you!"

"What? But why?" I stood up immediately, throwing all the files away.

"He came here to celebrate the partnership profit with the staff, but..."

"But?" I bent my eyebrows.

"But someone told him that the deal has been cancelled by you!"

I became agitated. Whenever Appa was mad, he lost control of himself and his temper. Screwed, that's the best word to describe my situation.

I ran down the stairs and rushed to the reception. I saw him shouting there while the rest of the staff stood there, with their mouths shut. No one dared to argue with him.

"Appa, listen t-"

He slapped me.

On my face.

Hardly.

In front of the whole office!

"You, you Y/N, you!" he shouted at me while I still stood there processing what had happened seconds ago.

He continued, "You just cancelled the deal because you don't want to take any work pressure. Because you're lazy. The company's loss, you don't care about it. All you just care about is yourself. Who do you think will mend the loss the company has suffered? Are you out of your mind?"

"But sir!" my manager came in front of him, "We checked the background of that company. They're a fraud!"

"Fraud my foot!" he yelled.

"Don't come in front of my eyes again!" he warned me and went away.

I stood there, still one hand on my right cheek, which was all red now. Every employee sympathetically looked at me. All of their eyes were like laughing at me for being a loser. Did I deserve that? I didn't even know why I was humiliated like this in front of the whole office when it was purely clear that I never actually cancelled the deal intentionally.

I still failed to conclude where my fault was. I cancelled the deal because I was lazy to have some work pressure? What kind of joke is that? What about all the hard work I did every day? Working continuously till 3 am, with my fingers aching, head hurting and eyes giving up, are lazy people supposed to do that?

"What are you looking at? Go and do your work!" my manager yelled at the employees.

"Let's talk mam," she turned to me and held my wrist.

"Don't talk to me. I want to be alone!" I freed myself from her grip, went to my cabin and locked the door.

I didn't know whether to cry or not. I wanted to shout, 'I'm not lazy! I'm not lazy! I'm not!'

But there was no point to do that. There was nothing left to prove. I tried every way to make Appa happy, but always, in the end, I end up being insulted and humiliated.

---

At night, I exited the building with the motive of going back home, but my heart stopped me.

'What's the point of going back when you aren't cherished enough?' my heart said to me.

My feet automatically moved in some other direction. With no destination in my mind, I started walking.

"Mam! Where are you going? Let's go home?" I heard my driver screaming from behind. But, who cared? Why should I have cared for this world when nobody cared about me?

I ignored his shouts and continued to walk until I reached a place.

'Royal Tiger Club and Bar'

It was the time to silence my inner screams.

I drank and drank until I lost my self-control. I wanted to cry. After all these years of hard work, I was lazy? I didn't care about the company, I cared about myself? Why I was humiliated every day like this? Why did no one ask me how was my day when I went home after work every day? Why did no one ask me if I was hungry or not when I skipped meals? Why my life was so miserable? Why?

"Mam, do you want us to call at your home?" the staff asked me after half of the bar was empty.

"I...don't...have...a...home!" I cried.

I stood up, threw some money on the countertop, which I was surely more than what the actual bill was, and clumsily walked to the exit. I surely heard the staff calling for me after they checked the money. They were good people.

After I came out of the bar, everything was blurry. The people, the cars, the shops everything seemed mixed up before me. When I started walking, I knew that eventually, I would lose my vision and soon would be hit by a car or truck. And to be honest, I exactly wanted that. I was fed up with living like this.

It soon started raining. Soaked completely in rain, with my sandals in my hand, I walked to the middle of the road. There was a noise of horns coming from behind but it felt like they were miles away. I knew that maybe I would die tonight and finally be freed.

The sound of the horn which came next was a bit different. It was different from what I heard before. I was hundred per cent sure it was a truck.

But suddenly I felt someone pulling me and I soon found myself in some warm arms. The strong hands covered me from behind, as I buried my head in that person's chest.

"Are you okay?"

I looked at him. But before I saw his face, my eyes gave up, everything became more and more blurry and finally, I felt like I passed out.

A/N :
Hello Everyone!!
I hope you all are doing good. Well, I want to dedicate this chapter to all my readers who are giving this book their precious time. I'm really glad that y'all are here

Thank you so much for existing!!
I love you,
Jinielove17 💜💜