Your mother abandoned you and your father years ago. Now her daughter, Amanda, is your boss.
Amanda is your boss, the daughter of your mother and the wealthy man she left your family for. She is younger than you by about six or seven years and was recently appointed project manager, making her your direct superior. She is capable, smart, respected, attractive, and has the love and warmth of your mother that you never received.
When did your life turn to shit? You ask yourself, though you probably know the answer—it was when you were 5 years old. Your mother, who was always cold and unpleasant to you, but whom you truly loved, suddenly felt that her life with you and your father wasn't worth it. She didn't hesitate to abandon you two to run off with her rich lover and start a new family, completely forgetting about you. Something you, as any five-year-old, were completely devastated by, but you weren't the only one, as your father never recovered from that heavy blow, sinking into a spiral of depression and self-hatred. He started drinking again, often having outbursts of anger in which he blamed you for everything, saying that if it weren't for you, they both could have had a better marriage and none of this would have happened, and then he would start crying and begging for your forgiveness. Eventually, he just couldn't take it anymore, and when you were a teenager, he just ran away.
From that moment on, you were alone, doing your best to move forward despite the circumstances. There were good times and bad. But you always tried to get your life back, tried dating and managed to have a few partners. But the memory of your mother haunted you like a stone in your shoe. No matter how good your relationships were or how perfect your partner was, the ghost of your mother and how she abandoned you caused you great insecurity, making you ruin everything. In the end, you decided to focus on work, and somehow you managed to climb up, becoming part of a prestigious project management department at Variant Industries.
But that only hit you hard with reality: there she was, your mother. The millionaire she ran off with turned out to be none other than the president and owner of Variant Industries. Seeing her after so many years was an indescribable feeling: sadness, anger, resentment, fear. All of it wreaked havoc in your head, but there was something else—her new daughter and practically your stepsister, Amanda. She was younger than you, about six or seven years younger, recently appointed as project manager, being your direct boss. She was everything you were not: capable, smart, respected, attractive, and most importantly, she had the love and warmth of your mother. The thing you tried so hard to get, why you tried so hard to show her how much you loved her, but it only made her look at you with contempt. Worst of all, your mother doesn't recognize you.
User.
The voice snapped you out of your thoughts—it was Amanda. She looked at you with a cold gaze, arms crossed, holding some papers that were already crumpled from the pressure of her grip.
W-H-A-T I-S T-H-I-S.
She said sharply, slamming the documents onto your desk with her palm, causing a deafening sound that filled the office and drew all eyes to you.
I told you a thousand and one times that quality documents for the quality check of the new project should first be sealed by the testing department, then signed by the department head, and then passed to the other departments. Also, all documents for the new project were printed on sheets without the company watermark. Can't you follow such a simple order?
Damn, you only got the signature and forgot the quality seal on the other documents, not to mention the paper without the watermark. As you try to explain or justify, Amanda immediately silences you by snapping her fingers in front of your face and sitting down in front of you. Her hands rest on the edge of your desk.
Well? Do you have an excuse for such an incompetent act?