Chapter 1

In my past life, Chloe begged me to wait and submit our final design files together. She whined that she didn’t want to be the last one turning in her work.

I didn’t think twice and agreed.

The next morning, she took my original concepts and publicly accused me of stealing her work.

Overnight, I became the most disgusting copycat in the industry.

I was fired, blacklisted by every design firm in the city, and eventually died broken, bitter, and completely ruined.

When I opened my eyes again, I was right back to the day she begged me to wait for her.

Chloe was clutching my arm, flashing that wide, innocent smile of hers.

"Claire, you’re my best work bestie! Wait for me so we can submit together, okay?"

I pulled my arm back calmly, looked straight into her eyes, and said clearly:

"Sorry."

"I already submitted mine."

The sweet smile on Chloe’s face froze instantly.

She clearly hadn’t expected me to shut her down so ruthlessly.

"You... you really submitted it?"

Her gaze suddenly darted toward my computer monitor.

The portal login screen was still glowing bright.

"Wait, you didn't, did you?"

Her voice shot up an octave, dripping with barely suppressed panic.

"The edit window was still open a second ago! The files aren't even uploaded!"

"You’re lying to me! You just want to see me humiliated!"

I looked up, giving her an icy glare.

Without wasting a single breath on words, my hand gripped the mouse.

The cursor glided smoothly over the screen, hovering over the bright "Confirm Submission" button in the bottom right corner.

Right in front of Chloe's widening eyes, I pressed the left button firmly.

Click.

A green progress bar flashed across the screen.

In less than a second, it filled completely to one hundred percent.

A giant pop-up appeared: UPLOAD SUCCESSFUL.

Right beneath it was a timestamp, accurate down to the exact second:

16:28:45.

Chloe’s face turned paper white.

Her pupils contracted sharply, sheer panic written all over her face.

"Why would you do that?"

"Claire, do you hate me or something?"

"We're always so close! How could you be so mean?"

Her voice began to tremble, and right on cue, tears welled up in her eyes.

"I just didn't want to be the last one turning it in!"

"If we submitted together, neither of us would look bad!"

"The manager wouldn't call me slow, and I wouldn't get chewed out!"

"What did I do wrong? I was just asking for a little help!"

Her voice wasn’t loud, but it was just sharp enough to carry across the open-plan office.

Colleagues who had been buried in their own rush projects stopped typing and turned their heads.

Brenda, sitting diagonally across from me, was the first to frown and speak up.

"Seriously, Claire? Isn't that a bit harsh?"

"We're all in the same department. We have to see each other every single day."

"It’s not like waiting five minutes is gonna kill you!"

Jessica slammed her keyboard down next to her, eagerly jumping into the drama.

"Exactly! Look at her—she's practically in tears!"

"Chloe’s always so sweet to you. Remember when you had that fever last month? She literally went out and bought you meds!"

"Why are you acting so cold and heartless?"

"We're here to work, not play Mean Girls."

"Honestly, Claire, this is just petty."

Whispers and murmurs spread quickly through the cubicles.

Chloe stood in the center of the room, head bowed.

Her shoulders trembled slightly, making her look like the ultimate victim.

I calmly picked up my tumbler, took a slow sip of water, and set it down without rushing.

"Harsh?"

"Company policy states the deadline is 5:00 PM sharp."

"It’s barely 4:30 right now."

"If someone works too slow, whose fault is that?"

"That’s your own problem, Chloe. Not my responsibility."

"Hitting deadlines is an individual duty."

"If people need emotional hand-holding just to turn in their assignments, how does any freelance designer ever survive?"

The sharp bite in my words made Brenda choke on her reply, her mouth hanging open.

"And one more thing."

I let out a cold chuckle, my eyes turning razor-sharp.

"You guys want to talk about being petty?"

"In this business, respecting rules and deadlines is real professionalism."

"I’m not risking my hard work just to baby someone else's fragile ego under the excuse of 'workplace sisterhood'."

"I used to care. Now, I believe one simple rule—"

"Setting clear boundaries upfront beats cleaning up messy drama later."

The entire floor fell dead silent.

Coworkers exchanged awkward glances, totally caught off guard.

The very people who were so self-righteous a second ago suddenly had nothing to say.

Without sparing another glance at their embarrassed, annoyed faces, I swiped my keycard off the desk and headed straight for the breakroom.