A couple of minutes earlier.Caleb came to the drinks table, and he put the plate down.“Hey, waiter,” a person called him over.Caleb looked over his shoulder and saw Jake Wallace, the uncle of Mike. He was also the director of the operations department of the company. In short, he was a key figure.“Bring over a bottle and pour us all,” Jake ordered. Jake had little to no hair on his head, so he always wore a wig.There were many times when employees secretly laughed at him and were demoted because of it. One fellow even got fired.Caleb took a 2 liter glass bottle over and poured wine to Jake and the four guests who were with him, one of whom was Mike himself.As he was pouring wine to Mike, Mike moved the glass up just a little so that it hit the bottle, and the wine spilled.It fell right on Jake’s boot.“What the hell?” Jake gave his wine glass to Mike and then went for a swift slap.Caleb reflexively raised his hands to defend himself.Jake’s hand struck the hard wine bottle.T

After Caleb finished talking, Edward took the mic and addressed the crowd, “Some of you might not know this, but Caleb has been working in my company for more than five years, and he once told me to not promote him because he wanted to stay as a low-level employee. In fact, he rejected the promotion multiple times back in the day.”Everybody started chattering about Caleb, with surprise painted on their faces.Rita, however, had a frown on her face because only she knew that her dad was lying through his teeth just to save himself from any possible future embarrassment.Caleb, on the other hand, was just as surprised as the crowd. He never expected Edward to put all the blame on him. This once again reminded Caleb just how selfish and cruel Edward could be.Caleb could not resist when Edward put his arm around Caleb’s shoulder and talked some more.Caleb felt his hatred for Edward becoming fresh and bubbling all over again, but he could smile for the cameras right now.Caleb became th

Caleb’s eyes were clearly able to see the attacks from the four men coming at him.He instinctively moved back and dodged the first baseball bat that came swinging at him.But he was neither fast nor flexible enough to avoid the successive attacks from the other three men.The baseball bats smashed into his ribs, shoulder and the arm.The pain was indescribable.He tried to move. He really TRIED.But his body wouldn’t listen.Fat and fear anchored him in place.His mind could see the bat swinging through the air, but his body buffered like slow internet.Another bat struck his thigh.Pain flared up his hip like a spark of white-hot lightning.“Argh!” He cried, his spit flying out. His leg buckled, and he hit the ground hard, palms slapping concrete.Laughter followed.Not loud. Casual. Like this was expected.There was no anger in their laughter but mockery.This was a game for them.Another bat cracked against Caleb’s spine and pushed him to the ground.Caleb let out a broken gasp.H

“He’s here. We’ll deal with him,” one of the four men talked on the mobile and ended the call.Was he talking to Mike?“Mr. Mike wants to know why you didn’t come to work today,” one of them asked.“I was exercising,” Caleb replied without any delay.“Pfft, look at this guy, trying to crack jokes,” one of them stepped forward. “I guess the beating yesterday wasn’t enough.”While the other three in the back leaned comfortably against the railing of the apartment, the fourth guy approached Caleb with a lazy, cocky smile.Caleb’s heart sped up, not from fear of the opponent but from the fear of losing.“Activate Clinch Combat Mode…”[Clinch Combat Mode Activated!]He took a deep breath and stood calm as held breath.The opponent swung early, eager to repeat history.Caleb didn’t dodge wide this time.He stepped in.The bat glanced off Caleb’s raised forearm.Caleb leaned, crashing his weight forward, banging into the opponent shoulder-first.The impact drove the air out of the guy’s ches

“In the past, I would shit my pants to take a leave, but now, they can’t yell at me after I took a leave unannounced. It really feels great to see Edward smiling even when I’m troubling him, haha. This joy… even a thousand dollars can’t bring this happiness!”Caleb went to his private room, which was assigned for the Chief Designer.This was ten times bigger than his previous cubicle where he had worked for almost sixty months.All his items were neatly arranged on the desk.“It took me so long to get here. If not for Dreamie, I wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity. I will build my portfolio from this office,” Caleb muttered under his breath.Knock knock.Andy entered the room and showered a pleasant smile.“I’ve shortlisted some candidates for the interviews,” Andy put a file on the desk. “Please finalize the list.”It felt quite new and refreshing to Caleb. Getting treated with respect by the coldest HR manager.“Also, decide on whom we should fire,” Andy said.“Do we have to fire?