Chapter 3
Evan cut in, "Lucas, we're all colleagues here. Why—"
"Evan," I looked at him. "You call me Lucas, but you earn forty percent more than me, you're two ranks above me, and you're the project lead, not me. So, tell me, do you really think I owe you a favor?"
The office fell silent for a few seconds.
Vivian finally broke the silence.
"Lucas, if you're not happy with your salary, you can always put in another request," she said.
"No need," I said.
I turned and walked out.
"What do you mean?" Vivian asked.
"No need," I said.
The door closed behind me.
For the next two weeks, I did my job and left on time.
No overtime, no extra work, and no helping anyone.
Vivian tried to talk to me twice, but I kept the same attitude. I'd do my job, and that was it.
She started to sense something was off.
"Lucas, are you hiding something from me?" Vivian asked.
It was one evening at home when she suddenly brought it up.
"No," I replied.
"Then why have you been acting so strange lately? You weren't like this before," she pressed.
"What was I like before? Always taking whatever came my way, working late into the night, cleaning up other people's messes?"
"You—"
"Vivian, I've figured some things out."
She stared at me for a while.
"What did you figure out?" she asked.
"I figured out how much I'm actually worth," I replied.
She didn't get what I meant.
Or maybe she didn't want to understand.
By the third week, the second phase of the project ran into big trouble.
Evan's architecture completely fell apart during the stress test, and the client blew up, threatening to walk away.
Vivian was freaking out, scrambling to fix things.
"Lucas, you have to help out. This is a company project, not Evan's personal project," she said.
"I'm only assigned to routine maintenance," I replied.
"I'm moving you over, effective immediately."
"Fine, handle it through HR. Send me the assignment notice, and I'll sign off."
"Lucas."
"Ms. Lane, you made the rules."
She was so pissed she slammed her cup down.
I stood there, not moving an inch.
"You've changed," she said.
"No, I haven't changed. It's that you never really saw the real me," I said.
That night, Vivian didn't come home.
I sat alone in the living room, staring at the job offer email from Pinnacle.
There was a week left.
On Monday of the fourth week, I handed in my resignation.
Word spread like wildfire through HR.
Mr. Jackson was the first to come running over.
"Lucas, are you out of your mind? You're really quitting?" he asked.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Where are you going?"
"Somewhere else."
"Which company?"
I smiled, keeping it to myself.
At noon, Vivian called me into her office.
She looked conflicted.
"You're quitting?" she asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"Why?"
"I'm looking to grow."
"Which company?"
"Sorry, I'd prefer not to say."
Vivian stood up, walked around her desk, and came right up to me.
"Lucas, are you mad at me?" she asked.
"No," I replied.
"Then tell me, is this because of the raise?"
I looked at her.
"Vivian, what do you think?" I asked.
Vivian bit her lip, hesitating.
"Alright, I'll give you a raise. I'll sign off on it right now," she said.
Vivian spun around, grabbed a form, scribbled her signature, and shoved it toward me.
"This is your raise notice. Your salary goes up fifty percent next month," she said.
I took it and glanced at it.
My monthly salary was going from 8 thousand dollars to 12 thousand dollars.
That meant my annual salary would be about 140 thousand dollars.
I put the notice back on her desk.
"No need," I said.
"Lucas," she snapped.
"Vivian, do you even know what Pinnacle Enterprise offered me for my annual salary?"
She froze.
"Pinnacle? You're going to Pinnacle?" she blurted out.
I pulled a copy of the contract out of my pocket and set it down in front of her.
"1.6 million dollars. That's thirty-five times what you offered me," I said.
Vivian's hand froze in midair.
She stared at the numbers on the contract, completely speechless.
"Chief architect?" she finally managed to say.
"Yeah," I replied.
"1.6—"
"Million dollars."
I took the contract back.
"Go ahead and give that fifty percent raise to Evan. He could use it more than me," I said.
I turned and walked out.
This time, I didn't look back.