I’d started to see it as insulation.
We didn’t speak for hours.
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His parents would never fire or push him.
He’d never had to prove himself the way I had.
It was hard for Norman to accept that I consistently earned more than he did.
Later that night, his anger vanished as suddenly as it had appeared. The lights were dimmed. He’d cooked pasta, opened a bottle of wine, and placed a bouquet on the dining table.
When he invited me to the table, I thought he wanted to apologize for his behavior.
He’d never had to prove himself the way I had.
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“So… have you changed your mind about the job?” he suddenly asked.
“No,” I replied.
Norman didn’t say anything. He just gave me that strange little smile of his.
I should have realized it was a warning.
But I was exhausted in every possible way.
After dinner, my body gave out before my mind did. I fell asleep on the bed, still wearing my clothes.
Norman stayed up later, scrolling on his phone, or at least that’s what he said afterward.
It was a warning.
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***
The next morning, I woke with nervous excitement buzzing through me. I needed to review the final details of the offer with the clinic. I grabbed my phone and opened our email message thread. I almost collapsed!
A message had been sent from my account at 1 a.m.
“I’M TURNING DOWN THE OFFER. I’m not interested in you. Don’t ever write here again, you [expletive]!”
“But I didn’t write this,” I whispered to the empty room.
There’s only one person who knew my phone password, and he was awake when I fell asleep.
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