In my third month of employment, I realized that my colleagues were calling me an old geezer behind my back.

This nickname came from Wanda Stewart’s arrogant and ambitious assistant.

I had hit the age of 32, but was still clinging onto the last vestiges of hope of marriage after eight long years of our relationship.

I asked Wanda, “Do you know that your subordinates call me an old geezer?”

She said without batting an eyelid, “That’s just the way Samuel is. He’s just a straight-talker and he’s just kidding. You’re already 32, are you seriously fussing about this?”

She then chuckled, “You two are really alike.”

My heart turned cold. Turns out that eight years of my youth were nothing but a joke to her.

I turned to leave, resigning from my post and blocking her.

Yet, the woman who was always so calm and cool started panicking.

“Jansen Graham, please come back to me.”

The first time I clearly heard them calling me an old geezer was at our regular meeting on Monday.

Samuel had his head bowed as he listened to me lecturing him, his eyes turning red.

Someone muttered under his breath during the break, “He’s really an old geezer who loves mistreating handsome young men.”

I froze at the remark, which caused a ripple effect that grew into torrents of whispered rumors and gossip.

“He’s totally abusing his authority and venting his frustrations on the young man.”

“He’s already 32 years old and still harping on his eight-year-long relationship. How stubborn and narrow-minded of him, really.”

I put down my glass and silence immediately ensued in the meeting room.

All their gazes landed on me, as though I were the one at fault.

Samuel pressed a napkin to the corner of his eye.

“Mr. Graham, I’ll check through the data again.”

“Not check through, but re-do.”

I tried to ignore the piercing pain in my chest and said coldly.

“I want to see the accurate analysis report and remediation plan tomorrow morning before the meeting.”

My gaze swept across everyone in the meeting room, including those gossipmongers.

“The meeting is adjourned.”

I stood up and left the meeting room.

Hushed whispers surged up again like a tide.

This time, even more unbridled than it was before.

“Why is he acting all high and mighty? He only got to the position of director because of Ms. Stewart.”

“The old geezer just flew into a rage. Did his mid-life crisis come early?”

When I arrived back in my own office, I received a notification on my computer of an incoming email from the internal system.

I clicked it open, only to be greeted by a shocking title, “Suggestions for optimizing management communication approaches and caring for our employees’ mental health.”

The sender was the HR director, but I knew who was behind this.

Samuel’s tears spoke volumes more than my performance report.

Just as I closed the page with a cold snort, Wanda’s call came in.

She spoke lazily while trying to appease me, “Jansen, I heard you blew up during the meeting? That young man burst into tears from your lecture.

“Samuel is still young and inexperienced. Making mistakes is inevitable for someone at his age, do be patient with him.”

I could even hear sobs coming from the phone.

I tried to hold myself back from being emotional and said as calmly as I could, “Samuel’s basic data was sloppily done and riddled with errors. His mistakes have a direct impact on the company’s quarterly financial report.”

“Oh, it’s just work, Jansen. Mistakes are inevitable.”

She went on, trying to trivialize the matter, “Samuel’s health hasn’t been in a good condition and I think he’s been suffering from gastroenteritis. Do be a little more understanding of him.

“Shall we have dinner tonight? I’ve made a reservation with that new restaurant down the road.”

-

After work, I hopped into Wanda’s white sports car, looking slightly more appeased.

“He’s just a young lad and still insensible. Give him a little more guidance for my sake, won’t you?”

Wanda looked pleadingly at me.

I decided to let things go and not give her a hard time.

Samuel was in the private room, looking neat and tidy, accentuating his handsome good looks.

Samuel stood up the moment he saw us walking in.

“Ms. Stewart, Jansen, I ordered some dishes first so you two wouldn’t have to wait for too long. See if the dishes are to your liking?”

I looked at Wanda who sat right next to Samuel and said with a smile, “Samuel was worried that you’d still be mad and came over specially to make amends. See how sensible he is?”

Samuel solicitously poured a glass of wine for me and raised his own in a toast.

“Jansen, it’s my bad for angering you with my data. I even caused everyone to start gossiping and making snide remarks about you…enough about that. Let me make it up to you by drinking this!”

He finished his glass in a single gulp, his cheeks immediately turning red from the alcohol which only made him look even more amiable and somewhat charming in his own way.

Wanda looked appreciatively at him and asked, “People started gossiping about Jansen? What did they say?”

Samuel smiled coyly.

“Ms. Stewart, you should ask Jansen about it yourself. It’s not appropriate for me to say it.”

Wanda looked questioningly at me.

I looked back at her and said calmly, “Your subordinates called me an old geezer.”

To my chagrin, Wanda burst out laughing.

“Samuel was just joking and trying to act chummy with you, and you took it seriously?”

Her mood suddenly turned serious as she said to me with a smile, “He’s really…very much like you.”

The person I spent almost every day with for the past eight years suddenly felt like a complete stranger.

“Wanda Stewart, is this really…that funny?

“Do you really find it funny hearing about me being called an old geezer?”

The air around us seemed to freeze.

Samuel made a move to stand up as his eyes turned red.

“Ms. Stewart, am I being an eyesore here? I’ll leave right away, please continue…”

“Samuel, sit down!”

Wanda pressed his hand down and looked irritably at me.

“Jansen Graham, Samuel is apologizing to you so sincerely, can you please not be so aggressive? It’s just a silly nickname. Is there a need for you to be so calculative over it?”

Her words were like a dagger piercing through my heart.

I saw Wanda’s hand pressing down on Samuel’s wrist and found the scene laughable.

The trust and love we shared over the past eight years seemed to vanish in this instant.

“Well, very well.”

I suddenly chuckled out loud.

I picked up the glass of wine Samuel poured for me.

“I’m not worthy of this glass of wine that’s meant to be an apology.”

With that, I ignored the frowns on both of their faces and hurried out of the private room.

-

The next day, I asked for the latest data from the sales department so I could report it to the boss.

However, my emails ended up being ignored.

I went to the department in person, but the responses I got were strangely unanimous.

“So sorry, Mr. Smith said that Ms. Stewart needs it urgently and wants us to consolidate the data for her first.

“Samuel said that since Ms. Stewart hasn’t looked through the data, we can’t give it to you for the time being.

“You can check with Samuel on this. We’re just following his instructions.”

The moment I turned around, I heard their mocking voices from behind.

“That old geezer can’t get any more arrogant than he already is, yet he still needs us!”

“He’s ambitious, but he turned out to be completely worthless after all!”

I immediately called Wanda, but my call went unanswered.

Being deliberately uncontactable at a time like this was a direct slap to my face.

I went straight to Wanda’s office, where I saw Wanda in Samuel’s embrace as they shared an intimate moment.

Irritation filled Wanda’s eyes when she saw me entering her office.

“How rude of you to come in without knocking.”

I looked straight at her, my voice icy as I said, “Ms. Stewart, I need the latest data from the sales department for my report.”

Her brows furrowed tight.

“Didn’t I tell them I need the data first? What’s with the hurry?”

She paused for a moment before adding, “Samuel is detailed in his work and needs to filter through the data again, lest you blow up at him again over some minor mistake.”

“A minor mistake?” I scoffed.

“Wanda Stewart, he made a mistake with key data that could potentially impact projects worth tens of millions of dollars!”

Samuel’s eyes immediately turned red as he said indignantly, “Jansen, I know I’m stupid and am nothing compared to you, but I’m already trying my best…”

“Samuel, it’s not your fault!”

Wanda wrapped an arm around his shoulder and comforted him tenderly.

When she turned to look at me, that tenderness was immediately replaced with disgust.

“Jansen Graham! Are you quite done? Why do you keep harping on something so trivial? You’re really becoming more and more of an old geezer!”

I stood stunned at her sudden remark.

She completely disregarded the pained look in my eyes as she raised her voice, saying, “You can’t even do your work well and you kick up a fuss over nothing all day long! Calling you an old geezer is being kind to you!

“See how humble Samuel is! I’m only saying this for your own good!”

Samuel held Wanda’s hand, looking smug.

“Alright, Ms. Stewart. I get it. I’ll figure something out regarding the data.”

I turned around and heard Wanda comforting Samuel, her voice becoming tender once more, “Samuel, don’t cry. Ignore him, he’s just jealous of you and twisted in his heart and mind…”

-

The humiliation didn’t stop there, and only became worse.

Wanda’s blatant tolerance of Samuel’s behavior gave him and everyone else amnesty.

“Old geezer” became a semi-official nickname for me.

Two interns walked past me with a strange smile on their faces.

I heard one of them muttering under his breath, “Come on, let’s go. The old geezer is here, you might just get bitten by him.”

“I heard that there’s a group chat…are you in it?”

“Not yet. Invite me, quick.”

Incidents like this were a daily occurrence.

Finally, everything came to a head during a project review meeting.

My boss was already upset with me for the lack of data in my previous report.

This time, I made sure I was fully prepared.

However, ten minutes before the meeting began, Wanda came strutting in with Samuel.

“Samuel has been working on this project for a long time. Let him present the progress update and you can add on.”

I tried to fight my corner.

“Ms. Stewart, I’ve been overseeing this project from its launch to its execution. I know it inside-out.”

Wanda chuckled as she glanced at me, “You know it inside-out? Who disappointed the boss so badly at the last progress update?”

She then turned to look encouragingly at Samuel.

“Samuel, get ready to begin.”

Samuel immediately stepped forward to insert his thumb drive into the computer.

Wanda kept nodding approvingly at his report, looking extremely pleased with his performance.

I looked on in silence, the look in my eyes growing cold.

Just as he was switching between windows, he accidentally clicked on the bottom right corner of the screen.

His personal messages were immediately flashed on-screen.

Right at the top was a group chat with an attention-grabbing title: [Old Geezer Observation Log]

The chat was filled with pictures secretly taken of me and comments about them.

[That old geezer is wearing suit pants and drinking coffee. How classy of him!]

[He’s just living off Ms. Stewart. It’s been eight long years, I’d have dumped him a long time ago!]

I could just hear the pretentious tone in Samuel’s voice through his response on the screen. [Don’t say that…]

Wanda replied with, “Samuel, leave the old geezer alone, lest he finds trouble with you.”

I turned to look at Wanda who was pretending nothing happened, a small smile hanging on her lips.

My heart turned cold as ash, realizing that all the sacrifices and effort I poured into the eight years of our relationship were nothing but a joke.

Before the meeting ended, I handed my resignation letter to the HR department.

I had packed my things and loaded them in a box, all ready to leave, when I bumped into Wanda and Samuel who were chatting and laughing together.

Wanda’s gaze locked on me, but she said nothing.

'Goodbye, Wanda Stewart,' I said inwardly. 'I’ll never see you again.'