My voice grew cold. I heard her suddenly stand up, the chair scraping loudly against the floor.
“Leo, don’t be angry. It’s not worth it. Where are you? Do you want me to come keep you company?”
Throughout our marriage, Priscilla always valued what I gave her and treated me with humility. Even while pregnant, she was still the same.
“No need,” I cut her off coldly. “He’s just a new intern; young and bound to make mistakes. Just make sure he understands that you’re my wife, not someone he can dare to pursue.”
Priscilla agreed right away. “Okay, Leo. I won’t let anyone bully you or the baby. I’ll have Finance pay his remaining wages and fire that intern immediately.”
“Firing him isn’t enough,” I said, looking at our wedding photo on the wall. “Priscilla, I want you to deal with this right away. Make the intern issue a public clarification, apologize to me online and then fire him. I don’t want this happening again.”
Priscilla confidently assured me she would take care of everything. Half an hour later, Joseph called me.
“Leo, are you insane? You really want my wife to fire me? Just because your family has money, you think you’re someone important? I know exactly who you are. My wife may work at your company, but she’s not your servant! If you keep pressuring her, don’t blame me for stirring up trouble online. Posting about you was just a warning. Next time, I won’t hold back and your wife’s unborn child won’t be spared either…”
I let him finish yelling before replying coldly. “You do realize phones can record calls, right? Joseph, I didn’t bother with you before because you were just an intern, but now it’s different. You insulted me and my child for no reason. I can easily have a lawyer take legal action against you.”
Joseph didn’t sound scared at all. Instead, he mocked me. “Oh no, I’m so terrified… You’re really full of yourself, old man! My wife said she’ll protect me no matter what. As for you, get ready to be attacked online!”
After I hung up, my chest rose and fell in irritation. It had been years since I’d met someone so ridiculous. I was about to call Priscilla to check on the situation.
Then I saw Joseph flooding the work group with messages, posting long rants one after another.
He claimed the whole online mess was just a misunderstanding. He said he only posted those comments because he’d broken up with his girlfriend and she’d been taken by someone else.
[About that casual photo of you, Leo; I didn’t know it was yours. I thought it was just some random picture from the internet… I’m really sorry for the trouble it caused you.]
As I kept reading, Joseph’s apology looked very sincere. It felt strange to me. It didn’t match the person who had just called to yell at me.
His easy explanation made it seem like he’d done nothing wrong. I took a deep breath. Forget it, I didn’t plan to hold a grudge against a young guy forever.
I decided to treat it as a small incident. But the next day, I remembered I had left my watch in Priscilla’s office.
