Kathy took a deep breath and was going to leave with the bag in her hand.
Feeling much relieved now, she would not like to come again, no more worried or concerned about
him.
Joseph stayed in the room of hospital, unable to continue his work.
Seeing John leaving him, he asked him with hesitation, “Just now, I was too mean?”
He remembered how horribly Kathy was looking at him, almost crying out.
In turn, Joseph had never been an emotional man to Kathy.
John did not give an answer at once; actually, he dared not say “yes”. Who would take the risk to talk
about the boss mean in front of boss himself?
He had to answer his boss seriously, “No, absolutely not. Mr. Joseph.”
Joseph narrowed his eyes to say, “Really?”
John was so nervous to have some sweat, “Sure…of course.”
…
When Kathy back to the school room, Zofia was surprised to see her.
She asked Kathy, “Won’t you be with him tonight?”
Kathy answered peacefully, “No, I won’t.”
Zofia watched her to say, “You are different today.”
Kathy was uncomfortable with her look…
Zofia continued to ask, “What’s his problem?”
“Fracture.”
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” Zofia expected Joseph to talk about his problem more seriously than it was;
he only tried to meet Kathy in this way. But it was true that he was really hurt badly.
Kathy said, “He has to be in hospital for days.”
“Will you visit him every day?”
Kathy bit her lips to answer, “I…I won’ do it.”
“Do you worry about him?”
“No. He has nothing to do with me.”
“He is your ex-husband.”
“Now we are off each other.”
“Why did you go to see him just now?”
“Since he is a professor in my school, I should go with my classmates.” Kathy told an official reason.
Zofia shook her head; she knew Kathy would not like to admit it. “You’re right. He is your professor; you
should go to take care of him.”
“I didn’t take care of him.”
“Ok, let’s see. I am sure you will go again in a couple of days.”
Zofia started to be sympathetic about her elder brother who had already loved Kathy deeply. Unluckily,
Kathy had been fond of Joseph all the time.
So, Zofia could not tell the truth to Bertie. If he knew about it, he would be so jealous to do anything.
However, it still went to him finally.
Bertie was not a friend of Joseph, neither having some business with each other’s family. But they have
common friends who usually passed the information between the both.
In addition, the Joseph's Group had been frequently changed in the operation. Some big groups
received the news about it before everyone got to know.
They all understood Joseph went to hospital for a more complicated reason.
Bertie sent a message to Zofia, “Help me take care of Kathy.”
Zofia replied him a sticker and some words, “I cannot make it.”
“You are asking for Birce’s signature. Right?”
“Done.”
…
It was Saturday on the next day. The lab of the Joseph's Group was still being rebuilt; work for the new
medicine had to be done in the lab of Ocean University.
Obviously, Kathy who was arranged to make some record was excluded from the main tasks. The
important jobs of the research had been assigned to the other two classmates.
At the same time, some colleagues refused to inform her about key steps and data.
The situation was truly tough for her to go on working.
Kathy hoped to be more involved in the key steps of the research to get herself much improved.
Just now, the record book was carelessly off her hand to the ground and hit the foot of the research
team leader who yelled with anger, “Kathy, what are you doing?”
Kathy answered quietly, “My bad.”
“You are so careless now. If unwilling to do the jobs, you are free to go. We have a lot of good
members in our team to replace you.”
Kathy had a deep breath and looked at the woman, saying with a slight smile, “Our team was
organized by both the Joseph Group and the Ocean University. I was recommended by my university
to be a member here. Only when I made mistakes, my university would ask me to leave the team. If no
mistakes, I will come here every Saturday.”
“Ok, I will wait and see how long you can be in the team.” Then the leader passed one bottle of solution
to Kathy, “Go to check the ingredients.”
The team leader was the one of top level here so everyone had to follow her request.
“Ok.” Kathy answered calmly.
But she still felt unhappy with the way she was treated.
Kathy walked to wear her gloves. Some colleagues had a look at her as well as discussing.
“Kathy, pay more attention. Don’t mess up.”
“If Joseph receives a complaint, you will be in trouble.”
“Kathy might be Mr. Joseph’s girlfriend. So, you all believe she would be in trouble?”
“Do you think Mr. Joseph will accept anyone to be his girlfriend? She is just a student who is too
common to him. But she tried to set up Amy. We have to do something for Amy.”
“Of course…”
“…”
Kathy ignored the words from the people around her and finished her report. Everyone had left for
lunch, only another colleague and Kathy still here.
They were not friends. Kathy had just remembered his name since they met each other here one day
per week.
Heath Kaur came to ask her, “Do you need a hand?”
Kathy shook her head to say, “No, thank you. Almost done.”
“So, shall we go to eat something? It’s one o’clock.”
Kathy had a look at the clock to know the time. She had been hungry earlier, without any appetite in
such a bad mood.
Heath talked with her frankly, “They are not satisfied with you. I don’t think you can stay in the team for
longer.”
Cooperation did greatly matter in the process of research and development. Now Heath and another
classmate had done some main jobs. Kathy did not step into the core for being unaccepted by the
other team members.
It was definitely a waste of time to her.
She understood it but loved to study further here.
Stopping halfway was not her style.
Kathy looked up with determination and said, “What if I try my best?”
Heath did not talk more and smiled. Then he said, “Very good. But even if the group did not recognize
you, we are classmates from the same university. By your side for sure.”
Hearing it, Kathy was some of relaxed to say, “I appreciate it.”
“Let’s go to eat. I can tell you something about the research.”
Heath knew Kathy’s difficulties with her own report, yet nobody from the Joseph’s Group would help
her.
After the lunch, they were back to the lab. Kathy cleared some problems about her report under the
help of Heath.
However, she had to finish some trivial work assigned by the team leader and kept busy until the night
time.
Zofia called her, “Hey, are you still in the lab?”
Kathy frowned and answered, “I am too busy now.”
“It’s so late. Everyone has gone. Right?”
“Yes. I am going soon.”
“Be there for me. I am going to meet you.”
A moment after hanging off Zofia’s call, Kathy got a call from Joseph.
She did not answer it immediately and waited for a while.
Then she answered the call, “What’s the matter?”
Joseph said in the call, “I will change all the team.”
Kathy frowned again to ask, “What do you mean?”
“Just for your information.”
Joseph was reported by John about how Kathy was treated in the team. He just did something to follow
the company’s philosophy of dismissing anyone who secretly gossiped about others’ privacy.
Not to mention it was about Kathy now.
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