"My supervisor refused to publish the scoop I sent in last night." Gita's face changed.
"Do you know why?" Sari questioned.
"No, but I kinda had a feeling something like this would happen because my supervisor only listens to the higher ups. He doesn't have the guts to follow his own intuition. That coward!" Gita shook her head. "I have to go and settle this with him."
"I will take you there." Sari suggested.
"Maybe, you should let it go. I don't think Ziggy Owens will mess with me after what happened. He might not be a good person but he still has a lot of influence in the industry and can easily get you fired." June spoke.
"What? No, I can't let it be. June, we finally have evidence of that man's evil deeds, we can't be quiet about it." Gita insisted.
"But at the expense of your job? No! It isn't worth it. Since your supervisor has stopped it from being published, you should let it go." June didn't want Gita to lose her job because of her.
"I understand what you mean, June. But I need an explanation. He can't just stop my work from getting published without giving me a reason. Let's go!" Gita got into the car.
Sari got into the driver's seat and June joined them in the front seat and they drove away.
...
Chase Paper Network.
Gita stormed into her supervisor's office without knocking. Tatum was having a meeting with three workers when she arrived, looking quite not in the mood to be messed with.
"You can leave now!" Tatum said to the reporters and followed them to the door. He closed the door after them to prevent the prying eyes outside from hearing them.
"Give me a reason!" Gita demanded furiously.
Tatum moved to his coffee maker and poured a mug of coffee before turning to face Gita.
"Care for coffee?" He asked, while taking a sip of coffee from the left mug.
"Do I look like I want to drink coffee made by you?" Gita asked, clearing rejecting his coffee.
"Director Shawn is in the same golf club with Ziggy Owens. I saved your ass, Gita." Tatum was calm as always.
"You saved my ass?" Gita laughed sarcastically. "Do I have to thank for that then?" She asked.
"No need. You know I'm always looking out for you." Tatum sat down and placed the mugs on the table.
"Whoa! You know, you always have a way of making me speechless. Let's be honest, you are not looking out for me. You are just sabotaging me, and it isn't the first time you've done it." Gita was tired of keeping her feelings to herself for peace to reign.
"What did you say?" Tatum couldn't believe what he was hearing. To him, he was trying to protect her because she was reckless and always did things based on her emotions.
"What? Isn't that the truth? From the day you were transferred to this department, you've done nothing but sabotage me at every end. You look down on what I do, make changes to my reports and think you are better than everyone else. Well, you are indeed good. At a young age you've managed to be a supervisor and will soon become a director. All you need to do is step on expendables like me, right?"
"Watch your words, Gita!" Tatum stood up furiously.
"Am I lying?" Gita asked impatiently.
"If that's what you think of me, then, I have nothing to say to you. Gita, I thought you understood my vision, and wanted to be a good reporter."
"All those are just fallacies you fed yourself, Tatum. Yes, I used to believe you, but at some point I realized you enjoyed being a yes-man than reporting what's accurate. Do you think I've forgotten how you signed the report on my cousin that got her misunderstood by everyone?"
"What? How many times do I have to tell you that I didn't know anything about that report? I did sign it for it to be published, but I didn't know the content. I was rushed into signing it before I realized what it was about. Didn't I fire Max because of that later on?"
Tatum sighed. "You know what, since you don't believe me, I won't bother explaining myself to you."
"You know how I've worked hard these years, trying to clear my sister's name, and I finally got the chance to do it. But you scraped it away because the director is in the same clue with Ziggy Owens. Tatum, you always talk about justice and using journalism to bring fairness to people but what you did, is it fair to me? Is it fair to my sister?" Gita shooked her head.
"I don't think I can look pass it this time. I quit!"
Tatum held Gita's hand when she turned to leave. "Gita, I know what I did is unacceptable, but I have a plan. If you give me a chance, we can discuss it together and..."
"No! I'm not discussing anything with you. You can continue being a yes-man and climb the ranks, but I won't be a part of it." Gita pushed Tatum away and walked out.
She went straight to her desk and started cleaning up her table. Putting all the stuff that belonged to her in the box.
After clearing up her desk, she left a water bottle on the table. This bottle was gifted to her by Tatum and she didn't want to take it with her.
Tatum watched from his office as Gita left the office.
.....
June and Sari were shocked when they saw Gita coming out of the building with her box. But they didn't ask her anything. Sari took the box and June hugged Gita.
"Let's go home!" Gita said softly.
....
Mory Estates Apartment 507.
June came out of Gita's room after putting her to bed. She sat on the couch, exhausted. She took a mug of coffee Sari offered and sipped.
"This is refreshing." June revealed a faint smile.
"I thought we were going to finally have a peaceful day. Who knew it would end with Gita becoming jobless?"
"But who the hell is this Tatum guy? What does he have against our darling?" June asked after taking another sip.
"Right, you've never met him. He's drop dead gorgeous." Sari exhaled.
"Gorgeous? As in very attractive?" June looked at Sari.
"Yes, extremely attractive. He has an insane face card, but he's nasty too. He has been finding ways to bully Gita since he was transferred to her department."
"Interesting. I only knew that they didn't get along, and she complained about him all the time, but I didn't think it was that serious."
"You've been self-absorbed over the last five years and only focused on spending time with the kids at the orphanage. Gita didn't want to make things harder for you, so, she only talked about good things with you."
"I'm such a terrible cousin and best friend. She was going through a lot at work and couldn't even discuss it with me." June sighed. She felt bad.
It was true, she was selfish these past five years, only thinking about her own sounds that, she forgot to be there for her sisters.
"Sari, I'm sorry. I've been selfish, focusing on only my pain. I don't deserve to be called family." June apologized.
"Forget it. Neither Gita nor I think you are that bad. For five years, each of us were fighting just to survive. Honestly, no one has the right to blame the other." Sari sighed and leaned against June's shoulder.
"You know, sometimes I wonder what would have happened if you two didn't come with me to the US. I left Canada against my parent's will and they disowned me. But that's not the case for you two. You and Gita still have good relationship with your parents and can go back anytime. My mother will only take me back if I accept to drop everything behind and go back to school and become a lawyer as she wants."
"That's also impossible. That's not what you want. Actually, Gita and I think you are the decisive one amongst us. As kids, you've always known what you wanted to do. You never stopped to think about the consequences and just jumped into it. Because of that, Gita and I also realized it was time to step out of our comfort zone and do something with our lives."
June chuckled softly. "This has never happened before. When I saw how broken Gita was, I just didn't know what to say to her. I know this is because of me. She lost the job she loves so much because of me. Sari, how do I make it up to her?"
June's tears fell.
Sari smiled bitterly. "Don't worry. Gita will come out of it."
....
Early in the morning, June woke up and began to clean the apartment and do the laundry. It was like their roles were reversed. When they're outside, Sari takes care of her, but when they're home, June does all the cleaning.
June enjoyed cleaning because it helped her from overthinking and also gave her a sense of belonging.
In this three-bedroom apartment, she was the one who barely did anything. Her sisters did most of the work. Now that she had concluded her filming and had to wait for Luigi to return before they could film the promotional material, she thought it was wise to help around the house.
By the time Gita woke up, everywhere was clean, laundry hanged on the terrace and breakfast on the table. All prepared by June.