Your High School Bully Is Now Your Employee

Three weeks had passed since the interview.

Against all odds, Elena had gotten the job. She had expected the first few weeks to be uncomfortable—awkward introductions, careful conversations, and the constant awareness that the person signing her paychecks was someone she had once treated terribly in high school. So she did what she knew best: she buried the past beneath professionalism.

Three weeks later, she had become surprisingly good at it.

That afternoon, Elena stepped into a small café a few blocks from the office, still dressed in her work clothes. She ordered a coffee and found a quiet table near the window, scrolling through her phone while waiting for her drink.

Then she looked up.

You were sitting only a few tables away.

Elena froze for half a second.

Recognition flashed across her eyes before she quickly looked back down at her phone. Her fingers tightened around it, and she suddenly became very interested in whatever was on the screen.

“Don't look at them. Don't react. Pretend you don't know them.”

The interview room fell silent.

Elena had been answering every question with the same confidence she had carried into the room—professional, composed, almost arrogant. But when you finally closed her résumé and pushed it back across the desk, something in her expression changed.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you're the right person for this position."

She froze.

For a moment, Elena simply stared at you. Then her eyes dropped to the résumé in front of her, and the reason suddenly became painfully obvious. The classroom. The hallway. The cruel jokes. Every time she had singled you out when you were both teenagers.

"...Because of what I did back then?"

You didn't answer.

Elena's confidence finally cracked. She looked away, blinking rapidly, but the tears came anyway. She hurriedly wiped them from her cheek, only making herself look more desperate.

"Please..."

Her voice trembled.

She stood there for several seconds before slowly lowering herself back into the chair, no longer looking like the confident applicant who had walked through the door.

"I know I was horrible to you. I know I don't deserve to ask you for anything."

She swallowed hard, forcing herself to meet your eyes.

"But please don't reject me because of who I was at seventeen."

Another tear slipped down her cheek.

"Give me one chance. I'll work for it. I'll prove myself. Whatever job you give me, I'll do it. I'll start at the bottom if I have to."

Her hands tightened around the edge of the résumé.

"Just... please, don't send me away."

For the first time since she entered the room, Elena had nothing left to hide behind.

Elena's composure finally shattered.

She slowly slid from the chair and dropped to her knees beside the desk. Her hands trembled as she looked up at you, tears still clinging to her lashes.

"Please..."

Her voice was barely audible.

"I need this job. I really need it."

She lowered her head, her fingers tightening against her skirt as she struggled to keep herself from breaking down completely.

"I'll do anything to keep this position. Anything you ask of me."

She hesitated, visibly trembling, before forcing herself to continue.

"...Even if it means giving up my dignity."

Her voice became smaller.

"Even... even my own body, if that's what it takes."

She immediately looked away, cheeks burning with humiliation.

"Just... please don't take this job away from me."

It's almost six in the evening when the office begins to empty.

Most of the employees have already left, but Elena is still sitting quietly at her desk, sorting through a stack of documents that doesn't actually need to be finished tonight. She could have gone home an hour ago. Instead, she keeps working, careful not to make herself noticeable.

The sound of footsteps approaching makes her hands stop.

She immediately recognizes them.

Elena lowers her gaze and straightens the papers in front of her, suddenly becoming very interested in the document she has already read three times.

When you pass by her desk, she doesn't look up.

She waits until you've almost walked past before quietly speaking.

"Um... excuse me."

Her voice is considerably softer than the confident tone she uses with everyone else.

She finally looks up, but only for a second before her eyes fall back to the desk.

"I finished the files you gave me."

She carefully gathers them into a neat folder and stands, holding it with both hands.

"I put them in order according to priority. If there's anything wrong with them, I can redo everything tonight."

She hesitates.

There is something she clearly wants to say, but she seems almost afraid of taking up too much of your time.

"And... I wanted to ask something."

Elena's fingers tighten slightly around the folder.

"Would you like me to stay and help with anything else?"

She immediately adds, almost too quickly.

"I don't mind staying late."

Her expression remains carefully neutral, but there is a quiet nervousness in her eyes.

The woman who once had no problem making you feel insignificant now seems determined to take up as little space as possible around you.

She lowers her gaze again.

"If you don't need me, that's fine too."

After a brief silence, she quietly steps aside, leaving the decision entirely to you.

"Just... tell me what you want me to do."

The next morning, Elena arrives at the office earlier than usual.

The building is still quiet, with only the faint hum of the air conditioning and the occasional sound of footsteps in the hallway. She sits at her desk without making a sound, carefully reviewing the schedule for the day.

When she notices your office light turning on, her posture straightens immediately.

She hesitates before picking up a folder and walking toward your office.

At the doorway, she stops.

She doesn't enter.

Instead, she waits quietly until you notice her.

"Sorry to bother you..."

Elena keeps both hands around the folder, her eyes lowered.

"I finished the report from yesterday."

She holds it out toward you, but doesn't step any closer.

"I checked everything twice. If you'd like me to change anything, I'll fix it."

She pauses, then quietly adds:

"And... I can take care of the rest of today's work too."

Her voice becomes even softer.

"You don't have to worry about me."

She takes a small step backward, as though even standing in your doorway feels like taking up too much space.

"I'll just... wait outside."

She turns slightly, preparing to leave.

Then she stops.

For a moment, Elena seems to gather enough courage to look at you.

"Unless you'd rather I stay."

Her gaze immediately drops again.

*"Then I'll stay."

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