After Being Cheating

Janet shook her hands in denial when she heard him. She then boldly put her hands on her hips and kept on running.

But, after another one kilometers, she dropped out exhausted again.

Janet was too tired to run and now stood still, gasping for breath. She stared at the enigmatic Brian, and asked him, "Why are you following me? Do you want to make fun of me again?

Upon hearing this, Brian suddenly didn't know what to say next. Was he being spiteful in any way towards her?

He squatted down to her, and said, "Let me carry you."

She then suddenly stopped gasping for breath and looked at the man in front of her aghast, and said, "What are you doing?"

Brian looked back, and replied, "If you don't hurry up a bit, there won't be anymore breakfast left for you."

"No, no. I can do it." Janet shook her head in dismay. She was afraid that if her colleagues saw Brian carrying her, they might then look down upon her.

But, nonetheless, Brian lifted Janet up and ran with her forward.

"No, Brian, stop! I forgive you for the push-ups you asked me to do. Put me down, now!" Janet's face flushed bright red. She wanted to push Brian away, but didn't know where to put her hands first. "Easy now. I'll put you down if someone spots us," said Brian.

Janet fell silent; he seemed to know what she was thinking all the time. Was she that obvious?

But she didn't want Brian to carry her. "Brian, you don't have to carry me. You'll get tired, too. Please, put me down, now!"

"It's OK. Marching for five kilometers is a piece of cake for me. I can carry you and run for tens of kilometers more."

Janet became more and more anxious by each passing moment when Brian refused to put her down. She wanted to struggle and escape, but found that her legs were tightly buckled under her and that she was also deprived of any strength to do this.

Finally, what she feared most, happened.

One of Janet's colleagues saw Brian carrying her...

Brian put her down immediately, and Janet found she had regained her strength again. Seeing her colleague staring at them in shock, Janet knew she was unable to wash herself clean this time. Janet didn't know how to explain all of this, and so instead she ran away quickly.

The farther she ran, the more of her colleagues she saw. Everyone looked at Janet suspicious when she quickly ran ahead of the team.

Brian couldn't help but smile when he saw the little girl in front of him.

They had finally ran the five kilometers, and their destination was actually the starting point from where they initially began their run.

Lying in the tent, everyone was too tired to talk, but the gossip about Janet spread around quickly.

They not only talked about it in the tents, but they also related it to their other colleagues working in the company.

And, not before long, the whole company now knew that Janet was carried by the instructor.

In the meeting room of the SL Group

Two employees were gossiping about Janet and then spread it to another employee in vivid details.

"Holy shit! Really? Janet Shao is such a slut! She even hooked up with that instructor in just a couple of hours!"

"No, I heard he was a colonel, not just a little instructor!"

"Why does a colonel have to train them personally? Does he participate in the training just for Janet Shao's sake?"

Cough! Cough! A warning cough sounded, and the three employees instantly panicked when they saw who the people behind them really were.

"Mr. Si, Mr. Shi." After they greeted Daniel and Spark, they immediately scattered to their work desks.

Daniel glanced with indifference at the three employees, and demanded, "Spark, employees who gossip in the company must be downgraded to lower positions or suffer pay cuts. If they are caught for the second time, fire them directly, without hesitation!"

"Yes, boss!"

Spark then opened his MacBook while walking to his desk, and was just about to send an email.

In the meeting room

All the company's managers were in the meeting room. Daniel strode inside and slammed the documents he was carrying in his hands hard against the table.

The managers were too scared to even breathe.

"Start reporting the work from the Secretary Department. If there is any loophole or poor performance in any department, I'll fire the manager!" Facing Daniel's fury, the managers discreetly wiped the beads of sweat coming out of their foreheads.

They were all guessing who annoyed him.

Daniel had fired three managers in that meeting, from the Secretary Department, HR Department and Public Relations Department.

Everyone in the company had been terrified for the last several days because of Daniel's fury. They were afraid a disaster would come crashing down on them at any moment.

In the suburb of the northern part of the city

After standing in the standard military posture for two hours, all the people were now taking a rest. An instructor divided them into male and female teams, and then they started singing. Except for Brian, there were 28 people in the camp, including the instructors. There were 12 women and 16 men in total.

Janet sat in the last row and felt more and more depressed, and Brian sat behind her.

Hearing the girls happily taking with the instructors, Janet looked up at the sky and wondered for how long could she take it anymore. There were too many differences between the school environment that she was used to and the working conditions she was now put to.

She was popular in the school. And although not everyone liked her, she still had a lot of friends.

But after she entered the company, no one wanted to be her friend anymore, and she didn't have the faintest idea why.

A colleague, sitting opposite to her, agreed with another's request and began singing Charlie Puth's "One Call Away". Janet lowered her head and wagged it with the rhythm.

Suddenly, Janet felt something was terribly wrong.

She immediately stood up and wanted to report it to Zed, but Zed was singing, and was unable to hear her.

Janet now had to turn her back around and report it to Brian instead, "Sir, I need to go the washroom."

Brian nodded and then Janet quickly ran to her tent.

She took something with her out of it and then ran to the washroom.

"See, Janet again sought personal privileges. She didn't report to Zed, but directly reported to the colonel instead."

"I knew it! I don't understand how a good man like Samuel Shao could have a shameless daughter like her."

A tall figure was now standing behind the two colleagues who were gossiping, and they lowered their heads. It was Brian.

After Janet came back, she saw that two of her colleagues were doing push-ups.

She was confused, but didn't think much of it and returned back to her place.

She had to endure the next couple of days and not to be a deserter.

Except for Janet, who felt more and more depressed, the rest of her colleagues spent the next three days in happiness and joy.

They weren't trained at night, and there were no places to charge their phones. So they just sat around the bonfire, chatting and laughing.

After Janet went out of the washroom one night, she saw some fireflies, not that far away from her.

She shook off the drops of water from her hands and went towards the fireflies, ignoring her aching body.

But just when she arrived, they flew away.

She sat on a rock and felt morose. Seeing the fireflies flying round and round, she suddenly remembered of someone. ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐