I can hear everything, I can hear the conversation between the employees on this floor, and I can hear the conversation between my new boss and Batricia, I tune everyone out, and focus on those two while doing my second set of tasks for the day.

"What were you thinking?" The Fox hybrid boss whisper-yelled.

Batricia sighed, "Of finding the perfect replacement."

"And he's it?" My boss asked condescendingly.

It's great to know what he thinks of me already, I thought as I typed away on my keyboard.

I can hear some shuffling on Batricia's side before she answered, sounding really tired, "yes, he is."

"How can you be so sure of it? You barely know the man," the Fox hybrid was flabbergasted as he walked back and forth in his office, yup, we can see through the glass, modern interior design.

"Wow," exhaled Batricia through the phone, "didn't think you'd have any prejudices in you," and just like earlier with me, he tried to defend himself after being called out again, but Batricia wasn't having any of it, "you didn't know me either when you hired me, so what makes him any different?" she called him out on his hypocrisy, "I gave you his file, and I told you to read it, then when I brought you his contact to read it before Noir signs it, I asked you," she pauses then she repeated herself, "I asked you whether you read his file or not? What did you say then?" Oh. So he lied to her.

Batricia's boss sighs, "but this is different," he says as he plopped down on his chair.

"I bet Noir didn't think so when he drafted and signed the contract," Batricia said.

The Fox hybrid hisses, "don't bring Noir into this," he warns, "he's different."

"How so?" Batricia argued, "is it because he's your brother people can't be prejudiced towards him? Yet when it's someone else, it's fine?" She asked.

If my doe eyes could get any bigger, my eyeballs would have popped out of their sockets.

"Your brother read his files, he drafted the contract, gave you the chance to correct it, but you didn't," Batricia continued.

"Because I fucking trusted you both!" The boss's voice got higher, making me wince, and making other people on this floor alert.

"What changed, Raynard?" Batricia asked, her voice softer.

"I trusted you both, and you betrayed my trust," Mr. Raynard my boss repeated, "how can you hire someone like him to be my Personal Assistant?" Did he sound hurt? Offended?

Sorry I guess, I rolled my eyes.

"Like him? What is he like Raynard?" Batricia asked Mr. Raynard.

"..." Mr. Raynard didn't answer, only sighed.

"I believe I chose the perfect replacement to be your Assistant," Batricia says, "anyway, you can't fire him, Noir made sure of it in the contract," yeah, I remember the termination fee on the contract, I had to double-check with Batricia about it, if I were to get fired the company will pay me a fee, that was so odd to me, but I guess this Noir didn't trust his brother not to fire me, "it's 90 days, I'm sure you can be professional with him during that period, I mean how bad can it be?" She asked.

"You're not the one who's going to work with him," Mr. Raynard argued, More like whining.

"C'mon, get back to your work, you're already off schedule," Batricia reminded him.

"That's because you're not here," The Fox hybrid complained again.

Is he blaming me? I'm not the one wasting time complaining.

I sighed as I checked off two items on my to-do list.

"Be nice," Batricia reprimanded, "I left a folder in your desk drawer, inside it there are the applications of all the human hybrids who applied for the job, and information on all of them, feel free to go through it, I'm going to go now, they'll bring my baby any minute now," she says as she got ready to hang up.

"Okay," Mr. Raynard sighed not arguing anymore.

"By the way Raynard," Batricia says.

"Yes?" The Fox hybrid asked.

"You know he can hear you, right?" She asked.

"Fuck," Mr. Raynard whispered, which I heard too.

"Okay, now you know, see ya," Batricia said before she hung up.

"..." a moment of silence passes in Mr. Raynard's office before he says, "come to my office," he ordered, but it sounded like he was testing my listening abilities, I got up anyway, notebook in my hand, and walked into his office.

"Yes, sir?" I stood before him in an upright position, something common between the Owl human-hybrids is the way we stand, and sit, we are always in an upright position.

"What's your name again?" He asked.

"Puma, sir," I replied.

"Uh," he looks around his desk, eyes landing on the cup of coffee, "take this away it has gone cold," he ordered.

"Would you like a new cup?" I asked, to which he shook his head.

"No, don't bother," he said.

What about tomorrow? I thought, do you want me to bother then?

"Can you send a flower arrangement to Batricia," he says.

"Already on its way to her," I confirmed.

He looked surprised but shook his head when he received a notification on his phone.

"Thank you for the flowers, they're my favorite 💕" - Batricia.

Mr. Raynard, for the first time since meeting him, smiled, at his screen but nonetheless, he smiled, then he clears his throat and puts it away.

"She seems to have taken a liking to the flowers, make sure to send another arrangement to her home," He orders.

"Already taken care of sir, anything else?" I asked.

"What did you send her?" he asked.

"Moonflowers," I answered.

"How did you know it's her favorite?" he asked.

"It's simple knowledge on her kind of Human-Hybrid species, sir," I gave a vague common answer, I've learned from experience not to go into details unless someone asked for it.

He doesn't seem too happy with my answer, but he doesn't inquire about it further, "we have a meeting at lunch, make sure Bernese has the car ready on time, you can go back to your desk for now," he finishes, pulling one of the files in the urgent pile.

I pick up the serving plate with the coffee and water before I take my leave, I go to the break room instead of heading to my desk, walking into the break room, I ran into the same man who backtracked earlier when he saw me, luckily we didn't bump into each other physically, the crow human-hybrid looks down on me, eyes falling on the cup of coffee in my hand, seeing it full he smirks before he slides by me and walking away.

I ignore his condescending look and continue my way to the sink, I pour the coffee and water down in the sink, washing the cup and glass off and drying them, I put them away from where I took them originally, leaving everything how it was before I used this break room.

Once done I go back to my seat and text Mr. Bernese to remind him of Mr. Raynard's meeting, to which he replied swiftly, nothing much happens after that, and in no time we are inside the car on our way to have lunch with probably Mr. Raynard's next business endeavor.

Some time passes and we're still inside the car, stuck in traffic, Mr. Raynard sighs for the hundredth time, "How far are we, Bernese?" he asks his tone a little flustered.

"Sorry sir, it seems there's a car accident halting the traffic, I think we will have to wait a little longer until we can move," Mr. Bernese says, making eye contact with Mr. Raynard through the rearview mirror.

Mr. Raynard groans and takes out his phone, he calls someone and I can hear the conversation between him and the other person on the phone, "Raynard my friend, are you there already?" the other person on the phone asked, I'm assuming he's the person Mr. Raynard will be meeting for lunch.

"Aardwolf, hello, no I'm calling to let you know that we're actually running kind of late, car accident is halting the traffic, so if you're there already just start eating without us," Mr. Raynard says sounding kind of apologetic and angry at the same time like he hates that he may have to apologize to this man.

"Don't worry about it, your new Assistant has informed my Assistant about the traffic accident," Mr. Aardwolf said. 

"He did?" Mr. Raynard asked as he turned his head to glare at me, but then corrected his tone, "I mean I'm sure he did, but I wanted to call you myself and let you know," Mr. Raynard said his tone dripping with false respect.  

"Like I said don't worry about it, things like this happen, we still haven't gotten there ourselves, and we're also stuck in traffic, I guess we will see you there," from his words you might think he's a gentleman, but from his tone, he sounds like an obnoxious man.

"Umm-hum," Mr. Raynard agreed, before both of them hung up, "A little fucking heads up would've been nice," Mr. Raynard angrily said as he pocketed his phone back in his suit jacket. 

"Noted," was all I said as I continued tapping on my tablet.

Shortly after that the traffic moves and in no time we make it to the restaurant, the host takes us to the designated table, where Mr. Aardwolf and his Assistant were already seated, both the Hyena Human-Hybrid and the Viverridae Human-Hybrid stood up to greet us, "Raynard my friend, good to see you again," Mr. Aardwolf the Hyena Hybrid greeted shaking Mr. Raynard's hand, "and who do we have here?" Mr. Aardwolf asked as his eyes fell on me, he was a tall man and his canines can look intimidating, good thing it really doesn't work on me, I have yet to meet a hybrid who would actually do something about their threats.

"Aardwolf, this is Puma, my temporary Assistant," Mr. Raynard introduces me and I offer my hand to Mr. Aardwolf for a shake, to which he ignored and sat down again along with his Assistant and Mr. Raynard, I drop my hand and take my seat as well. 

"An Owl Hybrid? I guess this is why the car accident happened," The Hyena Hybrid laughed condescendingly.

Haha, very funny! I mean I get it, I get the joke, it's because I was the one driving the cars that got into an accident and I was the one driving both Mr. Raynard and Aardwolf's cars that drove into the car traffic, that's why we were late, I can have that much of bad luck on people I haven't even met before, and people I didn't meet at all.

I guess I'm surrounded by idiots wherever I go, because I don't have that kind of superpower you stupid fuck, I, of course, don't say that out loud, but I do kind of laugh at my own joke internally, imagine having bad luck as a superpower, I'll be going like this, pew, pew, pew, shooting bad luck at other hybrids with my index fingers like a gun, oh, or like Super Hybrid-man shooting laser with his eyes, I'll be shooting bad luck with my eyes like a laser.

I was this close to giggling at my own thoughts, I forgot about the obnoxious Hyena in front of me, so I cover it up with "ahem," pretending to clear my throat.

I have not said anything or showed any interest in his condescending joke, when Mr. Raynard seems to not give a reaction as well, the Hyena turns to his Assistant who gives him a fake smile, to which his laughter then dies down. 

The meeting moves on, meals are served and eaten, then after that, coffee is about to be served, normally I'm not that worried about coffee being served to me, but I'm worried about two young adult waiters who have been whispering about pulling a prank, during this time, one of them will pump into the waiter who has been serving us and blame it on my bad luck, and that it was just an accident, leaving our waiter to take the blame. 

I take back what I said, I have met Hybrids who actually do something about their threats, mostly in my childhood and young adult life, when all they can think about is the idea that they only live once, and it doesn't matter who they hurt along the way, just like these two waiters here, I'm sure they're about nineteen years of age, it doesn't matter if their prank will cost their colleague their job, or that it will hurt me or not, or my boss for that matter.

Stupid of me, I at least should have given my boss a heads up, but I didn't really think they would go with it, now I have the option to pull my chair away, but if I do, then my boss will be in the line of fire instead, I can't do that, knowing I heard all of this, I can't let him take the hit for the hot coffee which was meant for me anyway, I mean what's a coffee burn? they're easy, I'll just add it to my burn collection, I thought as I squeezed my throbbing thigh.

I can see one of the waiters approaching our table, walking closely behind our waiter and bumping into him, I had my arms ready, and covering my face, but unfortunately, some liquid coffee managed to get a hit on my skin, leaving me wincing and in pain.