6. Jonathan
Jonathan
I knew I’d been fucking dumb and childish since last week.
Every night after coming home from work, I thought about how stupid and petty I’d been after Shoua and Anthony had called me out. It didn’t look good. I know.
As a member of our team, I didn’t have any grounds to dislike Lina Lee the way I did.
Sure, she was rude. Her demeanor was always cold, rigid, and emotionless.
If she was engaged in a conversation, she always found the greatest way to converse in the driest and most uninterested tone.
She never seemed to care about the pharm techs who wanted to know more about her, nor did she try to have a friendly relationship with them.
Aside from my personal grievances, she was an excellent staff pharmacist. If I went on a rampage and fired her, I knew I’d wake up the next day regretting it. Hell. I’d probably even beg her to come back—which I would never admit to.
She wasn’t afraid to work hard or step in to help our techs by answering phone calls or dealing with patients when they were overwhelmed with filling prescriptions. She never complained about the unprompted rushes. Lina also wasn’t afraid to look me in the eyes and raise a brow at me.
When her presence in the room was too much and I’d get all agitated, she’d turn to stare directly at me—practically challenging me to give her more of my irritation until my blood curdled.
It was the same way she’d look at me when she sat down at the corner of the table in the break room.
She was typically pretentious, never eating her lunch with us even when Grace was kind and asked.
At times, she even refused before Grace could finish the question.
Perhaps today was the day she decided to climb down from her high horse.
“Your food smells delicious, Lina,” commented Sheryl.
“Thank you,” she mumbled quietly, glancing at me as though waiting for me to bite from my seat far from her.
I wanted to say, It’s nice to finally see you join us, Dr. Lee, but I knew that was too callous.
After my comment yesterday about the nasty cold brew I ordered from a café she had picked, I knew it was best to shut the fuck up.
My behavior over the last eight days was the most unprofessional it had ever been in any job.
I hate what I’d allowed myself to become in front of my team.
It was embarrassing in hindsight.
I went back to avoiding Lina altogether. I ignored her and scarfed down my food in silence. My team glanced at me as I popped on my earbuds to tune out their conversation with Lina. But it wasn’t long before I was pulled back in.
“Jonathan!” Grace called out.
The team clearly knew who was least likely to step on my toes.
Grace had been a pharm tech here for over 20 years; she was essentially the mother hen of Sierra.
She knew every customer by name and always welcomed new patients warmly, especially with her loud but warm personality.
If there was anyone who knew the history and the ins and outs of this pharmacy better than John, the owner, then it was her.
It definitely wasn’t me, despite the fact I had started working here as a pharm tech myself years ago.
As soon as I took out my earbud, she asked with a huge and sweet smile, “You and Lina used to be high school classmates?” She glanced between Lina and me.
“Yeah,” I answered, keeping my eyes trained on Grace.
The older woman grinned, turning in Lina’s direction about to say something when Sheryl’s voice butt in. “Did you two date?”
Her question was so loud that my ears started ringing.
I slowly turned to her as she shrugged at me with a smirk.
Our team is close-knit enough for me to call my pharm techs my second family.
But for them to make comments like this .
. . maybe we were too close. I wasn’t offended, but I wished they’d have this conversation without me instead.
“You two fight like you did,” she quickly added.
My brows crumpled together, my mouth ajar and disgusted. “No, we didn’t,” I said, standing up and accidentally making eye contact with Lina.
“We never did. We were just academic rivals,” she confirmed with an icy voice. She looked at me, straight in the eyes. “We competed against each other to see who would be class valedictorian our senior year.”
The techs’ eyes grew wide as they glanced between the two of us, me staring her down.
“Who won?” asked Carmen, hesitant.
“Me, of course.” Lina nodded slowly—proud and pompous. I wasn’t surprised this was still the only expression that showed through her facade of cool calmness. She was finally showing everyone her true colors. “I won.”
I grinned back, flashing my teeth. “And now I’m your manager.”
Her mouth pulled into a calm and gentle smile, practically mocking me. “Yes, Dr. Lo.”
I blew out an even breath, trying to control the irritation spreading across my face. I cleaned up after myself and left the break room without another word or glance at Lina Lee. She was probably still grinning at the head of the table.
Sure. She won back in high school. I was winning now by being her manager. But I was still letting her win. I was letting her win by allowing her to get under my skin.
The frigid air nipped my cheeks and icy drops of rain pitter-pattered against my shoulders as I made my way through the parking lot to sit in my car.
I decided it was best I learned how to control myself around Lina.
It didn’t look good. It could escalate, which was the last thing I needed on top of making sure the pharmacy was performing well.
I could even become more of the asshole boss I told myself I’d never be.
But never say never, right?