The rumor that became true?

James, James, James… After having his plans thwarted by Supervisor Mateus, and as if that weren't enough, he went through a brief episode where he doubted his own thoughts. James entered the men's locker room with his head down, stowed his belongings in the locker—according to company policy, no locks were provided for employees.

Well, in reality, it was just a cost-cutting measure; nobody would care about the belongings of a low-ranking contract worker, right?

James took advantage of the few minutes he had alone to ponder his next steps. "I need to find a way to stay close to Larry's department and make sure nothing happens to him." James genuinely wanted to help.

'James, my friend… maybe it's time for you to submit your vacation request. It's been years since you even heard the word 'vacation,' hasn't it?'

The thought made James shudder, and he quickly stood up, gathered his things, and rushed to start his daily tasks before the daily target was compromised. As James walked toward the exit of the locker room and headed to his designated work area, he massaged the bridge of his nose and muttered to himself. "I must be suffering from mental fatigue… Vacation? If I ask for time off, I'll lose the benefits I've been fighting so hard for!"

James's mind quickly formulated a plan. "I can speed up my own service as much as possible. Maybe the quality will suffer a bit, but I'll gain some extra time, and I can go to the area where Larry is and offer assistance there. That way, I can ensure that, in a way, I'll keep an eye on him!" A smile spread across James's round face and squinted eyes.

And so began our hero's workday. Although James was somewhat accustomed to the supervisor's harsh words and the colleagues' "jokes," today was an atypical day for some reason. Supervisor Mateus insisted on using James as a negative example whenever he needed to yell at someone. Basically, that day, all the employees in that department, whether they liked it or not, heard James's name nonstop.

The consequence? Well, most people were fed up with James, and no one even wanted to look at the poor guy. Hahaha, can you imagine what happened when James started visiting the areas where Larry was performing his daily tasks?

The first time he offered help, the response was short and immediate: "Fuck off!"

But James had an iron will, and he didn't give up. He began asking most people if they needed help with anything, and again, he received negative responses with all sorts of creative sentence structures. From basic curses to something James's mother did with other men during her free time.

James, realizing that his precious little free time was running out, returned to his daily tasks and worked frantically, as fast as he could.

Again, with a few more available minutes, James went to the new department where Larry was and began offering help to the people present there. Once again, James received a barrage of curses of all categories and colors—some things were said that even God would doubt!

The brief respite James managed to squeeze in between the doubled daily target was ending once more, and our golden-hearted hero practically ran back to his own work area.

And then, unsurprisingly, after nearly fainting from exhaustion and low blood pressure due to skipping lunch, James practically dragged himself to the employee board to see where Larry had been reassigned. ONCE AGAIN, our hero went to Larry's department.

Once more, James was cursed and shooed away like a stray dog covered in leprosy that insisted on approaching the hot dog cart.

This cycle repeated throughout almost the entire day. Seriously, James, don't you have any self-respect? Who in their right mind would subject themselves to being an annoying lunatic to others?

And we're talking about adults here. It didn't take long for their perception to notice an unusual pattern in James's already strange behavior. No matter the department, no matter the distance, one truth remained immutable in James's behavior.

Every time James wandered away from his own area and offered help to whoever unfortunate enough crossed his path, Larry was present in the department James visited.

No matter how many times James pestered people, it was always in the same department where Larry worked.

People started whispering among themselves. Something wasn't right. Despite all the rumors about James's personal preferences, the employees knew that the original gossip about him was just a tasteless joke.

So, this could only be a mere coincidence, right? James wouldn't… well, you know, with Larry, would he?