A switch incident (1)

"I can't believe she was picked for the trip. I keep saying this: it's not a thing about luck; it's nepotism," a voice whispered.

"Yeah, like there are many people much better than her, and she gets picked? I understand she's pretty impressive but she doesn't deserve it…" another replied in a condescending tone.

"I guess even the 'very fair' Neva can't escape nepobabies huh?"

"Just like they can't also escape fools who run their mouth without knowing the full details of a matter, right?" a lady's cool voice interrupted their chatter.

"Ma'am…!" Both gossips called out together as they turned to face the intruder.

Anne's eyes squinted at the two as her blue eyes glinted with a fiery light.

"They're talking about the upcoming trip, right? The one where random people are selected from each department and no newbie wants to be picked because it just means they'll get burdened with not only their work but their seniors as well?

"And somehow Elara is lucky to be picked? You guys are either stupid or insanely dumb because why the fuck would that be something nepotism enters? Everyone knows this," Dennis butted in, throwing bitting insults at the pair of gossips.

Soon, eyes became drawn to them, causing the duo to panic lightly. They had been talking quietly to avoid others hearing, and now the duo hounded them, it wasn't working.

"We're sorry. Can we forget about this, please…?" one of them pleaded with them.

On noticing their impatience, Mrs Anne replied, "There's nothing to hide; I don't know why you believed your voices were low; even the subject of gossip completely heard everything."

They turned to face Elara, who stared at them blankly before smiling at them with cold eyes, causing goosebumps to erupt on their skins.

"Oh, don't mind me, please do go on," she spoke rather loudly with a snicker, causing eyes to move to the duo, who blushed with shame before running off.

Anne rolled her eyes before walking up to Elara along with Dennis.

"I owe you guys for that," Elara said gratefully, causing Dennis to shrug nonchalantly.

"Not Mrs. Anne, though; she's gotten enough benefits from you. As for me working overtime just once will be more than okay," he spoke with a grin.

Anne glared at him viciously, causing him to instantly scurry off while exclaiming to Elara, who was laughing, to not forget their deal.

"I can't believe people. Isn't it obvious how unwanted that position is, and somehow they're jealous? They should be grateful you were picked!" Mrs Anne exclaimed with a huff.

"You know the unfortunate soul who got picked is here, right, Mrs Anne?"

Mrs Anne chuckled guiltily, "Sorry about that. But honestly, if you were picked then it's probably because of the fame from the books you wrote."

"I thought it was randomly?" Elara questioned.

"Mostly yes, but it's a trip for Neva to showcase its workers, so I'm guessing they'd prefer workers who have more clout to garner more audience for the trip, but that's just my guess."

"I'm not that popular though," Elara dismissed causally.

"Of course, because the money you amount from your fan base isn't something. Didn't you come out once in the most popular authors section, or was it the millionaire ones?" Anne pondered.

"Both, but I only came out once in the most popular section," Elara responded shyly, slightly proud of her accomplishments.

"So you're no longer a millionaire?"

"Not really. Okay, fine, I'm still on the list but just not as noticeable as others," Elara explained.

Anne squinted her eyes at the female glowing with joy, "You can't act all nonchalant while radiating that amount of joy."

"Sorry," Elara apologized softly, "Just that no one ever truly knows about me in the circle of people around me, and it kinda saddens me. I guess it'd be fun to be as well known as JK and Stephen."

Anne chuckled softly, "Oh they know, they just don't want to toot your horn. Even some are fans."

"It's nice to know people enjoy my books, I put my soul into every one of them."

"And it does show."

Elara turned completely to face Mrs Anne, asking jokingly, "Why are you being so nice today? I hope it's not another contract, I'm still recovering from the last."

Mrs Anne simply smiled, patting her shoulders, she spoke, "Just come visit the twins sometimes. Sofia recently got into your books and would want to brag about her knowledge to her new favorite author."

Elara smiled shyly, "I'm glad to be her favorite too. Tell her to create a character for me; since she's special, I'll make sure it's in my next book."

"That's amazing, Ela; I'll make sure to convey that message. Thank you in advance."

"You're welcome."

***

"What? Why am I in a different location?" Elara asked while panicking.

The bus driver and her fellow trip members stared at her oddly.

"You weren't told?" one of them, a brunette lady asked.

"Told what?" Elara questioned in confusion.

"You'll be working in a different location; someone was needed, so you kinda got picked out (as the newbie)," the lady spoke unabashedly, earning her stares.

"What? Why hide it? She'll know eventually anyways," the lady defended without regard for the person in question.

Everyone agreed that she could have at least been tactical about explaining everything to Elara. Being picked out from others meant the company didn't see her as a worker worthy of being presented to the public eyes so they just wrote her off to help behind the scenes.

In other words, they called her a worthless fuck.

Elara felt her face burn with shame. She wasn't blushing as this was a reaction she was incapable of having, at least physically, but she felt the anger heat her body.

She knew her stand in Neva was rather… low but couldn't they be bothered to at least tell her before broadcasting it to everyone and making a fool out of her?

She sighed internally trying to keep calm as she replied to the blunt brunette, "Thanks for telling me."

The brunette smiled shamelessly, "You're welcome."

Everyone: ...

Elara: Wow I'm so flattered -_-

Without waiting a second more, Elara alighted the boss and went into the hotel she had been told to wait in.

She soon felt suspicious, not only from how well the hotel staff were treating her but also after considering her situation deeply. Why the hell would they use such a roundabout method to separate her from others instead of doing it directly? It's not like they were being considerate of how rude they were about the whole thing.

Alarm bells rang through her head as she picked up her phone, instantly texting Star her address while vaguely saying: if I don't call by tomorrow, call the police.