2.9 Work b*tch

To Britney’s surprise, as soon as she came home with their newborn baby boy, Karim was all over him. He fed him, put new diapers on him whenever necessary, cuddled him, sang songs to him and barely let him stay in his crib. This confused Britney greatly. Before, he had only had eyes for Cyra, and now he was taking care of Christopher, as well, only leaving Christina out. She couldn’t explain to herself what had changed his mind.

 To see him taking care of two of his children now hurt her deep within her soul, even more than before. Prior to Christopher’s birth, this had been about favoritism, but now it was about discrimination. 

Whatever Britney felt, she tried to express in her paintings, of which she produced quite a few. Although they were never lacking in color or displayed things, they often seemed empty: empty of love and empty of warmth. 

She also spent a great deal of time with research. Now that she had a new boss, she had to prove her journalistic qualities once again. Karim knew how brilliant she was, and her colleagues did, too. But the management of their newspaper didn’t, and everybody made sure that she had the worst reputation of all of them. The story of her giving confidential information to a rivaling newspaper was dug up again, and soon she was informed that her labor probably would not be of use during the next weeks. Since she still was on maternity leave, there was plenty of time to find a new job – that’s what the email from her boss said. Britney was furious and decided to kick some ass. She had worked for this job such a long time, and there was no way a whippersnapper from a small rural newspaper would tell her what to do.

In order to avoid any judicial complicacies, she read up on what she was entitled to. Her boss surely could advise her to change her work place, but he could not make her do it. By working there for so many years now, she was guaranteed a spot in the team. This was what she would hold him on to. And as soon as he decided to bully her, there would be severe consequences. Britney Vocis would not give up on her work or on her dream. In fact, she was going to make this her newspaper at some point. The Vocis’ Voices. Well, maybe there was still some time to adjust the name. 

While Karim was busy with (two of) the kids, Britney spent all of her time on the computer now. Loans, partial payment and interest rates were only a few of her search items, and the amount of what she printed out could have been used as a deadly weapon anytime. If she understood this correctly, she had to buy shares of business first, before she could own the newspaper someday. This surely was an ambitious plan, but there was no way she would retreat from it now. Her mind was settled, and her boss was well advised to stay out of the way before he got hurt.