Page 12 of Brittle Heart

Del Moro slowly pivots to face me, his eyes icy. “What did you just say, fatty?” he hisses out, taking a step closer, trying to intimidate me.

I swallow hard, trying to find my voice. “I said—”

“I heard what you said,” he snaps, cutting me off. He leans in so close I can feel his breath on my face. “Jealous, Costa? Because no one could ever control their gag reflex long enough to touch you?” I scowl at him. “You’ll need two hands for my package, but it needs a fucking forklift to get to your pussy under all that.” He gestures to my stomach.

“Yeah, you’ll need two hands for sure. One to hold the magnifying glass and one for the tweezers,” I retort, crossing my arms over my chest.

“You fucking bitch.” He spits, grabbing me by my shirt and pulling me to him. “You better watch your back, Costa. Or I am gonna make your life a living hell.”

As if it wasn’t already.

His friends snicker, clearly enjoying the spectacle. I feel trapped, my eyes darting around, searching for an escape.

With a smug smirk, Del Moro lingers for a moment, letting his threat hang in the air. Then, he lets go of me and, with a final menacing glare, turns and walks away. His friends trail behind, their laughter echoing mockingly.

“Ah… you seem like a lost newbie,” a sweet voice says from my right, pulling me back to the present.

I desperately hope this department is large enough that I won’t have to see him often. I don’t want this to become another season of the hell I endured.

I turn my head, gazing slightly upward to meet a pair of pretty dark brown eyes and the beautiful face of a young Korean woman with long, dark hair and fair skin. “Hey, I’m Sophia, and you must be Carolina, my new intern, right?” She extends her hand for a shake.

Her hand is delicate in mine as I shake it. “Nice to meet you,” I say. “I apologize for being late. The security check at the door took longer than expected.” I grimace, disappointed in myself for making a bad first impression.

“Oh, don’t worry. I already guessed as much. We’ll get you a badge as soon as possible.” She turns to the woman at the reception desk and asks, “Margaret, could you start working on a badge for Carolina, please? We’ll be down in my lab if you need anything.”

Margaret responds with a smile, her previous grumpy mood nowhere to be found.

“Let’s go. I’ll show you where the magic happens,” Sophia whispers to me, waggling her eyebrows.

She seems genuinely nice, and having a friendly face around here is more than I could have hoped for, even if she seems overly outgoing.

We navigate the building, and I’m certain I’ll get lost when navigating on my own during the first few months. When we finally reach her lab, Sophia opens the door, and my eyes widen at the sight before me.

“There, in the back, is the office area with our desks. Yours is right next to mine. We’ll use them for analytics or regular computer work,” she explains. Pointing to the left side of the lab, she continues, “Over there, we have all our equipment and chemicals. If you need something and can’t find it, please let me know.”

I take in the surroundings, and I get all giddy inside.

This is amazing!

She gestures toward the lab tables in front of us and says, “And here we have my babies. Our laboratory equipment. You’ll be working with specialized tools to perform various analyses on biological samples. We have gas chromatography, liquid chromatography, mass spectrometry, and spectrophotometry systems, and other analytical instruments specific to toxicology, some so new you may not have heard about them yet.” As she talks, I can’t stop my mouth from dropping open in awe.

“This is—” I begin.

Sophia interrupts me with a smile. “So cool, right?”

I nod in response. “Really cool,” I manage to say.

“Susanne mentioned that you’re a bit of a geek like me and maybe a bit socially awkward too. So, it looks like we’ll get along well.”

A huff escapes me.Well, it seems Professor Summer isn’t afraid to speak her mind.

“I can’t wait to try everything,” I say.

Sophia’s face lights up.

As the day wears on, I realize Sophia is truly a gem. She’s incredibly kind and full of quirks. Maintaining my professional distance and reserved demeanor becomes increasingly difficult as I catch myself relaxing and enjoying her company more and more.

I genuinely want to be friends with her, to have a level of comfort at work. However, I remind myself that she is still my boss, and it’s important to maintain appropriate boundaries.

---