After Arjun Left
The door clicked shut behind Arjun, leaving a tense silence in the room. The team lead stared blankly at the table, while the manager leaned back, his face pale but his jaw clenched.
"For the love of god," the team lead finally muttered, slamming his palm on the table. "What just happened? Did he just... did he seriously destroy us and walk out grinning?"
The manager's voice was low, almost a growl. "Calm down. We'll figure this out."
"Figure it out?" The team lead's laugh was sharp and bitter. "You heard him. The documentation alone will take months to unravel. And the client already thinks those ideas are ours. Do you know what'll happen if they find out we didn't even understand the updates?"
"Then we make sure they don't find out," the manager snapped.
"Oh, sure, let's just hope the client doesn't notice when the project crashes. Great plan!"
The manager rubbed his temples, his tone hardening. "Stop panicking. Look, we'll go through the documentation and—"
"Documentation?" The team lead leaned forward, his voice rising. "This isn't a damn instruction manual for a coffee maker! Arjun rewrote the entire backend. The database is his masterpiece. You think we're going to 'figure it out' in a week?"
"I said we'll handle it," the manager barked, though his voice faltered.
The team lead shook his head, his anger giving way to a grim realization. "We've been riding his coattails for years. Every idea, every fix—Arjun did it all. And we took the credit. Hell, we even convinced HR to deny him a decent raise after he won Employee of the Year."
The manager stiffened, his voice defensive. "That was a team decision. And besides, he wasn't perfect."
"Oh, give me a break." The team lead snorted. "He wasn't perfect? Who's going to fix the backend now? You? Me? You can't even run a proper query without crashing the database."
"That's enough," the manager hissed. But the team lead wasn't done.
"He planned this." The words hung in the air like a thunderclap. "He knew exactly what he was doing. That story he told us? About ditching that girl's Bluetooth on the road? That wasn't just some random tale. It was a warning. He told us who he was."
The manager's eyes narrowed. "You're saying he played us?"
"Played us? He demolished us!" The team lead laughed, a hollow sound. "He waited for the perfect moment, rewrote the entire system, and then dropped the bombshell. He didn't even leave us the satisfaction of firing him. He walked out on his terms, and now we're left holding the bag."
The manager leaned forward, his tone icy. "Fine. He got one over on us. But we're not going to let this destroy us. Call HR. Get the job posting up. We'll find someone to pick up the pieces."
"HR's already on it," the team lead muttered. "But good luck finding someone who can step into his shoes."
The manager's voice softened, laced with regret. "We underestimated him."
"No kidding," the team lead said, his voice bitter. "He warned me last week. Said he'd give me the biggest surprise of my life. I laughed it off. Now? I don't know whether to be angry or impressed."
Silence fell between them again, broken only by the faint hum of the air conditioning.
The manager sighed heavily, his voice barely above a whisper. "We made him feel invisible. Every idea he had, we claimed as our own. Every bit of praise, we made sure it came our way. And now, we're paying the price."
The team lead leaned back, staring at the ceiling. "You think he'll be okay out there? Starting over?"
The manager gave a dry laugh. "You heard him. He's already won. The real question is—will we be okay without him?"
The weight of the question settled over them like a heavy cloud. For the first time, they truly understood the scale of what they had lost.
Meanwhile, Arjun spent his final hours at the office methodically tying up loose ends. He reviewed the documentation one last time, ensuring every step of his work was detailed and precise. The database changes, backend workflows, and even the newly integrated features were laid out in excruciating detail—but the complexity of the work made it clear that understanding it would be no small task.
At lunch, he treated the entire team to a meal in the cafeteria. It seemed like just a kind gesture, but Arjun had his own reasons.
"To new beginnings!" he toasted, raising his glass of juice while the team laughed and clinked theirs together. The manager and team lead joined in, though their smiles were a little forced.
"Enjoy it, everyone," Arjun said with a warm grin. "This one's on me."
Returning to his desk after lunch, Arjun sent a final email to everyone regarding his resignation
"They think I'm a fool for listening to whatever they say," Arjun thought, a quiet smirk playing on his lips. "Now they'll see who the real fools are. It's almost a pity I won't be around to watch everything fall apart."
He leaned back in his chair, his gaze settling on the vibrant office floor bustling with activity. For years, they had dismissed his quiet competence as servility, mistaking his silence for weakness. Now, they would learn the price of their arrogance.
"They probably chalked up my silence during the first project to immaturity," Arjun mused, his fingers tapping idly on the desk. "But what about the second one? Did they ever stop to wonder why I didn't complain? Why I just nodded and did the work, even when I knew it was all wrong?"
His lips curled into a bitter smile. "The truth is, the CEO of this company is my manager's distinct cousin. I figured that out a long time ago. So, no matter what I said, no matter what evidence I showed, it would always come down to his word against mine. And his word? Well, that was gospel."
Arjun glanced at the clock. His time here was almost up. He'd already handed in his resignation and ensured that the final pieces of his plan were in motion. Now, he just had to wait and watch the inevitable unraveling.
"That's why I waited," he thought, his eyes gleaming with quiet triumph. "I waited until I was leaving to drop the real bombshell. To give them the kind of surprise they'd never see coming."
He stood, gathering his belongings with deliberate care. As he made his way to HR to turn in his badge, he passed by the meeting room where his manager and the team lead were locked in a heated discussion.
"They'll figure it out eventually," Arjun thought. "But by then, it'll be far too late."
He paused at the glass window overlooking the office floor one last time, his voice low and almost wistful. "I gave them everything. And this is how they repaid me. Now let's see how they manage without me."
With that, Arjun turned and walked away, leaving behind a storm that would only grow in his absence.