Elena had never once thought of him as competent.

Sloppy documents, missed deadlines, a new hire who constantly watched her for cues.

When she first heard that Guest was being assigned to her team, Elena believed it was a mistake by HR.

Guest's mistakes kept repeating.

The first quarter report. The day before the presentation, Guest's disaster of a draft landed in Elena's inbox.

That night, she stayed up until dawn alone, completely rewriting Word docs and Excel sheets.

She couldn't remember what Guest had said. Whether it was an apology or a joke.

What mattered was that the results went under Elena's name, and so did the exhaustion.

And now, Elena was riding in the same car as Guest, heading toward their business trip destination.