Tessa recalled that her cousin, Uriah, had given her a fully furnished apartinent unit near Rivertown University as a birthday gift during her freshman year,

The apartment was situated directly opposite the miversity, conveniently close to Shelton Law Firm. She thought about moving into the apartment if she secured the position at Shelton. It would slinplify her commute and allow her to live independently. She would be free from the strain of dealing with Sammel and Mariatine.

At Shelton Law Firm, Tessa was interviewed by a HR representative as well as Sarah.

Tessa had graduated from a prestigious university and had three years of professional experience. She answered all of Sarah’s questions with confidence and clarity.

Sarah was genuinely impressed by Tessa. The firm met Tessa’s salary and benefits expectation-a base salary of 8,500 dollars per month along with commissions on legal tees.

After the interview, Sarah smiled and said, “Ms. Yates, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Tessa retumed the smile politely. “See you tomorrow, Ms. Young.”

The interview had gone much smoother than Tessa had anticipated. She had expected they would

negotiate over her requested salary. To her surprise, everything unfolded seamlessly.

After Tessa left, Sarah stood by the window and sighed. “What a shame, I really do admire Ms. Yates”

On her first day at Shelton, the HR representative, Claire Lawson, introduced Tessa to her colleagues and familiarized her with the firm.

Shelton Law Firm was expansive. Tessa had joined the headquarters which housed several departments. The business department focused on external partnerships and case negotiations,

The litigation department specialized in lawsuits.

The non-litigation department handled corporate legal consultations, debt collections, and contract reviews.

The finance and HR departments managed finances and personnel, much like in any other corporate organization.

Each department was headed by a manager. Sarah was the litigation department manager, who also happened to be a practicing lawyer in her 30s. Her hair was cut short and sleek, which gave her an air of unwavering professionalism.

Shelton’s headquarters had over 20 practicing Lawyers in its arsenal. Apart from the managers, offices were shared by a pair of lawyers each.

Tessa was assigned to share an office with a male lawyer in his 40s.

After organizing her workspace, she sat down and settled in

Sarah walked in shortly after with an apologetic smile. “Ms. Yates, every lawyer usually gets assigned an inter as an assistant, However, two interns recently completed their internships and have moved on now. “We haven’t filled those positions yet so I’m afraid you won’t have an assistant for now. I hope you’re fine on your own for the time being.

Tessa nodded in understanding, “That’s fine. I can manage things on my own.”

“That’s great,” Sarah replied with a smile before leaving

The male lawyer looked up from his computer and greeted, “Hello, I’m Tom Zimmer. It looks like we’ll be colleagues from now on.”

“Hello. Nice to meet you,” Tessa responded politely.

During lunch, one of the male staff members received an instruction from Sarah. He stirred up a commotion in the group chat by suggesting that the newcomers treat everyone to dinner after work

There were two newcomers. One was Tessa, who had just started today. The other was Jasmine York, an intern who had joined two days earlier. Tessa wasn’t familiar with the firm’s workplace tradition. She wondered if it was customary for newcomers to treat their colleagues to dinner.

Curious, she asked Tom about it. He told her that this practice never existed before. Tessa stared at the message on her computer screen and mulled over the situation.