Trapped

Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen:

 The urge to submit a project proposal is high.

»»—♡—««

forget what others 

say about you, 

just be who you are 

without the fear of judgement

and that’s what really matters.

― anish

»»—♡—««

I have lived my life with so much judgement.

From a very young age, I was bullied in school just because my grandfather was flourishing in his field of industry. A lot of people have admired him and a lot of people have despised him.

There were people who considered him as an enemy.

Moreover, everyone under his lineage is included as an enemy. No matter how young we are, no matter our gender; we were targeted as a rivalry in Michigan. Due to the fact that for the past 15 years, Luciano Corporation is at its peak. My grandfather set the bars and standards too high in relation to programming, innovating and developing software that is based on artificial intelligence.

Some had tried to mimic his ways, to try and compete with their innovations however, Luciano Corporation had always stood out. They were at the top and a lot of companies had hired them for the software and programs that their company needed. 

Luciano Corporation is at the top.

And everyone in the company as well as the relatives of the founder of the company; were a threat to other AI companies.

It was absurd if you asked me. Especially targeting me and Maxwell when we were younger. It was an awful experience.

I thought that when I get to become an employee of Luciano Corporation, the judgment of other people will vanish.

But I was proven wrong.

For all people were greedy.

It didn’t matter if I entered the company due to my skills and capabilities alone. It didn’t matter if I was the granddaughter of the owner. It didn’t matter if I was a friend or a foe. It didn’t matter if I was family and blood.

Greedy people will always drag you down no matter how kind and humble you can be.

Trust no one. You are your only ally.

»»—♡—««

[Six months earlier]

“So what do you think?”

Maxwell stared at me with her emotionless face. The whole time that I was talking in front of her. She had managed to keep a straight face, not even a small smile or grin. Her face was void of any emotions and even expressions.

I guess she wasn’t joking when she said that she’s going to judge me fair and square.

When her lips suddenly formed into a smile, that’s when I let out a relieved sigh. My heart was hammering inside my chest and her minimal reaction had already simmered down the anxiousness that I was feeling. 

“It’s great. Actually the whole idea was amazing.” She answered, the smile not leaving her lips and was only growing wider as the seconds passed by. She stood up then decreased the proximity between us, “I really think that they’re going to accept that.” Maxwell added as she placed a hand on my shoulders, as a way of praising me.

“You really think so?” I asked, excited at her words of comfort. “I mean I actually didn’t spend quite a long time brainstorming everything but it’s coming together. I just wanted to share the gist of it.” I admitted to her. It hasn’t even been a month since I began outlining the idea. And I know there were still tons of major revisions that I needed to do as well as the amount of research and beta testing that would take place.

Despite all of those things that all sounded hectic, I was booming with happiness as I couldn’t hide my excitement. There were a lot of things that I needed to do but that had only motivated me to do the project and finish the project. I was setting a timeframe goal and I’m hoping that I could achieve it.

Surely, a project proposal isn’t something someone does just because the idea just popped up inside his head and would immediately present it to the higher ups when no in depth brainstorm, planning and testing was made. Especially in our field of work, we don’t take things lightly as if we could say that we’ll just late fate and destiny do all the work.

It doesn’t work that way. It was entirely different because in our case, everything is done meticulously. Due to the fact that the outcome wouldn’t work if the data  we had gathered were not enough or there was something wrong with the algorithm and encoding that we had done.

It isn’t easy. Moreover, it will take a lot of time.

“I hundred percent think so.” Maxwell beamed at me releasing me from the hug. “But also, if I may ask; what motivated you to do that project?” She asked me, suddenly I could feel a crippling sadness inside her as she frowned at my question. “No, wait!” She yelled, causing me to hang my mouth open. “I think I already know.” She added, looking at our tour huge picture frame that hung on the marbled wall then darted her eyes at me.

I nodded at her, "It's slowly becoming worse. I'm afraid I couldn't do anything to help."

"Well, you know well enough that even though your project proposal isn't done yet, he'll approve already, right?" Maxwell informed me stating the obvious.

"Which is why I wanted to finish the whole project proposal first before informing them. For now, this is just between us. Okay, Maxy?"