She burned with anger and humiliation at the realization of her worth compared to Claudia's. Later that day, she wore her most revealing outfit - a grey spaghetti top, cut low enough to show off her barely-there cleavage. Eric's appreciative gaze only fueled the fire inside her, filling her with some small satisfaction. She knew what she wanted, yet deep down she felt inferior – but Caroline was determined not to let it show. She sauntered over to Eric, flipping her hair in Claudia’s direction as if daring her to comment. Caroline could feel Claudia’s smugness radiating from across the room, even though the other girl merely smiled back.
For the remainder of the day, Caroline worked hard to catch Eric’s eye with every chance she got; still his attention wandered more frequently towards Isabelle and Claudia than toward her no matter how hard she tried. A feeling of inadequacy plagued her thoughts all day long - unable to concentrate or focus on anything else apart from her own insignificance at one measly point on the asset list; like an invisible **** crushing her spirit from within. In her mind, Caroline watched as Isabelle and Claudia mocked her silently, hatred boiling under her skin until it felt like it would burst.
By the end of the day she was exhausted and ****. She stayed in the office until it was just her and Eric, then she mustered up her courage and went up to him. "Hi Eric," she said with a trembling voice, "is there anything I can do to increase my worth?" Her pride was breaking apart as she asked this question, it felt like an admission that she had no value. Eric grinned inwardly, the plan was unfolding perfectly, the spreadsheet was chipping away at the girl's self-esteem bit by bit. He stared directly into her eyes for an uncomfortably long time, especially at her chest. "Well there's not much we can do about that sadly, maybe I can get you up to 1.5, but still you'll still be worth less than Claudia." The disappointment on Caroline's face was devastatingly clear. "But hey," he said with a fake smile as he swiped his hand across her bottom, "tits aren't everything, maybe if we add a new asset category you'll be top dog". With that she smiled eerily and left the office, knowing what was coming next.
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