My apartment smelled like old coffee and cleaning spray from last night. Outside, a delivery truck kept reversing with slow beeping sounds. My phone lay face down because I promised myself I would not keep refreshing email.
I still checked it anyway.
The subject line showed a job offer for Principal Incident Response at Orion Arc. I read the numbers twice because my brain refused to believe them at first. The base salary was three hundred ten thousand dollars, with a large bonus and equity on top. The total compensation reached six hundred fifty thousand dollars per year.
My hands started shaking slightly as I stared at the screen. I pressed my palm against the desk to steady myself and kept rereading the same lines. It felt unreal that a single email could change everything so quickly.
I accepted the offer and completed every form in a kind of quiet shock. Then I called my mother because I could not hold the news alone.
She answered quickly and asked immediately how much the offer was worth. I told her the full number, trying to sound calm and happy. She paused for a moment before responding in a measured tone.
“That is very good,” she said. “We are proud of you.”