Why I Stole My Co-Worker's Desk Plant

So there's this co-worker at my office, let's call her Karen. She’s been bugging me for weeks about joining a book club that she started with some other colleagues. I’m not really into literature or anything fancy like that, I much prefer to read about practical stuff for work and the occasional light-hearted thriller. But Karen won't stop asking, even though I’ve told her many times that it’s not my thing. Yesterday we had one of our monthly team meetings where everyone was discussing their weekend plans. Guess who announced she went hiking with her book club friends and mentioned how much fun they have together? Of course, all eyes were on me as she made sure to call out my absence. To be honest, I felt a bit like an outsider. That’s when it happened. In the midst of this awkward moment, Karen left her desk for another meeting. There was this tiny succulent plant sitting in the corner of her cubicle, I’m pretty sure she bought that thing just so she could look at it during Zoom calls and pretend to care about office aesthetics. I’m not proud of what followed next but... I couldn’t resist. Before anyone came back, I snuck over to Karen’s desk and took the plant. I quickly hid it under my own desk area in hopes that no one would notice. That night, as I was leaving, I put it into a little plastic bag from the cafeteria and brought it home. I know, I know, it's petty and childish of me to take something like this so personally over a book club invitation. But every time I see that empty corner where her plant used to be, my conscience gets a bit heavier. Still, in that moment of lashing out, there was this little thrill from not being the only one missing out on something. Now here we are, weeks later and the plant is doing great sitting in my living room window, I even bought it some fertilizer. But I can’t shake the feeling that maybe Karen deserves a better hobby than poking at me with book club gossip.