Our department went on a hiking trip for our annual corporate retreat. When it came time to split into groups, I looked at Christian Sterling, my boss—and the man I’d been secretly dating for two years. I thought he would choose me. Instead, his eyes landed on Valerie Hayes, his childhood friend who had just returned from Europe. "You don't have the stamina for this. Stick with me, I’ll pull you along," he said. Valerie naturally looped her arm through his. Our coworkers immediately started teasing them. "Childhood sweethearts just hit different! Mr. Sterling, you’re still single, right? You two are a perfect match." Christian didn’t push her away. He just replied flatly, "Yeah, I don’t have a girlfriend." I froze in place. Just last night, he was holding me in his arms, promising that we would go public soon. But until the grouping was finalized, he didn't glance in my direction even once. I was tossed into the "freelance" group. Halfway up the mountain, I badly sprained my ankle. I texted him: Christian, I can’t walk. Read. No reply. I sat on a rock for forty minutes, only to see a group photo posted in the company Slack channel from the summit. In the picture, he had his arm around Valerie, smiling brightly. The comments were flooded with people shipping them. Someone tagged me: @Maya, did you fall behind? Don't drag the team down. Even Valerie made it, and you couldn't? If you can't handle the hike, you shouldn't have come. I limped all the way down the mountain by myself that day. At the base, Christian was busy calling an Uber for Valerie. Seeing me hobbling toward them, he only furrowed his brows. "Didn't I tell you not to text me privately? If coworkers see it, they might get the wrong idea." I suddenly understood. The whole point of an "underground romance" was so he could deny my existence whenever it was convenient. Christian, I thought. As you wish. You don't have a girlfriend. …… By the time I finished getting my ankle bandaged at the medical tent, Christian was already gone. The HR rep handed me a plastic bag of pain meds. "Mr. Sterling asked me to give this to you. He said once you're patched up, you can catch a cab back to the office yourself." "Where is he?" I asked quietly. "Director Hayes had a dizzy spell from low blood sugar. Mr. Sterling rushed her to the ER." I looked down at my swollen, bruised ankle. The very last shred of hope in my heart evaporated. When I finally made it back to the office, leaning heavily against my desk just to sit down, Valerie dropped a message in the company Slack. Thanks to Christian for staying with me at the hospital! I'm all good now. Nobody skip the team dinner tonight! The coworkers instantly blew up the chat. Mr. Sterling personally accompanying you to the doctor? I'm so jealous. Meanwhile, some people drop out halfway up a mountain, but Director Hayes pushed through to the top even when she felt sick. The difference in work ethic is wild. I closed the chat. My assistant walked in, dropping a massive stack of files on my desk. "Maya, Mr. Sterling wants you to finish the revisions for the Stardust Project draft tonight." "Isn't the team dinner tonight?" "Mr. Sterling said you held up work this afternoon, so you have to make up for it." Just as she finished speaking, the private executive elevator at the end of the hall dinged. Christian walked out, supporting Valerie. Valerie was wearing his suit jacket, and in her hands, she was holding a navy-blue ceramic mug. It was the mug we had made together at a pottery class on our very first real date. Carved into the bottom was a crooked letter 'M', etched by Christian's own hands. Last night, when he drove me home, I had accidentally left it in the cup holder of his passenger seat. Valerie noticed my stare and smiled, raising the mug slightly. "Christian was worried my stomach would act up after the hospital, so he specifically poured me some hot water. This mug is actually super cute." I grabbed the edge of my desk and stood up. "That's mine." The open office suddenly went dead silent. Christian looked at me, a flash of warning in his eyes. "It's just a cheap freebie from a pottery shop. It's not important." Valerie played along, smiling sweetly. "Oh, it's just a freebie? Well, since Maya likes it so much, you can have it back." She reached out to place it on the edge of my desk. Her fingers slipped. The mug hit the desk corner and shattered on the floor, a massive crack splitting it from rim to base. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Valerie gasped, covering her mouth, her eyes turning red. "I didn't mean to!" Christian immediately grabbed her fingers to inspect them. Only after making sure she hadn't been scratched by the ceramic did he speak. "If it's broken, just throw it away. It's just a mug." The janitor swept the pieces into the trash. I stared at the shard of ceramic bearing my initial, feeling sharp, agonizing throbs shooting up my ankle. A coworker chimed in impatiently, "Maya, when is the draft going to be ready? Don't hold up the whole department just because you're in a mood." I sat back down. "Before midnight." The crowd ushered Valerie toward the elevators, but Christian lingered behind. He glanced at my swollen ankle and slipped a sleek hotel key card into my stack of files. It was the hotel we always went to. "Come find me after you finish your edits," he said in a low voice. "Stop throwing a tantrum." I slid the key card right back to him. "Mr. Sterling, you don't have a girlfriend. It's inappropriate for us to meet privately at night." He grabbed my wrist. "I can explain what happened on the mountain. Valerie’s health is fragile; I couldn't just abandon her." "I couldn't walk either." "But you made it down on your own, didn't you?" He said it so casually, as if me enduring the agonizing pain to drag myself down a mountain meant I never needed him in the first place. Valerie's voice called out from the hallway. "Christian! Everyone is waiting for you at the restaurant!" Christian let go of my wrist and flipped my file to the page that needed editing. "Just work for now. We'll talk tonight." He turned and walked toward Valerie, leaving with the rest of the team. At exactly midnight, I uploaded the revised draft into the work chat. Christian didn't reply. But a second later, my phone buzzed with a photo sent privately from Valerie. In the picture, she was leaning against Christian's shoulder, still draped in his jacket. Christian had his head turned slightly, listening to her speak, sporting a look of profound patience I hadn't seen directed at me in months. A text followed: Maya, don't wait up. Christian isn't going to see you tonight. I stared at the text, suddenly feeling that the hotel key card he left on my desk was the biggest joke in the world. The next morning during the briefing, Christian cast my draft onto the projector screen. "Project Stardust will be spearheaded by Valerie. Maya will assist." My head snapped up. "I built that proposal entirely on my own." Valerie, sitting at his right hand, gave me an apologetic smile. "I just got back to the States and need a big project to re-familiarize myself with the market. Don't worry, we'll still prioritize your ideas during the execution phase." I looked dead at Christian. "From the initial client outreach to the final draft, I did the work." "Which is exactly why you're assisting her," Christian said, tapping his knuckles on the table. "She handles the overarching direction, you handle the boots-on-the-ground execution. Is there a problem?" "What about the credits?" A few soft scoffs echoed around the conference room. "It's just one project. Do you really need to fight for credit right in front of the CEO?" Christian's expression turned cold. "Maya, this company is not a playground for your ego." Two years ago, when he gave me my first project, he told me that my ambition was what he admired most about me. Now, because Valerie needed a stepping stone, my ambition was suddenly "unprofessional." I closed my laptop. "She can have the proposal, but my name stays on as lead." Christian's tone left no room for argument. "The roster has already been sent to the client. Stop being stubborn." I picked up my laptop and walked toward the door. Christian reached out and clamped his hand around my wrist, pulling me back toward the table. My bruised ankle slammed into the heavy metal leg of a chair. The pain drained the color from my face instantly. He instinctively loosened his grip, but didn't let go. "Slamming the door in a meeting? Do you want to be a laughingstock?" Valerie stood up, reaching out to pull me as well. "Maya, please don't blame Christian. I can tell the client at the pitch meeting that you participated." I dodged her hand. She stumbled backward with exaggerated clumsiness, bumping into the table and knocking her iced coffee over. Christian instantly stepped in front of her, shielding her. "Maya!" Every eye in the room judged me. Valerie quickly waved her hands. "It wasn't her fault, I just lost my balance!" The more she defended me, the more disgusted everyone else looked. "Director Hayes is way too nice." "Trying to steal the project and shoving people? Who does she think she is?" Christian took off his suit jacket and draped it over Valerie's shoulders. His voice was freezing. "Apologize to her." "I didn't push her." "It's her first day back, and you purposely made things difficult over a coffee mug yesterday. Now you're humiliating her in public. Maya, just because I indulge you doesn't mean you can cross the line." My nose stung. He said he indulged me. But in everyone else's eyes, he had never shown me an ounce of favoritism. "How exactly do you indulge me, Mr. Sterling?" Christian fell silent. All those 2 AM drives home, the hugs in empty stairwells, the "I love you"s whispered only behind closed hotel or apartment doors—none of it could be brought to the light. Valerie tugged on his sleeve. "Christian, please don't yell at her because of me." Christian pulled her behind him protectively. "I'll say it one last time. Apologize." I stared at him for a long moment. "I'm sorry, Director Hayes." The coworkers finally scattered, satisfied. But Christian's expression remained tense. After the meeting, he cornered me in the archive room. "Why didn't you come last night?" "Didn't you say you didn't have a girlfriend?" "There were too many people at the retreat. I had to say that." His thumb rubbed circles over my wrist bone. "The company is in the middle of a Series B funding round. If the board finds out about an office romance, it’ll ruin both of us." I had been listening to that exact script for two years. "Will you go public when the funding closes?" "Yes." "When will it close?" He paused. "Don't pressure me for a deadline." I let out a hollow laugh. Whenever I asked for a timeline, I was "pressuring" him. He pressed a velvet box into my palm. "Last night was my fault. Here. Stop being mad at me." It was a necklace I had casually mentioned liking six months ago. My stupid, pathetic heart softened for a fraction of a second. Then, the door opened. Valerie walked in. She saw the necklace and gasped, covering her mouth in delight. "Christian, you actually found it?! This is the exact design I lost while I was in Europe!" Christian immediately snatched the necklace out of my palm. "I sourced it specifically to replace yours." He personally clasped it around Valerie's neck, then turned to me. "I was just having Maya inspect the clasp for me. Don't misunderstand." I let my hand drop to my side. The metal clasp had dug a red indentation into my palm. That afternoon, the Stardust client explicitly requested that I attend the pitch meeting. The smile on Valerie's face stiffened. "The client wants to see the lead creative. Naturally, I should be the one presenting." The account manager looked awkward. "They specifically reviewed Maya's past portfolios. They explicitly asked for her to lead the presentation." Christian looked at me. "Then we'll all go together." Valerie flipped through the file and asked softly, "I'll do the main presentation, and Maya can handle the Q&A segment. Is that okay?" Before I could even speak, Christian agreed. "That works." During the pitch, Valerie read my script word-for-word, but less than ten minutes in, she completely reversed the core data metrics. The client cut her off. "Director Hayes, who built this user demographic model?" Her face drained of color. I took the clicker, stepped up, and explained the model flawlessly. The client's furrowed brow relaxed. "Now that makes sense. Let's have Ms. Brooks liaise with me directly moving forward." The car ride back was dead silent. Christian was the first to speak. "Maya, you didn't have to steal the mic from her like that." "She flipped the core data." "You could have gently corrected her. You didn't have to humiliate her in front of the client." I looked in the rearview mirror. Valerie was sitting in the passenger seat, her eyes perfectly rimmed with unshed tears. "So I should have just sat there and watched us lose a multi-million dollar account?" "We wouldn't have lost it," Christian said, his tone darkening. "You just wanted to prove you were better than her." Valerie turned around. "Please don't fight. It's my fault. Maya, I know you don't like me, but work is work. You shouldn't bring your personal grudges into the boardroom." I suddenly found it all highly amusing. "And why exactly wouldn't I like you?" "Because of Christian, obviously." She said it so casually. Christian immediately snapped, "Valerie." "Am I wrong?" She smiled thinly. "She's been glaring at you since the hiking trip. People in the office are even saying she stalks you home." My spine went rigid. It was true that some coworkers had spotted me entering Christian's luxury apartment building. Because over the last two years, I practically lived there half the week. Gripping the steering wheel, Christian said coldly, "She occasionally drops off physical documents for me. Don't spread rumors." Valerie let out a long, meaningful "Ohhhh." The car went silent. I didn't bother defending myself. Back at the office, I realized the raw data files for the Stardust Project were still on my backup drive at Christian's apartment. That night, I went over to grab the files. Verification Failed. My fingerprint had been wiped from the smart lock. Christian didn't arrive for another half an hour. He opened the door but didn't invite me inside. A moment later, he walked out holding a cardboard box, setting it at my feet. "All your stuff is in here." "Why did you delete my fingerprint?" "Valerie doesn't like hotels. She's crashing in the guest room for a bit," he explained in a hushed tone. "If she knows you have the passcode, she'll overthink it." Right on cue, Valerie walked out of the master bedroom. She was wearing one of Christian's oversized button-down shirts. She feigned surprise. "Maya? What are you doing here this late?" I stared intensely at Christian. "Why is she coming out of the master bedroom?" Christian stepped into my line of sight, blocking my view of her. "The AC in the guest room is broken. Don't start a fight over this." Valerie leaned against the doorframe. "Christian, is she really just here to drop off documents?" I waited for Christian's answer. He stayed silent for five long seconds before pushing the cardboard box further out into the hallway. "Yes." The door closed in my face. From the other side, I heard Valerie's muffled voice: "Does she have a crush on you or something?" Christian's reply was faint. "Just ignore her." Click. The deadbolt engaged, locking me out of his life completely. The next day, Valerie published the finalized Stardust Project proposal on the company intranet. My name was entirely scrubbed from the credits. In the employee locker room, she blocked my path. "Did it hurt? Seeing me wearing Christian's shirt last night?" I tried to step around her. "Move." She grabbed my arm. "Christian already told you, you're just a delivery girl for his files. Don't you feel pathetic, desperately clinging to a man who feels absolutely nothing for you?" I violently yanked my arm free. Valerie stumbled back, quickly recovered, and slapped me hard across the cheek. My ear rang sharply. She lowered her voice to a venomous whisper. "That slap is to remind you to stop coveting things that will never belong to you." I swung back, backhanding her across the face. Christian pushed the locker room door open at the exact moment Valerie dramatically threw herself against the metal lockers, sliding to the floor. He rushed forward, violently grabbing my wrist. "Maya! What the hell are you doing?!" Valerie covered her cheek and sobbed. "It's not her fault! I just told her that you don't like her back, and she just snapped." Christian's grip tightened painfully on my bones. "Apologize to her right now." "She hit me first." "Enough!" He shoved me backward. The small of my back slammed into the sharp corner of a locker. The blinding pain made me double over instantly. Christian reached out a hand to catch me, but the moment a crowd of coworkers flooded through the door, he immediately yanked his hand back. Someone saw the red handprint on Valerie's face and immediately called HR. "Maya is completely out of control! Stealing credit, shoving people, and now she's physically assaulting coworkers!" "Is she actually unhinged over Mr. Sterling?" "She's been to his house before. I always knew she was a psycho stalker." Valerie shook her head, tears streaming down. "Please, everyone, stop. Maya just misunderstood my relationship with Christian." The HR Director looked at Christian. "Mr. Sterling, do you want us to involve the police?" "Internal discipline," he said coldly. "Suspend Maya from all duties pending a full investigation." I forced myself to stand up straight. "And what about the fact that she struck me first?" Christian's eyes flickered for a fraction of a second when he saw the red welts forming on my cheek. But Valerie was faster. "I never touched you! Do you have any proof?" The security camera in the locker room had been broken since last week. Christian knew that, because I had personally handed him the maintenance request form to sign. I looked him dead in the eye. "Who do you believe?" "Valerie wouldn't throw the first punch." Those seven words stripped away any point in defending myself. That afternoon, an anonymous post blew up on the company forum. It accused me of chronically sexually harassing senior management to sleep my way into leading major projects. It included high-res photos of me swiping into Christian's luxury apartment building late at night. The post was quickly forwarded to the Stardust client group chat. The client demanded Sterling Corp swap their point of contact immediately. Christian called me into the executive boardroom. A printed statement sat on the mahogany table. "Sign this. Admit that you harassed me due to a one-sided delusion, and the company will let you keep your job." I read it line by line. In the statement, I was painted as a deranged stalker who harassed her boss, bullied her colleagues, and stole other people's intellectual property. "And if I refuse?" "You'll be terminated with cause." "Those photos are real," I said, staring at him. "And you know exactly why I was at your apartment." Christian lowered his voice to a hushed, urgent whisper. "Because I know the truth, I'm trying to control the narrative for you! If this blows up, the entire industry will say you slept your way to the top." "Then tell them the truth. Tell them we were dating." "If I announce that now, it only validates the rumors that I showed you favoritism." "Christian, you promised me we'd go public soon." "Maya, stop being so damn stubborn right now." A massive crowd of gossiping coworkers had gathered outside the glass walls of the boardroom. Valerie walked in, placing a printed email on the table. "The Stardust client received a whistleblower email claiming Maya stole my proposal. Christian, we have to give the client an explanation." Attached to the email were several screenshots of document creation logs. The timestamps had been conveniently cropped out. Only Valerie's name remained as the author. Christian glanced at it. "Maya. Just sign the statement." "You literally watched me build that model from scratch." For the past three months, I had stayed up until 3 AM in his apartment tweaking that presentation. He had microwaved milk for me. He had sat on the couch and listened to me practice the entire pitch. He knew the truth better than anyone alive. "The company's survival is more important than your personal pride." He pushed a silver Montblanc pen toward me. "Take the fall for now. Once this blows over, I swear I'll make it up to you." I didn't take the pen. HR, Legal, and the Stardust project team members filed into the boardroom one by one. Someone demanded loudly, "Maya, what exactly is your relationship with Mr. Sterling? Have you been blackmailing him with fake photos?" I looked at Christian. "Mr. Sterling, have we ever been in a relationship?" Christian's fingers stiffened. Valerie stood right beside him, whispering softly, "Everyone is waiting for your answer." Christian avoided my eyes. "No." Two years of holding each other, late-night whispers, birthdays, and anniversaries—all permanently erased by a single syllable from his own mouth. Mocking laughter echoed through the boardroom. I picked up the printed statement. Christian's posture visibly relaxed. "Sign it, go home and rest. I'll handle the PR fallout." I ripped the paper in half. Then in half again. And again. Shredded confetti rained down on the polished mahogany table. "Since we have never been in a relationship, let's keep this strictly professional." I slapped a white envelope onto the desk. My resignation letter. Right next to it, I dropped an official Intellectual Property Registration Certificate. "The initial copyright for the Stardust algorithmic model belongs entirely to me. It was legally registered with the IP office three months before this company even pitched the project." Christian's face plummeted. Outside the boardroom, the Head of Legal's cell phone rang aggressively. He answered it, listened for five seconds, and looked at me in absolute horror. "Mr. Sterling... The Stardust client just terminated our contract." Before the words even settled, two men in crisp suits pushed through the boardroom doors. "We are investigators from the Corporate Ethics and IP Bureau. We have received a sworn complaint from Ms. Maya Brooks. Sterling Enterprises is now under active investigation for corporate IP theft and workplace defamation. Please step away from your computers."
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