CHAPTER 3: SMALL MOMENTS
643 Words
By the third day, Lia Santos was already learning something important:
Working under Ethan Cruz was nothing like a normal job.
It wasn’t just demanding.
It was precise. Controlled. Almost silent in its intensity.
Every task had a deadline. Every instruction had weight. Every mistake was unacceptable—not shouted at, not explained, just silently corrected with a cold stare or a new stack of work placed in front of her desk.
Still, Lia didn’t complain.
She simply adjusted.
She arrived earlier each day, stayed later than necessary, and learned faster than expected.
But what she didn’t notice… was him noticing her.
Ethan Cruz rarely looked up.
Yet somehow, his attention always seemed aware of her presence.
When she organized documents too quickly.
When she paused for a second to think.
When she quietly fixed errors before submitting reports.
He noticed.
And he said nothing.
One afternoon, the office was unusually quiet.
Rain tapped lightly against the glass walls again, but softer this time—like the city had finally slowed down.
Lia stood near the coffee machine in the executive lounge, trying to fix a small mistake in the printing room report she had just completed.
She frowned slightly.
“Why is the formatting not aligning properly…” she murmured to herself.
She didn’t notice Ethan approaching.
Until his voice came from behind her.
“You’re overthinking it.”
Lia almost dropped her papers.
She turned quickly.
“Sir—I didn’t hear you.”
Ethan stood a few steps away, holding a folder in one hand.
His expression was unchanged.
“You’re adjusting margins that don’t need adjustment,” he said simply.
Lia blinked. “But it looks uneven—”
“It’s acceptable.”
That word again.
Acceptable.
Not praise.
Not criticism.
Just… final judgment.
Lia hesitated, then nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
She turned back to her work.
But Ethan didn’t leave immediately.
He watched her for a moment longer than usual.
Then spoke again.
“You don’t need to perfect everything.”
Lia paused.
That wasn’t something she expected from him.
She turned slightly. “Isn’t that what you expect?”
A silence followed.
Then Ethan replied calmly.
“I expect results. Not obsession.”
That was all.
And then he walked away.
But Lia stayed still for a moment after he left.
Because something about his words felt…different.
Not cold.
Just honest.
Later that day, Lia made a mistake.
A small one.
But in Cruz Enterprises, even small mistakes mattered.
She had misfiled one document in a financial report—nothing critical, but enough to require correction before submission.
When she realized it, panic hit her immediately.
“Oh no…”
She quickly corrected it, heart racing.
But she was too late
.
Ethan had already seen it.
He was standing behind her desk now.
Silent.
Lia froze.
“I—I can fix it right away,” she said quickly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“Stop.”
One word.
Sharp.
Lia immediately stopped talking.
Ethan picked up the document and scanned it.
The silence stretched painfully.
Lia’s hands tightened nervously.
This was it.
She had failed.
She expected anger.
A dismissal.
Something cold and final.
But instead…
Ethan simply placed the paper back down.
“Careless,” he said.
Lia lowered her head. “I’m sorry.”
Another pause.
Then—
“Don’t repeat it.”
That was all.
No shouting.
No humiliation.
Just correction.
Ethan turned away, returning to his office without another word.
Lia stood there, breathing slowly.
Her heart was still racing.
But not from fear this time.
From something else she couldn’t name.
Across the glass wall, Ethan sat back at his desk.
But for the first time…
he didn’t immediately return to work.
His eyes lingered slightly toward her direction.
Just for a second.
Then he looked away.
- Writer
