Accidentally owned by my boss

**TRACY** On a Wednesday morning, while getting dressed for work, my phone buzzed sharply against the glass table, the source slicing through the ongoing gist. I didn’t move at first. For a second, I stared at it, my heart already beginning to pound heavily, as though it recognized the sender before I could confirm it. Reluctantly, I picked up the phone and unlocked it. The message sat there, blunt and unforgiving. “I’m done with this Godforsaken relationship,” said Declan. My heart skipped a bit and I began gasping for breath. It was subtle at first, the way my breath stalled midway, and the way my lips parted but no sound came out. The soft and cheerful face I had on had slowly vanished. My eyes, once glassy with unshed tears, hardened as they scanned the words again, as if rereading it might somehow change it. “Oh," I breathed a single word devoid of emotion. My eyes read shock, hurt and disbelief. “I’m never falling in love again,” I sobbed. Not after two wasted years with Declan. The words tore out of her throat, raw and unfiltered, like something that has lived too long inside my chest and demanded release. My voice trembled, cracking at the edges as though it no longer trusted itself to stay whole. “Two years,” I murmured. Two whole years of late night calls that stretched into dawn. Two whole years of whispered promises that felt sacred. Two years of building a future in my head, only to watch it collapse in a single, devastating moment. A few hours later, he posted another picture of a girl. She looks so classy, sexy and sophisticated in pictures. “So he was cheating on me all this while?” I asked rhetorically. “So it took Declan two whole years to tell me that I’m not strong and sexy, it took Declan two years to tell me that I’m not the one for him,” I said as my eyes widened and tears ran down freely. “What is wrong with Tracy?” her sister Sophia asked calmly. My eyes tightened, and my fingers curled into the fabric of my sweater, clutching it as though I could physically hold back the ache spreading through my chest. Sophia knew something had gone wrong because Tracy could barely say a word after the notification came in. Sophia quickly grabbed the phone from my hand and saw the reason why my countenance changed immediately. Sophia burst into tears: “not at this point that you need him the most”. “Declan has been our only support since the demise of mom and dad, he has always been there to take care of my hospital bills, why would he turn he do this to you at this point”? She continued to wail. “All I wanted is to be loved, not broken,” I said as I still glared firmly at the text the third time. “It’s time for work,” I said calmly and hissed a little sigh of relief. How could it be so easy for him to end what we had? “Why not call Mr Jake, head of the cleaning department, to take a leave you’re already going through a lot?”. Sophia suggested. “No, I have to go to work,” I retorted. “Try to be a strong sis,” Sophia said with a hint of a smile. “Okay,” I left hurriedly. When I got to the Grand Regent Hotel, I hurried to the floor I was assigned to clean, it was gleaming as if there hadn’t been any dust on it for years. I wondered who had helped me clean it. “I helped you clean it. I don’t want those bullies to humiliate you, so I cleaned it for you," Amelia Reed, my colleague at work retorted with a smile on her face. “Oh, thank you, Amelia,” she responded nicely. While strolling along the corridor in the hotel with Amelia, her colleagues said loudly “how would a young girl be employed to work here as a janitor, Doesn’t she have a family to cater for her?” “These words hit me like a punch to the chest. I stumbled back a step, hand pressed to my mouth, eyes wide as my mind raced through everything I had been through. “From heartbreak to demeaning words from my colleagues”, what did I really do to deserve this?" I asked rhetorically. Just as those words didn’t pierce hard enough, another voice chimed in. “Isn’t she supposed to be in college?” My shoulders shook as I pressed my hands into my face, letting the tears fall freely while the words echoed in my ears sharp and relentless, leaving me utterly unsteady. “Don’t mind them, Tracy, you’ll get through all these humiliations," Amelia said with a calm voice. My face burned, and I ducked my head, mumbling something none of them could hear. The only family I have left is my sister—Sophia, who is in the hospital battling with cancer. I had to work as a janitor so I could cater for my sister and her hospital bills. While telling Amelia how bad my morning was because of the breakup message I got from Declan, my phone rang beside me. I stared at the unknown number, wondering if it was Declan calling to tell me that the break-up was nothing but a prank. I picked up the call hurriedly to hear his deep and hot voice I had been longing for, I said with a little smile of hope. A calm husky voice broke out:“ Hello…am I conversing with Tracy Horace?” I was lost in thought wondering who it might be and what might be wrong because this isn’t Declan’s voice. “Hello… hello… can you hear me?” This time the voice grew intense. I pressed the phone closer to my ear, my pulse quickening. “Y— yes…” I paused, swallowing hard. “It’s me." I’m Mr Johnson calling from the oncology financial services department at Oakwood City Hospital here in Dallas City concerning Sophia Horace's medical bills. Ma’am, the payment is due. I quickly interrupted “the bill… Is it due this month? The response came swiftly and quietly: “Yes, ma’am, and it’s 15 grand. You’re to make payment within fourteen days”. “After that, the account moves forward.” The call dropped before she could even mutter a word. I fell on the neatly cleaned, luminous tiled floor, hands pressed onto my face, before I could even think of stopping it, tears started flowing freely, streaming down my cheeks like a river I had no strength to hold back. “What’s wrong, Tracy?” Amelia asked.