Boundaries
964 Words
Ms. Flora didn’t blink.
Her gaze moved from me—
to Ethan—
then back to me again.
Slow. Measured. Calculating.
The kind of look that didn’t need questions to create answers.
“The report?” she repeated.
Her tone was neutral.
Too neutral.
I swallowed.
“Yes… I—uh—needed to make some last-minute copies.”
My voice sounded foreign.
Like it didn’t belong to me anymore.
A beat.
Then another.
She stepped closer.
Toward me.
That told me everything.
“Strange,” she said lightly.
“Because I was just at the boardroom before work hours ended.”
A pause.
“And no one mentioned needing anything urgently printed.”
My grip tightened around the papers in my hand.
Damn it.
Before I could fix it—
Ethan spoke.
Calm. Smooth. Controlled.
“I requested it, we had made more edits in the previous report,” he said.
Silence.
That shifted the air.
Completely.
Ms. Flora turned to him now.
One brow lifting slightly.
“Oh really?”
Ethan didn’t hesitate.
Didn’t stutter.
Didn’t even look at me.
“Yes.”
And there it was.
Authority.
Position.
Protection.
A lie wrapped in confidence.
Her eyes lingered on him for a moment longer than necessary.
As if weighing something deeper.
Then—
she smiled.
But it didn’t reach her eyes.
“Well,” she said softly,
“Next time, let's try to keep these ‘urgent tasks’ within working hours, right.”
The word urgent hung in the air.
Heavy with implication.
She stepped past me.
Then stopped.
Right beside my shoulder.
“Martin,” she added quietly,
“You better change this act of yours or else you are in for it.”
My chest tightened.
“I’d hate for misunderstandings to affect your growth here, and your life at most.”
That wasn’t advice.
That was a warning.
Then she walked away.
Heels clicking down the hallway.
Each step echoing like a countdown.
Silence returned.
But it wasn’t the same silence as before.
This one had consequences.
I didn’t turn immediately.
Didn’t speak.
Didn’t breathe properly.
Until—
“Good night.”
Ethan’s voice again.
Cold and controlled.
I let out a short, sharp laugh.
Not amused.
Not even angry.
Just… exhausted.
“Good night, just that.” I repeated.
Then I turned to him.
Finally letting everything show.
“You brought this upon me, kissed me in there and told me it should never happen again as though I made the first move.”
His jaw tightened.
“There's no need for this discussion.”
“No,” I shot back,
“We are having this discussion here and now.”
A flicker in his eyes.
Something defensive.
Something… real.
“I said there's no need for this.”
I stepped closer.
Not intimidated anymore.
Not careful anymore.
“You don’t get to decide that for me, I said we're talking about this now, to set some rules and boundaries between you and I.
That landed.
I saw it.
For the first time—
he didn’t have a response ready.
Good.
Let him feel it too.
“You are the CEO of this company,” I continued, lower now,
“I am an employee here, trying to make a living in this world, this country that doesn't give a single space to be free.”
A breath.
“The last thing I need is for someone to jeopardize my whole life and career that I spent many nights and days trying to build.”
“And how am I doing that, tell me how?”
His voice was firmer now.
But not as controlled.
Not like before.
“You know exactly how you are doing it.” I challenged.
Silence.
"So me expressing how I feel for you is ruining you?" He asked, his voice low, with a crack in it.
" Of course it is, what do you think will happen to me, to you, if anyone is to find out, what do you think will happen?" I challenged slightly raising my voice.
"I never went to international schools where the kids tend to celebrate such, I went to schools that condemned this act, they expelled students who were gay and always kept those suspected to be gay under a huge f*****g radar."
Before I could complete
"Enough!" He yelled
I was startled, I had never seen this in him,
He wasn’t unaffected.
He wasn’t in control.
He was… scared.
That didn’t make it better.
But it made it real.
I shook my head slightly.
“Don't you yell at me,” I said quietly.
“I don't give a damn if you're my employer you don't yell at me.”
" You think this is easy for me, I've been hiding my whole life, and when I saw you in the lobby, I thought you might be the one I can be myself with." He said, his voice filled with emotion.
I stepped back.
Creating distance this time.
On my terms.
“Do you even hear yourself right now, in Uganda, really Ethan, here be yourself.,” I added.
“Well guess what, I've been hiding too...for so long, but this can't work out, you know that, not here, not in this company, with Ms. Flora all up in my business, This needs to stop, keep your feelings to yourself.”
A pause.
“I don't need you destroying my life.”
That hit differently.
I turned—
and walked away.
For real this time.
No stopping.
No looking back.
Behind me—
nothing.
No footsteps.
No voice.
No attempt to stop me.
But I could feel it
His eyes.
Still on me.
And somewhere deep down—
I knew.
This wasn’t over.
Not even close.
- Writer
