-POV Derby
The office felt different the next morning.
Not obviously. Not in a way anyone could point to and say, “Look, something’s changed.” But I felt it in the air the second I stepped out of the elevator on my floor — a subtle shift, like the temperature had dropped by two degrees and no one had bothered to turn the heat back on. Heads turned a fraction slower when I walked past the open-plan desks. Conversations dipped, then picked up again a little too brightly. Smiles that used to be easy now carried a polite edge, the kind people wear when they’re trying very hard not to stare.
I kept my head high, laptop bag slung over my shoulder, coffee in hand like any other Tuesday. But inside, my stomach was already twisting into uneasy knots.
Maya was at her desk near the printer, the s
