He Denied Our Engagement At Work

Chapter 3

Zayven's messages kept flooding in.

Zayven: Lena, have you lost your mind? Why did you leave the group chat? My parents are out of state for a meeting. Don't cause trouble at a time like this.

I put my phone on silent.

The next morning, the department group chat exploded over a photo.

Tiffany and Zayven were standing in the plaza outside the office building. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

The caption had only one line: Making it official, just in case anyone missed it. My boyfriend is mine, so some people should know their place.

A flood of excited emojis appeared in the comments.

A: [Ahhh! They're finally making it official!]

B: [Zayven and Tiffany forever!]

C: [Who are they talking about? Someone new?]

Among more than a hundred messages, Zayven didn't say a word. But his private messages to me kept coming all night.

I didn't reply.

When I walked into the office, my desk had been moved to the farthest corner.

A cup of iced Americano had been knocked over on the desk, soaking the office supplies I'd received just the day before.

Laughter came from somewhere in the distance.

"Oh, who left that there? The new girl shouldn't get the wrong idea."

That morning, we had a project review meeting.

I was just about to sit down when Brian Calderon spoke beside me.

"You don't need to attend this meeting."

The department director walked over. "What's going on?"

Brian immediately explained, "Director, we've made some changes to the division of work within our team. Lena just joined us, and she can't keep up with the progress yet, so for now . . ."

"I can't keep up?" I placed the printed documents on the conference table. "This is the case analysis and data model I was responsible for. I uploaded them to the shared drive before ten last night. The document's revision history shows twelve submissions from me. And you're saying I can't keep up?"

The director flipped through several pages, his expression darkening. "I don't care what happens between you outside of work, but this is a company."

Brian fell silent, and Tiffany lowered her head.

The director handed the documents back to me. "Lena, you'll give this presentation on your own. Brian, send me a written explanation of these changes after the meeting."

My presentation lasted fourteen minutes.

When I finished, someone at the other end of the long table clapped for the first time. It was Hannah Wrenley.

At lunchtime, Brian blocked my way into the hallway.

"Did you really have to run to the director and complain?"

"The director asked, so I answered."

"You know why everyone doesn't welcome you here, don't you?" He held his phone in front of me. A video played on the screen.

It showed Zayven and me standing outside the company's main entrance.

The video had been filmed from an angle behind us and to the side. It was in portrait format, with both the beginning and the audio cut out. It made it look as though I had been pestering him.

Brian sneered. "Tiffany just wants you to apologize and promise to stay away from Zayven. Is that really so hard?"

"Have you even asked Zayven what actually happened?"

"They're a couple. You're not."

"So that gives you the right to move my desk, ruin my documents, and make excuses to keep me out of meetings?"

"Don't make this bigger than it is."

I looked at the ID badge on his chest, my expression unchanged. "I'll remember that."

That afternoon, I handed all the photos and screenshots over to Ms. Harris.

After looking through them, she dropped the advice she'd originally planned to give me about "adjusting to the new environment."

She explained that the company had an anti-harassment policy. Once a written complaint was received, the company was required to open a formal case, interview everyone involved separately, prepare an investigation report, and submit it to the compliance committee.

She told me to continue coming to work as usual.

When I returned to my desk, I found a sticky note attached to the side of my monitor.

Disgusting! Stealing someone else's boyfriend.

I peeled it off and slipped it into my folder.

On the morning of the third day, Mrs. Ruelle sent me a message.

Mrs. Ruelle: Lena, we've rushed back overnight! We're at the company now. Can we talk in person?

Almost at the same time, Brian suddenly announced that there was an issue concerning the team's workplace culture that needed to be settled during the lunch break.