Her Only Exception

Andrea woke with a sharp inhale, her body jolting upright before her mind fully caught up. For a brief second, everything felt still, almost peaceful… until reality crashed back in. Her phone lit up beside her. 7:37 AM. “Shit.” The word slipped out under her breath as her heart kicked hard against her ribs. She grabbed the phone again, blinking at the screen like the numbers might change if she stared long enough. She'd overslept. Her first day at Crestview Holdings started at nine, and she was already behind. Her heart kicked hard against her ribs as she scrambled for her phone again, half hoping she'd misread the time. 7:37 AM. No mistake. Her stomach dropped. It was her first day at her new job and she was already messing it up. Andrea shoved her hands into her hair and dragged in a sharp breath, forcing herself not to spiral. Panic wouldn’t fix anything. She just needed to move. Fast. She threw off the bedcover and was out of bed in seconds. There was no time for

Andrea had been staring at the same training slide for almost ten minutes. Something about workplace compliance policies or data structure or maybe cybersecurity. At this point, she honestly had no idea anymore because every time she tried to focus, her mind drifted straight back to the man from the hallway. The arrogant one from the executive floor. She leaned back in her chair and rubbed lightly at her temple before glancing around the analytics department again. Unlike the fiftieth floor, this space actually felt alive. Phones rang occasionally, keyboards clicked nonstop, and conversations floated quietly between desks. People here looked busy, but relaxed enough to breathe. Upstairs had felt like a completely different world. Andrea glanced at her monitor again. Then sighed. “You are not getting distracted by some rude man in a suit on your first day,” she muttered under her breath. “Talking to yourself already? That’s usually week two behavior around here.” Andrea looked

By Friday evening, Andrea felt like her brain had been scraped clean. For four straight days she'd been buried under spreadsheets, reports and acquisition files, trying to understand the Hillcrest project with almost no guidance from Harrington. Every time she thought she was finally making progress, another document appeared in her inbox and sent her back to square one.And through it all, she'd been avoiding Henry. She made sure to take the stairs instead of the elevator, leave her desk when he walked by and keep her head down in meetings to avoid his gaze. Now it was past six on Friday, most of the department had already gone home. Andrea shut down her computer, grabbed her bag and headed toward the elevators. All she wanted was a hot shower and a full night's sleep.Andrea pressed the button, her mind already on her apartment and a hot shower, her bed. The doors opened and Henry was inside. She immediately regretted every life decision that had brought her to this moment. Their

Monday morning hit Andrea like a freight train. She'd spent the entire weekend trying and failing not to think about the elevator incident and now she had to face him at work.Andrea arrived at 8:55 AM, clutching her coffee like a lifeline. She'd finished the Hillcrest analysis on Sunday night, printed it out, and left it on Henry's desk before anyone else arrived this morning. She wasn't giving him any excuse to fire her, she needs this job.She made her way to her desk, keeping her head down. Rachel was already there, scrolling through emails while Emily sat across from them, organizing a stack of files."Morning," Rachel said, glancing up with a smile. "You survived your first week.""Barely," Andrea muttered, dropping into her chair.Emily laughed. "It gets easier or you get numb to it. One of the two."Andrea was about to respond when Alex one of their team members appeared, practically vibrating with excitement."Did you guys hear?" he said, leaning against Rachel's desk.Rachel

Andrea couldn't sleep. She'd spent the whole night tossing and turning her mind replaying the email from HR over and over until the words were burned into her brain.By the time her alarm went off at 6 AM, Andrea was already awake and absolutely livid. She got dressed with sharp, angry movements; pulled her hair back into a sleek ponytail and applied her makeup perfectly because she'd be damned if she walked in there looking rattled.If Henry Moore wanted to play games, fine.She could play too.Andrea arrived at Crestview at 8:12 AM, her jaw set and her hands steady despite the fury simmering beneath her skin.When she walked past the analytics department, her old desk was already cleared. Everything was gone; her coffee mug, notebooks and even the small succulent Rachel had given her. All of it packed neatly into a cardboard box sitting on an empty chair. Like she'd never existed there at all.Rachel and Emily weren't in yet, but Alex was. He looked up as Andrea approached, his expr