One Night Stand With My Ruthless Boss

It was a blissful Saturday afternoon.I’d been sleeping since last night, and when I finally opened my eyes, the time was already past 1 PM. I had worked an overnight shift at the office, so sleeping in this weekend was my own little reward. But between my alarm buzzing nonstop, birds chirping outside the window, and my phone blowing up with reminders—I had no choice but to wake up.My calendar kept screaming at me like an excited toddler: “Fifth-year anniversary with Ethan!”I smiled, stretching lazily as I reached for my phone. The lock screen lit up with the picture of me and Ethan—my boyfriend of five years. We’d taken that photo last summer. He had his arm around me, and I had my head buried in his neck, laughing like a fool. That picture had been my wallpaper for as long as I could remember.I unlocked the phone, only for another wave of sweetness to hit me—my home screen wallpaper. That one had my bestie, Mia. My soulmate in female form. We’d been friends for almost eight years

Just as I was about to step out of the house, my phone buzzed with a message.I checked it.It was from Ethan.I quickly swiped it open, praying it was a message filled with regret—or even shame.But no.Ethan: “Emery… I didn’t want it to be like this. God knows I’ve tried to fight it, but I can’t anymore. I’ve been torn for months, waking up every day pretending to love you the way I used to—but something’s changed.I never planned to fall in love with Mia. It just… happened. I swear I didn’t go looking for it, but she understands parts of me you never saw. And every time I’m with her, I feel peace—something I haven’t felt in a long time.I hate myself for hurting you, Emery. You’re an amazing woman. You gave me five solid years, and I’ll always respect you for that. But it’s not fair to either of us to keep going when my heart is somewhere else. I’m sorry it ended this way. Please don’t think I never loved you—I did. But I can’t keep pretending anymore.I think the four years I have

I opened the door to our apartment, and the familiar scent hit me like a brick wall—the faint mix of vanilla shampoo and citrus air freshener. It smelled like me… and her. The good memories of me and my best friend Mia still lingered in this space. Our laughter, late-night binge sessions, stupid TikTok dances… and that one betrayal that destroyed it all. I went straight to her room to check if she had come home last night, but no traces of her. Her door was locked. She didn’t even come home. Seems this girl left for good. She really meant it. God. My head pounded like someone was practicing drums inside it. I dropped my bag, kicked off my shoes, and muttered to myself, “Alcohol doesn’t erase your problems. It just puts them on mute for a few hours… then screams them back when the buzz wears off. Sometimes it may even make you subscribe to another problem.” I staggered to the kitchen, praying I had enough ingredients left to make my mother’s legendary hangover soup. Onion. Pepper.

I stood there, completely frozen, as his voice echoed through the gathering. Jason Hale is his name. I didn’t even know his name when I handled him roughly in that hotel on Saturday night till Sunday morning. Now he is back as my boss. My new boss—the man now standing confidently on the podium, in his sleek suit, with the kind of presence that silenced an entire room—was the same man I had drunkenly told to be calling me “mama” in the dark hours of a hotel room. The same man whose voice had groaned into my neck, who had pinned me to the mattress like he owned me. All I thought this morning was to end this as just a tequila mistake, now my mistake has fully come to rule me as my boss. Oh my God. Oh my God. It was him. My knees nearly gave out. How could life be this wicked? How could I be this unlucky? I didn’t even realize I was backing away from the gathering until I found myself in the ladies’ bathroom, gripping the sink as though it could stop my world from spinning.

If embarrassment could kill, I’d be a rotting body under Jason Hale’s desk. My mask was on the floor. My face was out in the open. And Jason Hale—CEO, billionaire, emotionally constipated boss, and my accidental one-night stand—was sitting barely two feet away from me. Looking. Staring. His cold eyes widened slightly when the mask fell. A blink. A pause. A blink again. I froze like a cartoon character who just walked off a cliff. This was it. I was done for. Caught. Dead. Ruined. I could already see the headlines: “Assistant Turned Cleaner Turns Out to Be CEO’s One-Night Stand—Fired, Shamed, and Forever Single.” Or something like A female worker obsessed with her boss that she got him drunk, rode him in a hotel, and is now spying on him—even disguised as a cleaner. But then… he tilted his head and said— “Pick up your mask, madam. Why are you looking like someone caught you with your hand in the cookie jar?” I blinked. “What?” I croaked. Jason leaned back, completely n