All Chapters of Office Dinner: My Secret Love Chooses Him: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Declan's POVI went to the restroom to deal with the burn and found a message my friend, Jasper Henley, had sent half an hour earlier."Don't read too much into what people are saying in the group chat, Declan. Our coworkers just like stirring things up. Don't let it get to you."I dried my hands and typed back, "I know."My girlfriend, Lana Sheffield, had texted too, just a minute ago. "That was only to keep things from looking suspicious. Don't overthink it."I stared at the message, and something heavy settled in my chest.Three years at this company, and I'd lost count of how many times it had played out the same way. At every team outing, dinner, and meeting, the person beside Lana was always the department manager or Jasper or some other coworker. It was never me.Even on the rare occasion I managed to stand next to her, she'd find someone to trade spots with, all to avoid raising suspicion. She'd look right through me and brush off anything I said. The other employees pic

Declan's POVThe next day, everyone was crowded around Jasper in the break room, gossiping."Jasper, that photo you just posted is definitely not your place. Don't tell me it's what I think it is!""You spent the night at Ms. Sheffield's!""And those pajamas look like a couple's set. Things are moving fast!""I told you Ms. Sheffield was into you! She personally walked you in on your first day, and even back then, it had that whole 'this one's mine and I'm looking out for him' energy.""And remember a few days ago when your blood sugar dropped and you almost passed out? The company added afternoon snack breaks the very next day."My hand froze on the door handle.That day, I'd stayed through lunch helping Jasper fix data and hadn't had time to eat. That afternoon, I passed out right there in the break room. Lana saw me, but she stepped right past me to catch Jasper instead, and the panic in her eyes didn't look like an act.When she noticed I was upset about it afterward, her

Third-Person POVLana's body went rigid, but she kept her composure."That's impossible. I only suspended him for seven days. I never said anything about letting him go.""He submitted the resignation himself," Phil said before pausing."Ms. Sheffield, if I'm being honest, you've been too hard on Declan. Everyone who started around the same time as him has either moved up to team lead or become a project manager by now. He's the only one who's been stuck in the same spot, and nobody wants to stay in place forever."Lana's palms went damp as she listened. Had she really been too hard on Declan? She'd only been trying to avoid raising suspicion so that when their relationship eventually came out, no one could accuse him of sleeping his way up.That was why she'd rejected his promotion request year after year. She thought she was toughening him up, but she hadn't stopped to think about how it made him feel.She forced herself to keep it together. No matter what, she thought Declan

Declan's POVMy expression was flat, and I didn't answer.If Lana hadn't called my mother, I wouldn't have come. Mom didn't know we'd broken up, so she'd given Lana my address.I decided to come just in case she tried turning up at my door later. I hadn't expected the entire office to be here.Most of them looked uncomfortable, with stiff smiles plastered across their faces. "Declan? You're really Ms. Sheffield's boyfriend? But that day at the office, didn't she say you two were just superior and subordinate?"Lana's expression darkened at the reminder. She'd only been trying to avoid suspicion back then; she never imagined I'd actually break up with her and resign over it.She swallowed her pride and apologized, and she sounded like she meant it. "Declan, I was just trying to keep our personal lives and work separate. I didn't want our relationship out in the open. If any of that upset you, I'm sorry."Until now, my ex-coworkers had only been guessing. Watching Lana apologize c

Third-Person POVAfter Lana went home, she was a mess for the rest of the day. Declan's words kept replaying in her head. She opened the company group chat she hadn't looked at in a long time and scrolled back to the messages from that night. The further she read, the less she could sleep.She finally understood what he'd been going through all those years.Because she refused to go public and insisted on keeping her distance, the employees had felt free to tear Declan apart in the chat. They found a hundred different ways to call him a lapdog. Every little thing he did got picked apart and mocked in the group.By the time Lana finished reading, a vein was throbbing at her temple. The next morning, she went straight to HR and asked Phil, "Was Declan being targeted by a lot of people when he was still here?"Phil didn't give her a yes or no. He just said, "Once the other employees noticed how distant you were with Declan, none of them wanted to get on the boss' bad side, so the