Agnes stared at the email template Sam had sent her. She reread it and looked for ways to tweak it. Something felt off, but she couldn’t come up with better ideas.
“Do you think this will work?” She asked him.
“Yeah. We have over 100 employees in that building. I’m sure several are asking for the same number of leave days,” said Sam.
“I guess so, but it feels like we’re throwing caution to the wind. Which other way can we phrase mine?” Agnes asked him.
“Baby, you’re overthinking it. Nobody will notice. We’re just two employees who coincidentally want leave on the same days,” Sam said, dismissing her concerns.
While the heart isn’t always so smart, the gut is. Someone noticed the similar wording in their emails and the dates.
Dorothy from HR called Tabby to read the emails. She asked her if she found them suspicious.
“Well, it’s strange for two employees to ask for leave on the same days, but it doesn’t mean anything,” said Tabby.
“What if I told you there’s a rumour that employees in that department are suspected of having inappropriate interactions?” Dorothy asked.
“Does this really prove that?” Tabby asked her.
“Okay. I’d bet that these are the culprits,” said Dorothy.
Tabby went back to her desk, curious to see how the issue unfolded. She didn’t know there was more to it than Dorothy was letting on. Agnes and Sam had filled in leave applications on similar dates that coincided with Valentine’s Day and the weekend. They also worked half a day on Saturdays, so one needed to ask for leave for that, too.
The emails caught Dorothy’s attention because she was friends with Terry, who was having a fling with Sam before he ended things. Terry had heard rumours that Sam was seeing another girl in the office, but nobody knew who exactly. Such relationships were forbidden, but it made sense to bend this rule, given their work schedules. The thrill of hiding it also added some spice to the affairs.
Dorothy quickly informed Terry that she had found her first suspect. Agnes wasn’t in Terry’s clique. They were pretty different in many ways. It was also rumoured that Agnes was in a serious relationship, so it didn’t make much sense to them that she would be dating Sam.
The applications were sent in two weeks earlier, leaving enough room to speculate. Agnes was secretive, so it was difficult for Dorothy and Terry to find out more information. She didn’t have office friends on her social media profile except for two loyal friends. It turned out Terry and Dorothy didn’t have to search far for answers.
On Monday, after the Valentine’s Day weekend, Agnes didn’t show up to work. She called in sick. Sam showed up, but he looked tired. Shortly after everyone was settled in, Sam was called downstairs. He froze when he saw the woman security was restraining.
“Do you know this woman?” Asked one of the guards.
“Since you have decided this one your whoring centres, I came to find out who you took out of town for the weekend. You will not treat me like this, Sam,” yelled the woman.
“She has left scratches on your car and cracked the rear window. We stopped her as she tried damaging your car further. Do you want us to call the police?” The security guards asked Sam.
“No, I’ll handle this,” said Sam.
By now, the office had caught wind of what was happening. Some were looking through the office, and a few came down. Sam quickly grabbed the woman’s arm and led her out of the gate.
“Rose, this is not the place for such drama,” Sam told the woman.
“One would also argue that this is not the place to have affairs with your workmates. Where is she? Is she one of these ones?” Rose asked him.
“No. She’s not here. Please leave. We’ll talk after work,” begged Sam. She eventually left.
Meanwhile, another tornado was waiting for Sam in the office. His bosses were angry, and so was one of the ladies, Chloe, who worked in a different department from his. She was one of the youngest hires in the office. As soon as he got back, she went to his desk and slapped him.
“So you made up excuses on Valentine’s because you were with someone else?” Chloe asked.
“Don’t make a scene,” said Sam.
“I don’t care. I’m here risking my career because I thought we had a connection only to find out you were toying around with me?” Chloe replied angrily.
They were both asked to see the management.
Terry was angry and headed to Dorothy’s desk.
“This asshole has been dating multiple women in this office,” said Terry.
“I think Agnes is the woman he took out for Valentine’s,” said Dorothy.
“It tracks since she’s not here,” said Terry.
“You dodged a bullet,” said Dorothy.
“I feel like a fool. I was just one of his many women,” said Terry.
Meanwhile, one of Agnes’s friends texted her about the office drama. The friends had no clue that she was the mystery woman, but they mentioned that some people suspected it was her. She was angry with Sam but requested that he keep it a secret. He did.
Management felt the situation created a hostile work environment and decided to make changes. Sam was a highly valuable employee, and they couldn’t afford to fire him at that point, so he was transferred to a different location. They couldn’t fire Chloe without firing Sam because of optics, so she stayed on but was put on probation.
Agnes discovered Dorothy had her suspicions, but because Sam also denied their involvement, there wasn’t much to tie them together. Sam had allocated Agnes a coveted project since he was her superior, and although it raised eyebrows at first due to her inexperience, she quickly proved herself capable. Even with his departure, she stayed on.
Outside the office, Sam and Agnes had a major conflict as she confronted him about the incident and its revelations. Sam didn’t deny anything, but he insisted that she was the special one and spending time with her on Valentine’s was proof of it. Aware of the spotlight on him, Agnes broke up with him.
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