Echoes of Unrequited Love

Chapter 24

The sign for the Tech Department was being taken down right under my nose, bit by bit.

That was when Cecilia popped out of the break room, a steaming cup of coffee in her hands. and greeted me with a smile. Then she added, “Oh hey, Xaviera, I’ve started a work group chat. Hit me up on WhatsApp, and

Pll add you in.”

She spoke with the same tone as before, but | caught a glint of willfulness in her eyes.

I got it.

Being pampered by a guy like Hogan, which woman wouldn't be a bit loopy?

Joining the group chat was to be expected.

With an attitude of “less fuss is better, | cooperated sincerely.

To my surprise, Hogan was also in the chat.

His profile picture, followed by Cecilia’s, gave off a vibe like he was the boss and she was his doting wife. It seemed that the investment banking gig wasn’t as hectic as | thought.

| closed the chat nonchalantly and got back to coding for real.

Before long, the first message popped up in the group, courtesy of Cecilia.

She wanted me to share some code data and politely informed everyone that our work updates would shift from bi-monthly to weekly.

Wallis saw it and messaged me straight away. [Isn’t she getting a bit ahead of herself, giving orders before she’s even the investor's wife?]

| played it down, [If the sugar daddy isn’t complaining, let's just roll with it. Who knows, maybe he'll bump up the investment if he likes our attitude?]

Wallis shot me a thumbs up, [You've been with me for over a year now, your game has changed.] | humbly replied, Isn’t that because | had a great teacher?] Alittle banter like this, and Cecilia’s move didn’t seem like much.

But what | didn’t expect was Cecilia accidentally deleting a line of data when she was poking around the back-end later that afternoon.

Jack went ballistic, “Do you have any idea how much work we put into that over the past month? One click from you and it’s all for nothing!”

He wasn’t exaggerating. A small piece of code might seem trivial, but one mistake could bring

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the whole framework crashing down.

Cecilia looked guilt-ridden. “I didn’t mean to, | just wanted to see if there was anything | could. help with.”

“Please, your highness, I’m begging you, can’t you just be a pretty face and stay put?”

Jack might have crossed the line there.

Cecilia’s eyes welled up, looking like she was about to cry.

| watched them go at it hammer and tongs, then chimed in calmly. “Arguing won't fix anything. Cecilia, just don’t do it again.” Cecilia paused, her face flushed as she ran out.

| hesitated for a moment.

Jack was still fuming. “We’re the ones who should be crying, okay? If tears were any help, | bet we could flood the whole studio.”

Rubbing my temples, thinking about keeping the peace in the team, | went downstairs with Jack to look for her.

But Cecilia was nowhere to be found.

| left her a message with a sigh and went back to the office to trawl through the data line by line, working until it got dark. When | snapped back to reality. | saw that Cecilia had sent a message in the new work group. two hours earlier. [Xaviera, I’m useless, I’m really sorry. | know my mistake has affected everyone and | sincerely apologize.]

She ended it with a downcast emoji.

The timestamp on her message was when Jack and | couldn’t find her, right when we had just returned to the studio. After all, she was still a young girl. Annoyance aside, we couldn't hold her mistake over her head forever.

So, | dug out Cecilia’s number, about to call her, when the studio door suddenly swung open.

Hogan walked in with a stern face, looked straight at me in front of everyone, and said, “Ms. March, we need to talk.”

| met his cold gaze, momentarily at a loss for words.

| remembered not long ago, Hogan had appeared in our studio out of the blue, waiting for Cecilia to finish work, only to find her with teary eyes, and he was beside himself with concern.

This time, he was here to stand guard at the door.