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

I’ll add you in.”

She spoke with the same tone as before, but I 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, I 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 I thought.

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

long, the first message popped up in the group, courtesy of

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

a bit

with it. Who knows, maybe he’ll bump up the investment

a thumbs up, [You’ve been with me for over a year now,

because I

little banter like this, and Cecilia’s move didn’t seem

I didn’t expect was Cecilia accidentally deleting a line of data when she was poking around

much work we put into that over the

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

10

11:4

Chapter 24

framework

didn’t mean to, I just wanted to see if there

you, can’t you just

have crossed the

looking like

them go at it hammer and tongs, then chimed in calmly. “Arguing won’t

face flushed as she

hesitated for

be crying, okay? If tears were any help, I bet we could flood the whole

the team,