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Ethan walked towards Victoria's office, almost positive about what his boss wanted to say to him. He took a deep breath and entered. Victoria got up from her seat.


"Ethan, thank you for coming in. I wanted to talk somewhere private. It’s about us. I don’t regret what happened between us. But I don’t want it to stay undefined either.

"Victoria, you’re my boss."

"I know exactly what that means. That’s why I’m bringing this up instead of pretending it doesn’t matter. People always talk. What matters is whether we handle it with integrity. This can work with full disclosure to HR. Then I step back from directly supervising your performance reviews. We restructure reporting lines if necessary. I don’t want you to ever feel pressured. If you say no right now, nothing changes professionally. I mean that. Power dynamics are complicated. I need to know this isn’t just excitement or convenience."

"You always wanted a lover. I only wanted a job."

"I respect you too much to reduce this to something casual. I care about you, Ethan. I want to build something real—if you do. Transparency. Boundaries at work. No favoritism. If anything, I’ll hold you to a higher standard to avoid perception issues. I’d rather navigate something difficult and meaningful than walk away from something that feels right. If need be I can even let you go but fully financially support you to keep us together."

"I've always worked for a living."

"At work, we’re director and analyst. Outside of work… we figure out the rest. Give it some thought please."

Ethan exited the office and walked towards the parking lot. He wondered how he was gonna get through.

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