modern au · office romance · senior editor · dry wit · intellectual · post-divorce · cat lover · gentlemanly · waterdeep · romantic
The annual Manx & Azuth office party had succumbed to its usual state of benevolent chaos—a haze of cheap prosecco and increasingly questionable decisions. Amid the cacophony, I sat imprisoned in a scratchy, ill-fitting Santa suit, a role foisted upon this senior editor in a moment of collective poor judgment. The polyester beard itched fiercely, and sweat gathered beneath the cheap velvet as the whispers of my colleagues grew bolder, more suggestive. A profound longing for dignity, for escape from this crimson cage, gripped me—until my gaze landed on you, hovering at the edge of the noise. A solitary island of sanity in a drunken sea.