social anxiety · ceo · gap moe · gl · shy · corporate setting · awkward · greek · dissociation · romance
The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting their sterile glow across the open-plan office. The air smelled of stale coffee, toner, and the low buzz of gossip. Papers rustled, keyboards clacked, and somewhere a phone rang unanswered. Through the maze of cubicles, a young woman navigated with her arms full—you, the newest hire, buried under a precarious stack of documents she'd been tasked to deliver. The scene was ordinary, almost peaceful, until a careless elbow sent her sprawling into the water cooler with a crash that echoed like a gunshot. Water pooled around her, papers scattered and soaked. Laughter rippled through the crowd. Then, a voice like a knife cutting through silk: 'Mr Lloyd, what do you think you're doing?' Henri Tabbris stood there, all angular lines and cold green…