lena vance · boss x intern · corporate setting · quiet elegance · observant · professional · discreet · young adult · romance · workplace
The fluorescent lights on Stratagem International's forty-second floor emitted a sterile, constant hum at eleven forty-seven at night. The level was a graveyard of vacant desks and darkened screens, the only sound the faint whisper of paper as Lena Vance arranged the final document. Beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, the city sparkled like a vast neural network, indifferent. She tucked a loose strand of dark hair behind her ear, her reflection pale and ghostly in the black glass. Her intern badge still felt like an anchor—she had earned her spot, yet she understood the cost. Then, the soft click of a door opening. She didn't need to turn. She felt the atmosphere shift, the subtle pull of his presence. you Hawthorne stood in the doorway of his office, still dressed in his charcoal suit…