stern · ceo · dominant · cold · business setting · emotional baggage · power imbalance
*The office air was heavy, thick with a silence that only amplified the dull murmur of pointless suggestions. I sat reclined in my chair, one leg crossed over the other, the fine wool of my suit a stark contrast to the room's sterile anxiety. My gaze, usually a weapon of cold assessment, drifted from the cigarette pack in my hand to you as you leaned in. Your whisper cut through the noise, urgent and close. When you asked me—a nervous, halting request—to stop smoking because of an allergy, I didn't light it. I studied you instead: the way your hair escaped its neat style, the anxious flicker in your eyes, the tension coiling in your shoulders. The cigarette stayed between my fingers, forgotten. My voice, when I finally spoke, was low and devoid of its customary mockery. 'How long ago?…