Chapter 6

That night, I couldn't sleep.

I tossed and turned in bed, Nathan's words echoing in my mind. [Keep the money, okay? And don't let Jonathan know.]

"He knows I'll stop you," Jonathan had said.

But why? Why would Jonathan stop me from paying back?

I stared at the ceiling. The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I felt.

Nathan was my boss.

He was Jonathan's college buddy.

He was the mayor's son.

Next month, he was heading back to start working as the mayor's secretary.

Why did he transfer 14 thousand to me every month?

Why didn't he want me to pay it back?

Why didn't he want Jonathan to know?

These questions were crawling around in my head.

*****

The next morning, I showed up at work with dark circles under my eyes.

The moment I walked through the company doors, I could tell something was off.

The receptionist spotted me, her eyes darted away, and she pretended to be absorbed in her phone.

While I was waiting for the elevator, a few colleagues were whispering to each other. As soon as I got close, they went quiet.

The elevator doors opened; I stepped inside, but none of them followed. "We'll take the next one," one of them said.

As the doors closed, I stared at my reflection in the elevator doors and took a deep breath.

The office group chats must be on fire right now.

Sure enough, as soon as I sat down at my desk, my phone started buzzing like crazy.

I opened it up.

Group chat "Spill the Tea" had a bunch of unread messages.

[Did you guys hear about what happened at the party yesterday?]

[Yeah, I heard! Mr. Bennett transferred money to Nicole for three months.]

[14 thousand a month. He was left with just 1 thousand for himself.]

[Oh my god, is this some kind of fairy-tale romance?]

[The thing is, Nicole doesn't seem into him.]

[Seriously? If she's not into him, why take the money?]

[Right? She pocketed three months' money and says she doesn't like him?]

[Sounds manipulative if you ask me. Proper gold-digger vibes.]

[Don't jump to conclusions. There might be some misunderstanding.]

[What misunderstanding? She already took the money. What's there to misunderstand?]

[Exactly. Money doesn't lie.]

I stared at the screen, my fingers trembling a little. I backed out, and another group chat was blowing up too.

Group chat "Office Grapevine" also had loads of unread messages.

[I heard Mr. Bennett has had a crush on Nicole for three years.]

[Three years? No way, is that for real?]

[For real! I heard it from someone in HR. Mr. Bennett had his eye on Nicole from the very first year he joined the company.]

[Why did he keep it quiet for so long then?]

[Who knows? Maybe he's too shy.]

[He's not too shy to transfer his entire bank account to her though, is he?]

[LMAO, he sent the money but still didn't get the girl.]

[Poor Mr. Bennett.]

[Same, he looked absolutely upset last night.]

[He must be heartbroken.]

I put my phone down and rubbed my temples. The gossip was already blowing up.

I was now the cold-hearted manipulator who had bled her boss dry while pretending to be entirely innocent.

Nathan had become the tragic, lovesick guy who got strung along.

If I said those messages were meant for Jonathan, would anyone believe me?

No way. No one would buy such a coincidence.

They'd say, "Oh, what a coincidence, you happened to send it to the wrong person?"

Or, "You sent those words to the wrong person for three months and didn't notice?"

And even, "Stop making excuses for yourself, you manipulating bitch."

I took a deep breath and opened up my work document.

Let them say whatever they wanted. I'd focus on getting my work done.

I buried myself in work all morning and didn't even have time for a sip of water.

At noon, everyone in the office started trickling out for lunch.

I was about to head to the break room for some coffee when a voice suddenly called out from the doorway. "Nicole."

I looked up.