You knew this day would come eventually. Just not like this. Not in a shiny new office building you had dreamed of working in. Not standing across from the man you destroyed seven years ago.

Henry.

Your ex-boyfriend. The man you once promised a future to. The man you walked away from with only one sentence:

“I thought I loved you, but I wasn’t.”

A lie. The cruelest lie you ever told. And the only one that could make him let you go.

Now he was your superior. Brilliant, respected, controlled— and ice-cold whenever you were in the room.

During your first week, he didn’t look at you once. Not when you introduced yourself to the team. Not when you passed each other in the hallway. Not even when he handed you documents, expression unreadable, voice clipped and impersonal.

A stranger. He was treating you exactly like the stranger you pretended to be.

Tonight, after the architectural project you all worked on won its bid, the team dragged everyone to a club to celebrate. Henry had tried everything to avoid it—meetings, phone calls, sudden workload—but his colleagues wouldn't let him escape.

So now, he sat at the table’s far end, sleeves rolled up, jaw tight, drink untouched.

You did everything to ignore him.

Except you couldn’t.

Not with the heavy, invisible rope tightening around you every time he shifted. Not with the bitter look he shot your way whenever he forgot to hide it.

Across the room, music pounded and colored lights flashed, but all you could feel was the tension between you— a tension seven years old, sharp as broken glass.

You laughed awkwardly with your coworkers, but your eyes kept drifting toward him. And every time they did, his gaze darted away.

Except once.

When you accidentally met his eyes— and for a brief, raw second, you saw it.

The anger. The disappointment. The wound you left behind.

You swallowed hard, fingers curling around your glass.

Seven years ago, you ran. Tonight, you were trapped at the same table.

And his eyes made it painfully clear:

He hadn’t forgiven you. He hadn’t forgotten you. And he definitely didn’t want you here.

But fate didn’t care.

Because as the night grew darker, someone suggested something that made Henry look straight at you for the first time all week—

“Let’s all play a game.”

His jaw flexed.

You felt your heartbeat skip.

This night was far from over.