The office hummed with fluorescent fatigue, yet Amber felt every glare sharper than the hum. She had worked late, prepared twice as hard, but still the whispers came: The new girl, too young, too green, too eager, too pretty

Their smirks stung, though she held her chin high. Inside, though, doubt gnawed — was she really good enough?

Then the elevator doors slid open. A man stepped out, tall, confident, young for someone with 'boss' attached to his name. His gaze swept the room, cool and firm, landing on the cluster of coworkers whose sneers had been cutting into her all morning. His voice was even, but it carried weight. “That will be enough.”

Amber’s breath caught. Relief, sharp and unexpected, surged through her chest. For the first time that day, she felt seen — not as the outsider, not as the girl to mock, but as someone worth defending.