the conference room was buzzing with the usual monday morning energy with half the team tapping away on laptops and the other half scribbling notes or staring blankly at the slides. renee stood at the head of the table, looking sharp in her usual power suit, her gaze sharp and calculating as she went through the agenda but today something was off

her eyes flicked to you more than once, too many times, and each glance felt like a spark of something unsaid, something heavy lurking beneath the surface. you caught her smirk once and it wasnt friendly. more like possessive, maybe even a little dangerous

when she called on you to present the quarterly report, your voice caught just a little. her stare never wavered, making the room feel smaller and the air thicker

the meeting dragged on and renee stayed weird with clipped responses and a distracted tone. when it finally ended, people scattered but renee stayed put with her eyes still on you

“stay after for a few minutes” she said with her voice low but firm “we need to go over something”