The Boss Who Stole My Attention

I wasn’t supposed to notice her. That’s what I kept telling myself every morning when I walked into that gleaming glass office with my ID card swinging against my chest and my nerves already buzzing. But some people were impossible to ignore, no matter how hard you tried. Ms. Rhea Kapoor—my boss—was one of them. She had this presence, the kind that made the entire office shift without her saying a word. The type of confidence that didn’t need volume or dramatic entrances. Her footsteps alone carried authority. Her perfume—a faint, sophisticated scent like jasmine mixed with something sharper—trailed her through the hallways. And every time she passed my desk, my pulse betrayed me. I kept myself collected, though. Sort of. Young employee, first corporate job, shiny new cubicle… I had plenty to focus on besides the boss with a gaze sharp enough to slice through excuses. But things changed the day she called me into her office near closing time. The floor was mostly empty. People had left in clusters, eager for the weekend. Only the soft hum of printers and the distant echo of someone locking up a conference room remained. Her office door stood slightly ajar. “Come in,” she said before I even knocked. I pushed the...