Our Winter

the only one for me

Minghao walked into work more tired than usual. He should've been excited for the weekend because it was a Friday, but simply speaking, he'd been exhausted the entire week and he had a weird feeling about something, but he couldn't place neither. As he walked into his office, he noticed that all heads had turned to him, which was not too out of the ordinary, but everyone was shooting weird looks at him. Even the cleaning staff outside his office had begun huddling and chattering the second he closed the door.

"Weird." He said out loud. He didn't bother opening his schedule. Mei would come in and tell him everything anyway. It was already time though. He hadn't seen her on his way in either. He decided to wait a bit longer, organising his desk in the meantime.

Ten whole minutes had passed; still no sign of her. It wasn't like Mei to be late. He checked his schedule on his laptop for the first time in three months. Minghao never realised how reliant he'd become. Not that it was a bad thing, it was just that he was so used to feeling happy in the morning because of her, he never had to check his schedule and all that he'd forgotten what it was like if your secretary wasn't your girlfriend.

Thirty minutes had passed and Mei still was not in the office at all. He'd placed a call, but she'd declined immediately. Sighing, he called Jun, waiting till the line clicked and started pacing about his office.

"Jun ah?"
"Yeah?"
"Where's Mei? Is she sick or something? She seemed fine yesterday."
"Mei's at home. You haven't heard?"
"Heard what?"
"You guys are leaked."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't you read your company's anonymous website thing? Go check, my boss is calling me." He hurriedly replied.
"Okay, thanks man."
"Minghao?"
"Yeah?"
"You... might wanna check in with Mei at home later. She isn't in the greatest mental space."
"O-oh. Okay. Thanks for letting me know." He replied, worry seeping into his voice.

What had happened? Jun was being ridiculously cryptic. Taking his advice anyway, Minghao made his way back to his desk and opened his laptop to the anonymous website. The site was created upon the employees' request, and was a place where they could anonymously share suggestions and views, basically a mature confession page. But no post had gotten this kind of reaction. He paled slightly as he thought of the possible topic. Reading the title of the latest post, his worst fears were confirmed.

Director of Management is dating his secretary?
I work in the marketing department, and I noticed that for a while, the management director and his secretary are getting a bit too close. I knew they were high school classmates or something but now I know that they're dating, it changes my views on both of them. I won't name either but I assume most of you would know anyway.

I thought the director was an honest man. Even though his father is the CEO of our company, he made his way up from an intern and genuinely has great qualifications so I thought he was not a nepo baby and looked up to him. Until I found out his secretary is also his girlfriend. Honestly, I've had some encounters with her and she seemed a bit awkward. She isn't rich or anything either, just average.

I bet she's with him for his money, or better yet, she's simply a product of nepotism. As a journalism minor, I had to get down to the bottom of it, and it's safe to say I'm absolutely disgusted. Never thought this company had people who slept with their boss to get a job. Disgusting. For those who don't believe, I literally caught them on a date a while back near the lake. They seem like a sweet couple but the story behind it is actually gross.

They'd uploaded some pictures of the couple at the park, kissing and dancing. Minghao's blood boiled. Not because he'd been exposed for loving his girlfriend, but the way they'd portrayed her. Sure, it might seem wrong to other people, but they shouldn't have said all that if they didn't know anything about them. He swallowed the lump in his throat. He called Mei again, but she instantly declined the call. Before he could try again, he got a call from someone, but the name on the contact made his blood go cold: Father.