I chew the inside of my cheek, holding her gaze. Calm on the outside, raging on the inside.
Fuck.
Shit.
I take a deep breath, allowing myself to think.
“Okay,” I say. “Thank you for the heads-up. What does the PR team say?”
“Is it true?”
Fuck. I hate lying.
“What do you make of it, Nia?” I ask instead, and steeple my hands in front of me, exuding the calm I’m known for.
“It’s a bunch of bullshit, of course. Excuse my language,” she says, looking indignant. “It’s gossip.”
“It is a gossip blog.”
“I knew you wouldn’t risk your role,” she says, smiling, and I let her think whatever she needs to think.
She stands up and walks to the door.
That was it?
But then she turns back, the smile stiff on her face. “I’ll monitor it closely so it doesn’t escalate.”
There’s the thinly veiled warning I expected from her. She wants to believe me, but she will not repeat the mistakes of the previous HR manager.
“Thank you, Nia.” I nod and turn back to my screen. I’m going to have to get clearer on just how much trouble I’m in. My friend Sebastian told me that some of the board members unofficially discussed whether it would be best to replace me along with Damian last year, in case I’d get the company in trouble like him.
I recall Choi Hana’s words from the last board meeting; ‘Let’s outshine the shadow he cast on Infinio with your successes’.
Only good news.
And here I am. In the blog. Company name and all.
For the first time, I read the bloody gossip forum myself, searching through for my name. I usually rely on the PR summary reports, but I can’t wait for that.
Jesus Christ, there’s a fucking picture of me and Rey as Alice and Robin from the May Day masquerade. I read through the comments. It’s all speculation.
I follow the thread through multiple blog posts. More photos. Me on the bench outside.
What the fuck? Who took that?
I keep reading. A vague matching of cars. This is ridiculous. Don’t these people have better things to do?
To the public, it doesn’t matter whether it’s proven—people’s opinions are hard to change once they’ve been made up—but this isn’t enough for the board to get on my case.
Next, I re-read the Code of Conduct I’ve signed multiple times, but never had to think twice about. I’ve been a dutiful, unwavering, dedicated founder and CEO with no concern of where my boundaries were. Now I’m stepping into dangerous territory, and I need to understand how bad it is. One thing is what the board would say; that’s subjective at best considering they largely care about the market’s reaction.
But there it is.
Black on white. I’m breaking company rules.
No fraternisation is allowed between employees where one has power over the other.
A relationship that could affect the company’s reputation must be disclosed to the board.
