Daphne heaved out a heavy sigh. It was Thursday, which meant it was the project manager’s team meeting, first thing in the morning.

“Are you going to be, okay?” Landon asked her as they walked towards the conference room.

Daphne’s heart was beating fast, and she felt so nauseous that she knew her face was as white as a sheet.

Maybe I can just claim that I’m sick. If I’m sick, then I can just go home and be with Tanpopo. I won’t have to worry about being humiliated in front of the entire team.

When Daphne had gone to work Wednesday morning, she had been concerned that she was going to cross paths with Trevor. She was grateful that she hadn’t, but she wished that she had planned to piss Trevor off after the team meeting, rather than a mere two days before.

“I’m…not sure,” Daphne admitted. She could feel her arms shaking uncontrollably, so she pulled them closer around her chest.

The pair walked into the conference room, and Daphne saw Holly waiting with a couple of seats next to her. The vice grip that had been clenching Daphne’s heart released a little.

Right. It’s unlikely that most of my coworkers are going to think badly of me if Trevor attempts to humiliate me. They are more likely to think badly of Trevor.

Daphne took a deep breath and then nodded at Landon, feeling her stomach steady a little. “I think I’m going to be okay,” she told him.

“You’re sure?” he asked, raising one eyebrow at her. He looked like he didn’t quite believe her.

“I’m sure,” she said, walking up to the two chairs next to Holly.

“What are you so sure about?” Holly asked with a grin.

“That I want to sit next to you,” Daphne replied back with a small smile. “If you’ll have me anyway.”

Holly let out a small chuckle. “Of course, Daphne,” she said. “I actually saved these seats for you both.”

Daphne put her heart over her heart, as it warmed by Holly’s gesture. I don’t know if anyone has ever saved a seat for me, before.

“How kind, thank you,” Daphne said sitting next to Holly.

“Of course,” Holly replied, turning her head to the side a bit, looking a touch confused. “How have things been going for you this week?”

“Eh,” Daphne replied shaking her head a little. “Things could be going a lot better for me, to be entirely honest.” She bit her lip and then looked back over at Holly. “How have things been going for you this week?”

“They’re going alright,” Holly replied, shaking the braids off of her shoulder. “Things could be going a lot worse for me, but I’m not content.”

Daphne nodded, agreeing with the sentiment.

“Trevor seemed to make a big fuss over you earlier this week,” Holly said, narrowing her eyes. “What happened?”

Daphne grimaced, the knot tightening in her stomach.

“The whole office heard him basically screaming at you,” Holly added, glancing around the table. “What happened that upset him so much?”

Daphne took a quick peek around the table, looking for Fiona. She wasn’t in the conference room yet, but Daphne did notice that pretty much everyone at the table was discreetly paying attention to their conversation. They don’t want to do whatever it is that I did that pissed Trevor off so much.

She shook her head at Holly. “It was the stupidest thing,” she said. “Trevor was trying to give me additional work, and I said no, that I was already overwhelmed with the amount of stuff going on, and he said that wasn’t acceptable.” Daphne widened her eyes, biting her lip. “I realized my work life balance left much to be desired, but apparently saying no to additional work is not allowed.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Daphne saw a few people wearing looks of disgust and shaking their heads. I hope they are agreeing with me and not Trevor…

“What the…?” Holly’s lips were pulled back into a scowl. “That’s fucked.” She shook her head. “I knew that this place and Trevor had some serious problems, but that far surpasses my expectations.”

Someone else nodded and said, “Daphne, you’re literally working so many extra hours already.”

Daphne nodded, frowning at their statement in acknowledgement. “Yep,” she murmured.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Did you get through the work alright?” Holly asked.

“It was a whole additional project,” Daphne replied. Holly grimaced at her statement. “Thankfully, Asher offered to take it on for me.”

The room’s eyes shifted to Asher who smile brightened his face. Daphne’s eyes widened at how different he looked with a smile, and her heart nearly skipped a beat when his brown eyes met her own.

“Has it been alright for you, Asher?” Holly asked.

“I’ve got it handled,” Asher replied in his deep, warm voice. “I had a good amount of free time, so it hasn’t been too much of a hassle taking on an extra project.”

Holly looked relieved. “I’m glad to hear that,” she said. “I feel like we’re all pretty busy, and I know, at least for me, it would be a lot to take on an additional project right now.”

Several of the other people, who weren’t even trying to hide that they were listening in, nodded in agreement.

“It was not a big deal to me,” Asher said, shrugging his shoulders, still smiling.

“How have things been going for you otherwise?” Holly asked Asher.

“They’ve been going great,” Asher replied with a small warm smile.

Holly looked over at Landon, whose face had been growing more concerned over the past few days. “Don’t take this conversation to heart, Landon,” she said with a kind smile. “We may have an asshole for a boss, but we’re a team, and we can take care of one another.”

Landon smiled a bit back at Holly, “Thanks,” he said. “I was beginning to get a bit worried that I’d made a mistake by accepting this job.”

“No,” Holly said, drawing out the word.

Landon chuckled a little and nodded. “I’ll hold you to that,” he said.

Trevor popped into the doorway, looking disheveled. Fiona came in behind him, looking equally unkempt.

So that’s why. Of course, she’s going to be his favorite if they are messing around together.

Daphne took a quick glance around the conference table again, and noticed several of her coworkers had faces filled with disdain, including Asher and Holly.

Looks like I’m not the only one who noticed either. She paused in her thinking, trying to remember if she had previously known that Trevor and Fiona had a thing. Nothing in particular came to mind.

Have I truly been this oblivious all this time?

“Thanks everyone for being here on time,” Trevor began, smoothing out his hair as Fiona sat into the chair closest to him.

Daphne couldn’t help but grimace at his statement. She took a quick look at her watch and noticed that Fiona and Trevor were nearly ten minutes late. No wonder we had so much time to talk.

“It’s been another great week of everyone working hard, and we’re almost through this rough patch,” Trevor continued, raising his arm into a tight fist, as if he was trying to inspire the team. No one smiled, not even Fiona, who was busy trying to make her hair look better.

I wonder if the reason she’s the least hard-working person on our team is because she’s messing around with the boss. Probably on any other team she would have long since been fired.

“Earlier this week we got another request for a project manager on one of the company’s biggest initiatives right now, and I told them we’d be happy to help,” Trevor clapped his hands together.

Daphne scowled. As if anyone on this time has the time to help with another massive project.

“And I figured we had the perfect project manager to assign it too,” Trevor said, meeting Daphne’s eyes, a malicious smile creeping onto his face.

Shit, Daphne thought. So, this is how he’s going to try to get his revenge for me saying no.

“Daphne Woods, I’m going to assign the work to you,” Trevor said, nodding as if he was acknowledging her talent rather than being the petty, vengeful asshole he was being.

“I’m sorry,” Daphne replied, pursuing her lips. “I don’t have the time to take on such a large initiative right now.”

Oh God, her heart thundered through her chest. She had said the words without even spending the time to think about it, so they came out snippier than she had intended.

Trevor just blinked at her a couple of times, as if he was surprised that she hadn’t just accepted it and said, “Yes sir!” like he had asked her to.

“Would you like to repeat what you just said?” he asked, his face clearly beginning to redden with anger.

He’s giving me a chance to retract my words.

“I said that I’m overwhelmed right now and I am unable to take on any additional work,” she repeated herself.

Trevor’s eyes looked like they were about to bulge out of his head. “’No’ is not an acceptable answer,” he screamed in front of the entire team. Several people flinched back, shocked at Trevor’s reaction. “You agreed to say ‘Yes, sir!’” Trevor said, as his yell came down in intensity. “No one is leaving this room until you do.”

Silence fell, and Daphne bit her lower lip, nearly drawing blood. I can’t give in. If I do, I’m going to be working twelve hours a day to get everything done. She took a quick glance around the room. Most of the people were avoiding her and Trevor’s eyes. No one will defend me? So, they’re all willing to tell me to my face that Trevor is treating me badly, but they’re not willing to defend me to his face.

“Daphne…” Trevor prompted, clearly warning her.

“I agree with Daphne,” the warm, deep voice she heard earlier said. Everyone’s heads swiveled over to Asher. “You’ve dumped a lot of extra work on her, and she’s barely been holding things together as it is.”

Daphne looked over at Trevor and saw him gritting his teeth. His face was trending towards purple again. “Hawthorne!” Trevor barked. “Why don’t you and Daphne work on the project together then?” Trevor proposed, his eyes narrowing into slits.

Asher looked over at Daphne, their eyes meeting again. “Will that work for you?” he asked.

Trevor growled, and Daphne nodded a little. “Say, ‘yes, sir,’” Trevor said, clearly seething.

“Yes, sir,” the pair said in unison.

“Good,” Trevor said, his face beginning to return to red. “Let it be known that ‘no’ is not an acceptable answer on this team,” he said. “Tell me that you’re going to find a way to make it work instead.”

No one responded, and Trevor continued the meeting, going down the other business items. Daphne looked over at Asher.

“Sorry,” he mouthed to her.

She couldn’t help but smile a little, a warm glow growing in her heart. She put her hand on the table and gave Asher a thumbs up.

She turned away, the smile continuing to grow on her face. It feels nice to have someone defend me. I wonder if the Asher of the past would have done that…or if my actions are truly changing the future into something different. She chewed on her lip, the smile fading on her face a little. I guess he could be a different Asher, too.

Either way, the smile sneaking its way back onto her face, how nice it feels to have someone defend me.