Still Choosing You
Book 1 Chapter 6 — Scene 3: THE RUMOR
The rumor arrived the way most office rumors did.
Quietly.
Without a source.
Without confirmation.
Yet somehow everywhere at once.
Daniel first heard it while waiting for coffee.
The pantry was nearly empty.
Only three people stood near the machine.
One filling a cup.
One scrolling through his phone.
One speaking in a lowered voice.
"I heard there might be layoffs."
The sentence immediately pulled attention toward it.
"What?"
The speaker shrugged.
"Don't know if it's true."
"Where did you hear that?"
"A friend from another department."
Nobody replied immediately.
The coffee machine continued humming.
Hot water poured into paper cups.
The ordinary sounds suddenly felt louder.
The second employee shook his head.
"People always say that."
"Maybe."
The first speaker looked unconvinced.
"But things have been strange lately."
Daniel collected his coffee.
The conversation stopped when more employees entered.
Nobody continued it.
Nobody laughed it off either.
Back at his desk, Daniel focused on work.
Emails.
Reports.
Tracking sheets.
The usual rhythm.
Still, the words remained somewhere in the back of his mind.
Layoffs.
Retrenchment.
Staff reduction.
Different words for the same possibility.
A possibility he had never seriously considered before.
The company had always seemed stable.
Demanding.
Stressful.
Competitive.
But stable.
Around noon, another conversation surfaced.
This time near the printer.
Two employees speaking quietly.
"...heard they're reviewing headcount."
"From who?"
"Not sure."
"That's not exactly reassuring."
The printer continued feeding pages.
The discussion ended when someone else approached.
The pattern repeated throughout the day.
Brief conversations.
Incomplete information.
Unverified claims.
Nobody knew anything for certain.
Yet nobody seemed entirely comfortable dismissing it.
By mid-afternoon, the rumor had spread through most of the department.
The office remained productive.
People continued working.
Meetings continued.
Deadlines remained unchanged.
But an invisible tension now moved beneath everything.
Employees checked internal announcements more often.
Managers received more attention than usual.
Every unexpected meeting invitation seemed slightly more important.
Every closed-door discussion attracted curiosity.
Daniel tried focusing on a monthly report.
The spreadsheet filled his screen.
Rows of numbers.
Columns of performance data.
Normally he could lose himself in the work.
Today his concentration drifted repeatedly.
Not because he believed the rumor.
Because he couldn't completely ignore it.
Marcus appeared beside his desk shortly before four.
"You heard?"
Daniel looked up.
"The rumor?"
Marcus nodded.
"Yeah."
Daniel leaned back slightly.
"Nobody knows if it's true."
"That's the problem."
Marcus lowered his voice.
"Nobody knows."
Daniel glanced across the office.
The department looked normal.
Phones ringing.
People typing.
Managers walking between desks.
Nothing appeared different.
Nothing appeared wrong.
Yet uncertainty had changed the atmosphere anyway.
Marcus folded his arms.
"You think they're increasing targets because of this?"
Daniel considered the question.
"I don't know."
It was the answer he had given most often lately.
Because it was the truth.
Nobody knew.
Nobody understood the bigger picture.
Nobody knew what management planned next.
Marcus sighed.
"My wife keeps asking why I've been stressed."
Daniel gave a faint smile.
"What did you tell her?"
"Work."
The answer earned a small laugh from both of them.
Brief.
Tired.
Familiar.
Then Marcus returned to his desk.
The office settled back into routine.
But routine felt different now.
Like a room where someone had mentioned a storm approaching.
The sky remained clear.
The sun still shone.
Life continued normally.
Yet everyone occasionally glanced toward the horizon.
Just in case.
Near the end of the day, Daniel checked his email one final time.
No announcements.
No warnings.
No confirmation.
Nothing.
The rumor remained exactly what it had been that morning.
A possibility.
An uncertainty.
A question without an answer.
Yet somehow it already felt real enough to matter.
He shut down one report and opened another.
Work remained.
Deadlines remained.
Targets remained.
The company expected results regardless of rumors.
Still, as evening approached, Daniel found himself studying the office differently.
The occupied desks.
The familiar coworkers.
The people he had worked beside for years.
For the first time, he wondered something he had never needed to wonder before.
If something happened...
Who would stay?
And who wouldn't?
The question remained unanswered.
That was what made it dangerous.
Scene-by-scene release. Continue only when the next scene is ready.