Three iced coffees sat between them, their condensation pooling on the table — silent witnesses to three very different moods.
Sinee, the senior secretary, had red, swollen eyes from crying.
Kwan Khao sat beside her, unsure what to say; she knew that if she opened her mouth to comfort her, Sinee would start crying again.
Across the table, Nadda, the youngest accountant, fidgeted with her straw, her voice soft and uncertain.
"Don't worry too much Sinee. You've been here longer than anyone. The company wouldn't dare let you go — your severance alone would cost a fortune."
Kwan Khao shot her a warning look, but it was too late.
Sinee's lips trembled, and fresh tears spilled over.
"If the new owner brings his own secretary, I'm done for," she sobbed.
"Do you know who he is?" Kwan Khao asked gently.
"No," Sinee sniffled. "The boss never said. We've all been working from home for two weeks. I don't know who's been coming or going to the office."
Kwan Khao's stomach twisted.
If Sinee hadn't received the same contract she had…
then her old boss had given that protection only to her.
Why?
Sinee had worked here longer, knew the company better, and was closer to him. Why her, then?
Nadda sighed, hugging her arms. "Honestly, I'm scared too. Half of my friends have already been laid off. I've only been here a year. If they cut staff again, my compensation will be nothing."
"None of us want to lose our jobs," Kwan Khao said quietly. "But think about it — if someone buys a company in times like these, it means they really want it. That's a good sign."
Sinee nodded, wiping her eyes. "You might be right."
"Exactly," Kwan Khao continued, trying to sound more optimistic than she felt. "If the buyer's from a big corporation, acquiring a smaller firm like ours makes sense. We've already got an experienced accounting team. It'll save them the cost of training new people. We know how to handle complex cases — that gives us value."
Nadda's eyes brightened a little. "That actually makes me feel better."
"That's the spirit," Kwan Khao smiled. "As long as we do our jobs well, whoever the new boss is, he'll have no reason to replace us."
There was a moment of hopeful silence — until Nadda frowned again.
"You know what's strange, though?"
Sinee groaned. "What now, Nadda? I've had enough strange for one week."
"Why hasn't the old boss told us who the new owner is? It's weird, right? All this secrecy."
Kwan Khao hesitated, then said, "Maybe he doesn't know who'll be managing the company yet. Let's not overthink it. Tomorrow, those of us who are fully vaccinated have to rotate back to the office anyway. I'm sure we'll meet the new management team then."
But even as she said it, a shiver ran down her spine.
Something in her heart whispered that the person she was about to meet...
was the one man she had prayed never to see again.