A week passed.
A full, quiet, merciful week.
Willow threw herself into work with surgical precision — early mornings that bled into late nights, coffee cooling beside her keyboard, and the rhythmic click of typing that felt steadier than her own pulse.
Her team was finalizing the new healthcare inventory interface — already earning internal praise for its clean functionality and near-perfect data mapping. She was proud of it. Proud of them.
Her colleagues respected her.
They knew Willow as a leader was not soft. She was fair, courteous, calm under pressure — but she didn't tolerate shortcuts. She pushed them hard because she pushed herself harder. That was why their department had won the company's Innovation in Tech award two years in a row.
She didn't believe in luck. Only momentum.
And hers came from discipline.
