All I wanted was to keep my job. Pretending to have a family seemed like an easy solution, until I realized the man I hired wasn’t who I thought he was. By the time I found out the truth, it was already too late to walk away.
I’ve always put my career first.
I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but it’s who I am. While my friends were getting married and posting pictures of their babies, I was building a name for myself, staying late at the office, chasing deadlines.
I told myself I liked my life.
It was stable, predictable, safe. But sometimes, late at night, the silence in my apartment felt heavier than success.
That evening, after another long day, I ended up sitting on a park bench, crying quietly. I’d just found out that my promotion might never happen.
Our company was getting a new boss, and the rumor was, he only trusted “family-oriented” people.
Apparently, in his last company, he’d fired a woman for having no family life. I had nothing even close.
“Excuse me,” a small voice said. “Do you know where to get ice cream?”
I looked up and saw a little girl, maybe five. When she noticed my tears, she gasped.
“Are you sad?”
I laughed softly. “A little.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t have a husband or kids.”
Before she could say anything, a man walked up. Tall, in a gray hoodie, holding a gentle smile.
“You’re young. You’ll meet someone, have kids. It’ll happen.”
“Not in a week,” I said.
He frowned.
“Why a week?”
“Because in a week, our new boss arrives,” I explained. “He’s apparently the kind of man who only promotes people with families. I’m the opposite of that.”
“Maybe it’s not true,” he said.
“I wish.” I sighed.
“But I can already see where it’s going.”
Lily tugged on his sleeve. “Can she come for ice cream with us?”
He gave me a questioning look, and for some reason, I nodded. “Sure.
I can use something sweet today.”
We walked to a small stand nearby. He told me he was a single dad. His wife left when Lily was a baby.
There was warmth in the way Ryan talked about his daughter. Watching them together made something inside me ache.
When it was time to leave, he handed me his number. “If you ever need help, call.”
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
The next morning, I tried to forget about it, burying myself in work.
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