She smiled politely and kept walking. I didn’t think twice about it. By the next morning, though, something had shifted. Conversations stopped when we entered a room. Whispers trailed behind us through the corridors. A glance here, an awkward pause there. Somehow, that harmless hug had been transformed into a story about a secret, inappropriate relationship—and it was spreading with unsettling speed.
By lunchtime, even colleagues who had worked alongside my father for years seemed unsure how to interact with us. Some avoided eye contact altogether. Others offered strained smiles that felt heavier than outright hostility. Neither my father nor I understood what was happening until our supervisor asked to see us. Sitting in her office, we listened in stunned silence as she explained that rumors were circulating about two staff members behaving unprofessionally. When it became clear that we were the ones being discussed, disbelief gave way to a sharp, sinking feeling.
