Valerie Morelli had always kept her head down. 

After five years at Stardust Entertainment, she had mastered the art of blending into the chaos of a workplace teetering on dysfunction. 

The pay was decent, the hours manageable, and the coffee machine worked “most” of the time. But for Valerie, there was one undeniable highlight of her job: Conner.

Conner was the office heartthrob. 

His broad shoulders, charming smile, and emerald-green eyes turned heads wherever he went. Valerie, like the rest of the office, admired him from a distance. 

She wasn’t like Dinah or the other women who openly vied for his attention; she preferred to keep her fantasies safe in the realm of “what if.” 

That is, until a literal fall brought her crashing into him—quite literally.

It had been a hectic morning, and Valerie, buried in a stack of reports, had misjudged her footing. She tripped, her world spinning, until strong arms caught her mid-fall.

"Whoa there. Are you alright?" Conner’s deep, soothing voice steadied her faster than his hands did.

"I—uh—yes! Thank you!" Valerie blurted, her cheeks burning as she pulled away quickly. She didn’t even wait for his response before scurrying off, her heart pounding like a jackhammer.

She thought it would end there, just a one-time brush with fate, but that wasn't the case. A week later, she found herself tripping again—this time in front of at least a dozen colleagues. 

Once again, Conner came to her rescue, his hands firm on her shoulders to steady her as he asked, “Are you okay, Valerie?”

Her name. He knew her name.

“Th-thank you for the assist, Conner,” she stammered, her voice barely audible. 

Around her, the jealous glares from Dinah and her posse made her want to crawl under the nearest desk.

The days that followed were quieter, but Valerie couldn’t shake her racing heart every time Conner passed by her desk. Then, just days before Valentine’s Day, a note appeared on her desk:

Come meet me on the roof during your lunch break. I have something I need to talk to you about in private.

It was signed by Conner.

Valerie’s heart skipped a beat. 

Was this real? Was Conner actually reaching out to her? 

She could barely contain her excitement. Unfortunately, her giddy expression didn’t go unnoticed. “What’s got you smiling like a lunatic?” Dinah’s voice cut through her daydream. 

Dinah, with her designer heels and condescending smirk, was everything Valerie wasn’t. She radiated confidence, but it was the toxic kind that left people wilting in her wake.

“It’s nothing,” Valerie said, quickly crumpling the note and tossing it in her trash can.

“Hmph.” Dinah narrowed her eyes but said nothing more, sauntering away with a dramatic flip of her blonde hair.

The rest of the morning crawled by slowly as Valerie counted the minutes to her lunch break. When the time finally came, she grabbed her bag filled with her lunch and dashed to the roof. 

Her heart pounded with each step, her mind racing with possibilities. 

What did Conner want to say? Was this a confession? Could he actually like her?

She pushed the door open and stepped out into the sunlight. The roof was empty, save for a new and noticeable crack in the railing near the edge.

‘They should really fix that,’ she thought absentmindedly as she stood a safe distance from the railing. The city skyline stretched before her, and she closed her eyes, letting the sun warm her face.

The sudden slam of the rooftop door made her jump.

“Conner! You’re he—” Valerie’s voice caught in her throat. 

It wasn’t Conner. 

It was Dinah, flanked by her entourage of equally overdressed clones.

“Ha! Did you hear that, girls? She actually thought Conner sent her a love note!” Dinah cackled, and her cronies joined in, pointing and laughing.

Valerie’s heart sank. “W-what are you doing here?”

Dinah sauntered closer, her high heels clicking ominously against the concrete. “You really thought Conner would be interested in you?” she sneered, jabbing a manicured nail into Valerie’s shoulder. 

“You? With your split ends, your sad little old lady wardrobe, and your…” Dinah’s gaze traveled downward. “Nonexistent assets?”

The laughter grew louder as Valerie shrank back, her eyes stinging with tears.

“Stop it, Dinah,” she whispered.

“Oh, does the little mouse have something to say?” Dinah leaned in, her voice dripping with venom. “Here’s a tip: stay in your lane, Valerie. Conner is mine. Everyone knows that.”

Dinah shoved Valerie back, her momentum carrying her dangerously close to the cracked railing.

“Stop!” Valerie’s voice rose as she slapped Dinah across the face, the sound echoing in the open air. Dinah froze, her hand flying to her reddening cheek.

“You’re going to regret that,” Dinah hissed. 

With a vicious slap of her own, she sent Valerie stumbling into the railing. The crack gave way, and Valerie felt the sickening lurch of empty air beneath her.

Time seemed to slow as she reached for Dinah, but the other woman simply watched with a twisted grin.

‘Ah, seriously…?’ Valerie thought, turning her head away from the monster named Dinah.

The last thing Valerie saw before her world went black was a billboard featuring a happy Australian Shepherd next to a bottle of dog shampoo.

‘If only life had treated me as kindly as it has for that dog’, was the last thought she had as Valerie Morelli.

To be continued…