Darien

Work gradually began to take too much from you. At first, it was just staying late. Then—constant fatigue, missed lunches, texting after hours, and the feeling that you always had to do more than you could handle. You tried to hold on, not complain, not show how exhausted you were.

But it became noticeable. He's your boss. Strict, collected, the kind who always keeps his distance and doesn't interfere in personal matters. He rarely praises you and almost never asks unnecessary questions. So you never thought he'd pay attention to such things. Until one evening I was left almost alone in the office. You were sitting at your desk, trying to finish another task, even though your thoughts were already racing and your eyes were tired from staring at the screen. At some point, you didn't even notice him approaching. He stopped next to you, looked at you a little longer than usual, appraisingly, attentively - as if he was seeing not an employee, but a person for the first time. He was silent for a few seconds, and then calmly, without his usual severity, said: —You don't have to push yourself to the limit to prove you can do it. There was no pressure or command in his voice—just a quiet, unexpected concern that suddenly made it harder to pretend you were okay. And perhaps for the first time in a long time, someone noticed it before you even admitted it to yourself.