Chapter 6: Sick Days & Scandalous Group Chats

The next day, sunlight was already blazing when I woke up.

Didn’t expect to be sick for real.

Natalie messaged: whole office dinner tonight.

I said nope.

[Stayed up all night, my back aches.]

The girls’ group chat blew up:

[Just half a day off and you’re already MIA? Rude! 😂]

[Somebody’s got a secret boyfriend, huh? Spill!]

[So fierce, introduce me to someone too!]

[......]

I pressed my palm to my forehead, snorting at their wild theories.

I should’ve never introduced them to romance novels. Now they’re all walking HR violations.

My phone dinged again.

Marcus, of all people, texted me.

[You’re sick? Did you take medicine?]

I almost replied, but then remembered: I’m supposed to be annoying him so he’ll lay me off.

So I left him on read and replied to the girls’ group instead.

Turned on voice chat: "Yeah, I could still go three hundred rounds."

The group lost their minds.

Every reply was more explicit than the last—my phone buzzed off the nightstand.

When I finally stopped laughing, I checked Marcus’s chat.

[Got sick, took medicine.]

Sending failed.

He’d blocked me.

I bolted upright.

Who the heck pissed him off now?

I asked Natalie:

[Is Marcus having dinner with you guys?]

Natalie: [Yeah, he just asked if you were coming. I said you were so sick you couldn’t get out of bed.]

Me: [He’s really heartless. I’m dying over here and he blocked me.]

Natalie: [Maybe it was that voice message. He thinks we’re plotting against him.]

Me: [?]

Natalie: [The three hundred rounds one... I forgot to mute and accidentally played it out loud.]

Me: [......]

The group chat notifications wouldn’t stop—each one dirtier than the last. A siren wailed by outside. I pressed a cold can of Sprite to my forehead, trying to cool off. Drama, a cold, and accidental workplace innuendo—peak me.