Golden morning poured through S&Co's boardroom windows, catching dust motes in the hush before battle. Sharon tapped restless fingers on the contract awaiting her signature today. Sid's company would either trust S&Co with the year's most ambitious event, or the headlines already circling would swallow them whole.
Sid was here early, all effortless composure and subtle glances Sharon pretended not to notice. "Everything ready?" he asked, unfolding the agreement and flashing his easy, ambiguous smile.
Jia barely looked up, attention locked on her phone. Each vibration was bad news: another vendor pausing business, another snide comment about her boutique tied to the viral wedding slap. Ray, sensing her silent panic, set down a cup of tea beside her as a quiet, grounding force in the room.
Sharon held out her hand to Jia, squeezing until she felt her friend release a shaky breath.
It's not just business. It never was.
Suddenly, Sharon's present composure was invaded by a memory as vivid as the sun's heat.
they'd scoured the city for Jia that night, panic rising as each unanswered call fed Sharon's dread. Finding her at Sharon's own bar, head bowed, fighting tears, was a shock that never faded. Taking Jia home, hearing the story her stepmother's vicious jealousy pushing her out set a line in Sharon's heart:
Never again. Not while I can help it.
Sharon quit her job the very next day, pooling savings with Ray, letting Jia's creative fire anchor their little startup. Together, they built S&Co, born from broken places, made invincible by keeping each other close.
Back in the boardroom, Sharon's voice was steady as she looked to Sid. "Before we sign, you should know: we protect our own no matter who's watching."
Sid's eyes smiled in understanding, but as the team launched into negotiations, Sharon's mind flickered again, carried further back, to sunlit school days and a simpler magic.
On a rooftop, swinging clumsily in oversized shoes, Sharon let Sid tease her into a slow dance. "I'll teach you," he promised, then laughed as she trampled his foot on purpose. He caught her by the waist and, amid mock protest and tickle threats, their giggles tangled into that first, bashful kiss an echo of innocence, before either of them learned how much the world could hurt.
A sting pressed behind Sharon's smile. Sid's presence always tugged at something old inside her, a wish for safety, for laughter, for things she could never quite recapture.
They were signing the contract now, sharp lines, careful promises, but Jia's phone buzzed sharply in her hand. The latest headline slapped across the screen:
"Viral Video Fallout: Boutique Designer Distances Herself from Wedding Fiasco"
Jia's voice was small. "My reputation is my work. I don't want to disappear. Not again."
Ray put his hand on hers. "You made this place possible, Jia. No comment thread can erase that."
Sid, tone gentler than before, met Sharon's eyes. "I'll make sure your vision is what our press sees. We need heart, not scandal."
Something in Sharon steeled. Her instinct whispered to flinch, to hide. Instead, she felt the collective years the bars searched, the tasks built from nothing, the first clumsy dance on a sun-warmed rooftop rise and anchor her.
She stood, drawing every pair of eyes in the room as she crossed to the laptop near the window. Briefly, her hand trembled then steadied as Ray met her gaze and Jia, blinking back tears, just whispered: "Thank you. For fighting."
Sharon connected her phone, pulled up the raw footage of the wedding. Her inner voice tensed. What if more damage comes? But she remembered every night she'd refused to stay silent, and every day S&Co's people needed that courage from her.
She exhaled. Typed her statement:
"At S&Co, protection and pride go hand in hand. We expose the truths we face, for our staff and partners as much as our clients. No one, no matter their title or their wealth, gets to harm the people who make our events possible. Let these images speak for us. This is who we are."
She posted the full, unedited video, no edits, no spin, just the brutal clarity of what actually happened. As it uploaded, Sid caught her gaze. "That's bold, Sharma," he murmured, admiration and old pain mingling beneath the words. "But it's you."
Her phone already pulsed with the world's reaction, support from other designers, wary calls from clients, outrage, and relief all at once.
Sharon's pulse steadied. She watched the team, the people whose trust she had earned and nearly lost and earned again, gather around her, faces shadowed by uncertainty, lit with new resolve.
Let the world see everything, she thought . We have nothing to hide.