Whispers

When Mary arrived at work on Monday, she was getting a lot of strange looks from people. She was confused as she heard multiple people whispering, but she couldn't quite pick up on what they were saying.

And the look in their eyes, it was as if they were pittying her. And the men were looking at her like she needed to be protected.

She picked up her pace and went into her office. When she made it there, both her father, Tina's father and Tina there. The two men looked to be in a bad mood, which is never good, and Tina had her head buried in her hands.

Mary did take a second to admire her work. Tina's work dress code for today included a skirt that was a little too short, a blouse with the top two buttons undone, a blazer, tights and heels.

"Dad, Mr Thompson, what's going on?" The two men shared a look before turning their gaze to Tina. Mary clenched her fist.

"Tina, what did you do?" Tina looked up, and Mary was shocked to see that her eyes were red.

"Mary, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean anything by it." Mary crossed her arms and glared at her.

"What. Did. You. Do." Those four words said in that way sent a chill down the spine of everyone in the room.

"I, I was with my friends, and got a little tipsy. I jokingly said that Noah, that Noah was abusing you, and some other nasty things. My friends, they believed me. Well, I think they just wanted to be a hero. So they started spreading a rumor, trying to spread the word to save you. I, I'm sorry." Mary looked at Tina, her mind full of rage. Seeing that his daughter was about to do something she'd regret, her father stood in front of Mary and grabbed her shoulders.

"Mary, don't act out of anger." It wasn't the CEO that said that, but a father. Mary took several deep breaths before looking at Mr Thompson.

"You created this, you know. You turned her into this. You failed her." He adverted his eyes, but didn't say anything. Mary looked back at her father.

"Call a conference, we're nipping this in the butt right away. Let me know when you're ready, I need to cool down." With those last words, Mary stormed right out of the building. No one dared to stop her.