Page 62 of The Heart of Winter

Manager Lorens told Winter that he had sent over the links to my designs.

Winter’s office had a projector system that displayed whatever was on his screen onto the opposite wall. After a moment, he turned it on, and my mock-up appeared, projected large in front of us.

Lorens glanced at me. "Sariel, why don’t you walk Winter through your changes and proposals?"

I cleared my throat, focusing on staying professional. I explained each area I had modified, justifying my decisions with examples from my additional research, which I had neatly organized into a separate tab. I asked Winter to switch between the pages as I spoke, and he did, following along as I highlighted various elements of the app. I made sure he could see that every change had been carefully considered, that this wasn’t just me making arbitrary tweaks, but rather thoughtful, data-backed improvements.

The whole time I spoke, the room was silent.

Lorens seemed pleased, almost preening, probably because this reflected well on him, too. His department had unexpectedly been given the chance to work on a high-profile app, something usually reserved for Manager Durden’s team. Durden had always gotten the bigger projects because he was more combative in convincing upper management to give them to his team.

When I finished my presentation, Winter didn’t respond right away. He simply clicked through the different views of the app, scanning them in silence.

"Have you looked at the latest D-Project app for college alumni?" Winter asked curtly.

I felt a surge of excitement. "Yeah, I have, but I saw a lot of complaints about it, so I didn’t really want to use it as inspiration."

Winter looked at me, our eyes met, and a pleasant shiver ran through my body. A strange feeling, like maybe he found it enjoyable too. He stayed silent for a moment, as if lost in thought, like he was wrestling with something inside himself.

"It looks interesting. I appreciate the effort you put into your research and your dedication. But of course, this still has to go through Werner. He’ll decide whether we implement your changes."

Disappointment swept through me as I realized that my project not only had to pass through Manager Lorens and Winter, but also through Werner, and maybe even my father, before it could take its final form. That was corporate life for you. Everything had to be seen, approved, and signed off by everyone.

I was pretty sure Werner wouldn’t be thrilled about some random guy with no experience coming in out of nowhere and making changes to his app. After all, he was the one who originally designed the whole thing.

"I understand," I said. "I just hope he won’t be offended by how much I changed the interface."

Was that the faintest hint of a smile at the corner of Winter’s lips?

Well, this wasn’t as big of a deal for him as it was for me. Maybe he even found it amusing. Or he wanted to see the boss’s son get crushed by the ruthless Werner.

"We’ll see how it goes," Winter said. "I’ll let you guys know in a few days. I don’t think it’s worth scheduling a whole meeting, I’ll probably just talk to him privately."

In a way, I appreciated that. If Werner had been invited to a meeting, he would have felt obligated to criticize my project, if only to prove he was still needed and the better expert. These kinds of psychological games played out in every corporation.

"That’s all," Winter said. For a fraction of a second, his eyes met mine again. But he was calm, his heartbeat steady.

Well, back to making icons for me.

I left the room feeling a sense of dejection. The interaction had been so brief… and I’d been way too stressed to focus on whatever interesting energy had been flowing between me and Winter.

The rest of the day, I was in a bit of a sour mood. I wanted him to say something nice, I had worked so hard. But maybe I needed to stop thinking like a little kid waiting for praise. I had to be patient.

***

That night at dinner, I got some unexpected news.

My family sat down at the table, and—miracle of miracles—I was actually acknowledged as part of the conversation. My brother turned to me and muttered, "Have you heard? Our dear cousin Damien found his True Mate."

I raised an eyebrow. "You’re serious? When?"

"Two months ago or something like that. He’s not making a big deal out of it. You know how Damien is, a total nerd, not exactly the social butterfly type. But… I thought Blue would’ve told you. Damien’s mate… it’s the guy who saved Blue’s life."

I was speechless.

"Wait, that purple alpha?"

"Yep. Well, Damien is a rose omega. That’s the only TM option for them."

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