Kim had just finished going through a few reports in his office when he heard it—quiet laughter, the kind people tried to suppress when they knew they were gossiping but couldn’t help themselves. He paused, his pen mid-air, and cocked his head toward the door. The voices weren’t unfamiliar—two junior staff from the marketing team and one from HR. Their conversation filtered faintly through the slightly open door.

“I told you there was something going on between them,” one ...