The Circuit

Same industry. Wrong feelings.

Ana:
I'm ambitious. Unstoppable, most days. I built my career without help — six years, no shortcuts.
Then I corrected a CEO and my heart did something my career never once allowed it to do.
For months I told myself it was coincidence. Same cities. Same rooms. Sometimes the same bed.
It was never coincidence. But it was easier to say that than the truth.
My work is everything I have. I am not going to let my heart spend it.

James:
I don't get corrected. Not by competitors, not by regulators, not by my own board.
Then she stood up in a room full of people and told me my numbers were wrong.
She didn't apologize. She was right.
I've built a career on precision and self-control. Neither one worked on her.
I told myself the circuit kept putting us in the same room. That was convenient. It was never the truth.
The truth was simpler, and harder to admit: I could have stopped booking those flights. I never did.
I've never once managed to stay away from her. I stopped pretending I could.