I SAW HIM OPEN MY CONFIDENTIAL PROJECT FILE ON HIS SCREEN
My hand trembled as I watched his cursor move across the screen from behind the partition, my heart pounding.
The air conditioning unit above hummed its usual dull drone, but the silence from his cubicle felt deafening, a hollow space where my future was being stolen. I saw my document title flash, highlighted blue. He scrolled rapidly, pausing, then copying entire sections. Every click felt like a punch to my gut.
Was he actually doing this? The cold glare from his monitor reflected the terrible realization blooming in my chest, a hot, sick feeling. This was my work, weeks of excruciating late nights poured onto those pages until my eyes burned. He was just… taking it, like it was nothing.
I wanted to scream, to storm over and snatch the mouse from his hand. My throat felt tight, choked with disbelief and rage. “You utter bastard,” I whispered under my breath, barely audible over the persistent office noise. How could someone be so utterly ruthless? So casually cruel about something that meant absolutely everything to me right now? My vision blurred slightly with heat and frantic confusion.
This was the project I needed for the promotion, the one I’d been promised if it landed well with the board. The potential rise, the extra money for Mom’s mounting medical care bills… all just evaporating because he casually decided to help himself to my effort. Just as I finally clenched my fists, body tense, ready to leap up and confront the thief, a sudden shadow fell across my desk area.
Then I noticed a second person watching from the doorway, someone I didn’t expect.
👇 Full story continued in the comments…Then I noticed a second person watching from the doorway, someone I didn’t expect. It was Sarah, my team lead. She wasn’t looking at me, but at the partition behind which Mark sat. Her brow was furrowed, her expression unreadable at first, then morphing into a look of sharp comprehension as her eyes followed my fixed, trembling gaze towards his screen. She saw *it*. She saw my project title, highlighted in blue on *his* monitor.
My heart leaped, a different kind of panic seizing me now. Would she think I was paranoid? Had he done this before? But before I could formulate a thought, Sarah pushed off the doorframe and walked purposefully, silently, directly towards Mark’s cubicle.
Mark, engrossed in his pilfering, didn’t notice her until she was standing right beside his desk. He flinched, fumbling with the mouse, trying to minimize the window, but it was too late. The document was still open, large and undeniable.
“Mark,” Sarah’s voice was low, but it cut through the office hum like glass. There was no trace of her usual easy-going tone. “What exactly are you doing?”
Mark’s face went pale. He stammered, “Uh, just… just looking at some notes, Sarah.”
My voice, though shaky, found its power. “Those are my confidential project notes, Mark. The ones I needed for the board meeting.”
Sarah’s gaze flicked between Mark and me, then settled back on the screen. She leaned in slightly. “Confidential project notes, Mark? The ones clearly marked ‘Proprietary – For Internal Review Only’?” Her voice was dangerously quiet now.
Mark swallowed hard, his eyes darting around like a trapped animal. “I… I just needed some… inspiration,” he mumbled, utterly pathetic.
Sarah straightened up. Her expression was ice. “Inspiration? By copying entire sections of a colleague’s confidential work?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “Close that file immediately, Mark. And then gather your things. You and I are going to have a conversation in my office, right now.”
She didn’t look at me again as she turned and walked back towards her office, but as she passed my desk, her hand rested briefly, reassuringly, on my shoulder. It was a silent promise.
Mark, looking utterly defeated and miserable, slowly closed the document window. He stood up, avoiding everyone’s eyes, and began gathering a few items from his desk with trembling hands. The air conditioning unit hummed, the office noise continued, but the hollow space of fear in my chest was slowly starting to fill with a dizzying mix of shock, relief, and vindication. The shadow of theft had lifted, caught red-handed. The promotion, and Mom’s bills, might just be safe after all.