Chapter 2 — The Announcement
Andy
Monday mornings at Kelex were the tech world’s equivalent of a high-stakes poker game—everyone masking their exhaustion with caffeine and carefully curated expressions of focus. The conference room buzzed with subdued energy, the hum of conversations and the soft clicking of laptops blending into the faint whir of the smart screen at the front of the room. The morning light slanted through the glass walls, refracting off polished surfaces into a kaleidoscope of muted colors. Holographic displays flickered at the edges of the room, showing project timelines and team stats in soft, pulsing light.
I slid into a seat toward the back, angling my chair slightly to avoid the glare. My coding glasses rested on the bridge of my nose, their weight oddly comforting despite the HUD being off—I wasn’t in the mood to sort notifications or field error messages just yet. The glasses were a subtle reminder of the persona I needed to project here. Calm. Collected. Capable. The part of me that doubted I belonged in this room had no space to surface.
“Big day, huh?” Mason plopped into the seat next to me, his holo-watch projecting a pixelated dragon doing an elaborate victory dance above his wrist. His grin was wide, a mix of irreverence and genuine warmth. The playful animation reflected on the glass-topped table, briefly catching the attention of a few others nearby.
“Define ‘big,’” I murmured, glancing around the room. Lex wasn’t here yet, but the shift in energy was palpable. People straightened in their chairs, voices dropping a notch as though sensing the inevitable.
Mason leaned closer, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Rumor has it we’re about to get the full scoop on Project Evolve. You know, the one Tamika’s been dying to spill about but swore herself to secrecy.”
“She swore to secrecy and then immediately ranted about it in the breakroom?” I deadpanned, raising an eyebrow.
“Exactly. She’s not exactly the vault she thinks she is.” He smirked. “But not to worry, your name came up. Something about you being the only person capable of pulling it off. No pressure, right?”
A flicker of unease rippled through me, pride and anxiety colliding in my chest. “She really needs to stop saying that kind of stuff where Brett can hear.”
“She didn’t. And even if she had, Brett couldn’t code his way out of a wet paper bag.” Mason’s grin turned impish. “The guy probably still thinks recursion is a personality flaw.”
I snorted despite myself, the tension in my shoulders easing slightly. Leave it to Mason to find humor in a situation that had my pulse racing.
Before I could reply, the door at the far end of the room slid open with a soft hiss, and silence fell like a curtain. Lex entered, his presence as sharp and commanding as ever. His tailored charcoal suit seemed to draw in the light, while the precise comb of his dark hair gave him an air of effortless control. He moved with the kind of quiet authority that could bend a room without a single word.
Every muscle in my body tensed as though responding to an invisible signal, and I hated myself for it. His piercing blue eyes swept the room, taking in every detail without lingering too long on anyone. When they passed over me, though, there was the barest hesitation—a fraction of a second that felt like an eternity. It was probably nothing. It had to be nothing. And yet, the air seemed to thicken around me.
“Good morning, everyone,” Lex said, his voice steady and deliberate. It carried an unmistakable authority, cutting through the stillness. He stepped to the smart screen, which lit up with the Kelex logo before transitioning to a sleek, minimalist slide deck. “Let’s get straight to the point.”
No preamble, no small talk. Classic Lex.
“This morning,” he continued, “I’m proud to announce Kelex’s most ambitious project to date.” He gestured toward the screen, where bold letters spelled out: “Project Evolve.” Beneath it, a tagline read: “Redefining Human-Technology Interaction.”
A ripple of curiosity and awe swept through the room, murmurs of interest quickly stifled as Lex continued. His gaze moved across the room like a metronome, precise and unyielding.
“Project Evolve represents the future of adaptive technology. This isn’t just predictive text or data-driven algorithms. This is human-centric design—technology that anticipates needs before they’re expressed. It’s not just innovation. It’s transformation.”
My fingers twitched, and I instinctively adjusted my glasses, their faint glow reflecting in the polished surface of the table. The concept wasn’t new to me—I’d been privy to fragments of it—but hearing Lex articulate it with such precision and certainty was something else entirely. The sheer ambition of it made my chest tighten.
“This project will define Kelex’s legacy,” Lex said, his tone sharpening. “And we need the best minds to bring it to life.”
His gaze swept the room again, lingering when it landed on me. This time, the pause was unmistakable. My breath caught, and I hated the way my body betrayed me, the way my pulse quickened. The moment passed, but something about it lingered, an invisible thread pulling taut.
“With that in mind,” he said, his focus sharpening, “I’m naming Andrea Walker as the technical lead for Project Evolve.”
The words hit like a thunderclap. The room blurred for a moment, polite applause and murmurs of surprise filtering through like distant static. Mason nudged me, his grin practically splitting his face.
“What’d I tell you?” he whispered. “You’re the best.”
I tried to smile, but my mind was a whirlwind of emotions. Pride. Fear. The nagging voice of imposter syndrome whispering that I wasn’t ready, wasn’t enough. Over Brett? Over the veterans? How would they take it?
“Andrea has consistently demonstrated the creativity, precision, and leadership this project demands,” Lex continued, his voice steady and professional. “I have no doubt she’ll excel in this role.”
The words should have comforted me, but the way he said them—so clinical, so detached—left me cold. It was as though he were talking about someone else entirely. Someone he didn’t really know.
“Thank you,” I said, my voice steady despite the chaos inside me.
Lex nodded and moved seamlessly to the next slide, outlining the project’s timeline and milestones. I forced myself to focus, to absorb the details, but part of me couldn’t stop replaying the moment he said my name. The way his voice sounded—measured, devoid of warmth. Did it mean anything? Did it mean nothing?
The meeting ended with Lex fielding questions, his answers crisp and efficient. As people filed out, some stopped to congratulate me, their smiles ranging from genuine warmth to polite envy. Brett, unsurprisingly, was nowhere to be seen.
Mason lingered at my side as the room emptied, his expression softening. “You okay?” he asked quietly.
I nodded, though even I wasn’t sure if it was true. “Just... processing.”
“Processing being the star of the show?” His smile was gentle this time, his usual humor tempered by concern.
“Processing what this means,” I murmured. “For the team. For me.” For whatever unspoken weight still hung in the air between Lex and me.
Mason squeezed my shoulder. “You’ll crush it, Andy. And if anyone tries to say otherwise, they’ll have to deal with me.”
That earned a small laugh. “Thanks, Mason.”
As he left, I gathered my things, taking my time to avoid the crowd in the hall. When I finally stepped out, I almost collided with Tamika, who beamed at me like she’d just won the lottery.
“Lead developer? Girl, I knew it!” she exclaimed, pulling me into a quick hug. “This is huge! Drinks tonight?”
“Maybe,” I said, my voice distracted. “I just need to wrap my head around it first.”
Her smile dimmed slightly, her brows knitting together. “You’re not happy?”
“I am,” I said quickly. “It’s just... a lot. And Lex—”
“Lex is irrelevant,” she interrupted, her grip on my arm firm. “This isn’t about him. This is about you. Your talent. Your moment.”
Her words were a lifeline, pulling me back to solid ground. She was right. This wasn’t about Lex. It couldn’t be.
By the time I reached my desk, the weight of the announcement fully settled on me. This wasn’t just about leading a project. It was about proving—to myself, to Kelex, to everyone—that I belonged here.
Failure wasn’t an option.
