Her colleagues noticed the change before she admitted how serious it had become. Deadlines slipped, meetings were missed, and her attention drifted whenever her phone lit up. Her boss spoke to her privately, warning that the team needed reliability, not another explanation about personal emergencies. Noemi promised she would get things under control. She meant it, but Mark’s behaviour kept pulling her back into the same exhausting cycle.
That morning, with the major presentation only minutes away, Mark arrived unannounced, furious over a message he believed she had ignored. The argument spilled into the hallway, loud enough for the clients to hear. Noemi tried to usher him away, but he refused to leave quietly. By the time she returned to the conference room, the atmosphere had changed. The clients were no longer interested in hearing her pitch.