He hunched his shoulders apologetically. “Pretty hard not to. It’s kind of the talk of the office.”

Dammit! Could she have one fucking moment when that stupid video wasn’t at the center of everything?

“I haven’t seen it,” Daniel quickly added. “But I hear you put on quite a show.”

Great. So this is what she would be forever known for. Not for single-handedly debugging Trendsetters’ signature utilities software just months after she started, or launching their annual Thanksgiving donation drive last year, but for cursing Craig Walters out in a sushi bar. Her grad school advisor would be so proud.

Samiah put a hand up before he could ask an intrusive, asinine question. “Please don’t say anything else. I don’t want to talk about that video.”

“That’s fair,” he said. “But I was only going to ask if you were okay. Are you?”

She blinked several times, unsure if she’d heard him correctly. “I’m sorry?”

“I asked if you were okay.” His shoulder lifted again in a slight hunch. “I’ve never had anything like that happen to me, but I can imagine it sucks to be put on display for everyone to see.”

Oh, God. It sucked so much. How did he know?

“It does,” she said with a vigorous nod, her hand tightening on the mug. She was so overwhelmed by what appeared to be genuine concern in his eyes that she nearly wept.

He was the first person to ask about her well-being. Her other coworkers hadn’t given a damn about how she was doing. They were all too caught up in the glamour and hype of knowing someone at the center of a viral video.

“Having the entire world witness the most humiliating moment of your life and judge you for it sucks like you wouldn’t believe. And it makes me question my judgment about pretty much everything.”

“Don’t.” He made a move, as if he were about to reach for her. But then he backed off, slipping his hands into the pockets of his pressed khakis. “Don’t blame yourself for what happened. It sounds like that guy was a pro. It says nothing about you.”

She nodded, the sudden emotion welling in her throat making it hard to speak.

“Thank you for that,” she finally managed to get out. “It means a lot to hear it put that way.” Samiah swallowed, then continued. “I’m just hoping it will eventually all blow over. Hopefully someone will record their cat playing Beethoven on the piano and that video with Craig will become a distant memory.”

Daniel snapped his fingers in a gosh-darn kind of way. “I knew I should have gotten a cat. I’m more of a dog person, but those videos don’t catch on as well as the cat ones.”