The Distance We Keep

Unspoken mutual attraction lengthens physical space until someone speaks or deliberately renounces it. Floorplans stay fixed while corridors stretch, doors recede, and meetings require impossible walks.

Facilities cartographer Ellis Quinn maps Meridian Tower. Product ethicist Jonah Reeve works beside her on every drawing. Monday, he is down the hall. By Friday, reaching him requires a transit card.

Someone is renouncing the attraction in secret, preserving a professional distance neither person chose. When desire becomes speech, the hallway may collapse at once, leaving Ellis and Jonah without the miles they used as cover.

Silence creates distance; honesty decides what their chosen nearness must become.