Last Friday, at the end of the workday, I was sitting alone in my colleagues' office casually scrolling through Instagram or something. Then all of a sudden I felt like I was about to cry. My eyes started burning a little, and I felt a lump form in my throat, which was totally justifiable, given that I had a really, really rough Tuesday and I still hadn't gotten over the stress.

Literally minutes later, my colleague who's a PR Manager (he's 41 and I'm 28 btw) came back from the secretary's office, sat next to me, and said that we need to talk.

So tldr: I'm a graphic designer, and I sent a prepress to the print shop, which wasn't really allowed, and only the secretary can do it (I work in a state-owned company, so there are millions of must-follow rules for everything, and I still haven't caught up to all of them).

Although he was assuring me it was no big deal and that it had happened to others before, I was done. It was literally my last straw.

Tears started welling up in my eyes, and I almost could not speak anymore. My voice was cracking. He noticed my state and reassured me that everything is fine and that there is no need for me to get upset. I told him point-blank that I AM LITERALLY ABOUT TO START CRYING because his comforting me made me even more vulnerable and on the edge. To which he replied, "You're not gonna cry" with a smile. And that's exactly when I covered my face with my hand and started sobbing uncontrollably.

He immediately pulled me into a hug, burying my face into his shoulder (The funniest thing ever is that he laughed for the first 10 seconds because, as he later said, "My sensitivity moved him"). But yeah, when he hugged me, I totally lost it. I removed my hand from my face and held onto him tightly, sobbing loudly and uncontrollably into his plaid shirt. I was kinda out of it, so some details are foggy, but I vaguely remember that I started laughing at some point too because I realized he had been laughing, and that was about when I calmed down. He told me, "Come on, let's go home", so I went to my office to grab my stuff.

He followed me behind, and as I was turning my PC off and gathering my stuff, I realized that I was feeling really hot, so I wanted to put my hair up. I asked him if he knew how to do it because I was still lowkey trembling. He said he did, and so I stood still while he put my hair into a claw clip. And literally out of nowhere, I start SOBBING again.

He turned me towards him and rested my head on his right shoulder, but this time my head was sideways, if you guys know what I mean...so one eye was exposed and the other rested on his shoulder. And what totally broke me this time is the way he held my head with his right arm, stroked my hair, and whispered, "It's okay, it's okay", which actually totally calmed me down at the end. I also think I didn't actually hug him back, but just held his forearm while he stroked me.

I was just a complete mess, especially because I have father issues, so any older guys comforting me awakens something sensitive and deep in me. It's also worth mentioning that I kinda have a crush on him (although I'm in a long-term relationship and he's in a complicated one, but there's obvious chemistry between us), so those two factors combined made this a crazy experience for me. I've been replaying these scenarios all weekend tbh...