I could tell from the first email that work was going to stain the whole day

Dear Delyara, It arrived before nine and had that tone. The passive-aggressive one. The kind that sounds professional enough on the surface but still lands in the body like a slap if you’ve lived around enough workplace politics to recognise it quickly. I read it once and felt my shoulders go up immediately. The worst part is not only the email. It’s the aftereffect. The way one bad interaction can spread itself across the whole day if I let it — the drive, the way I speak at lunch, the way I interpret the next message, the energy I bring home. I hate how much reach some people get over me with one mean little paragraph. I answered carefully. Then I carried it too long anyway.