19 september 2025
Mandy (32) is single and works as a broker in an office in a medium -sized city. Tijn, her bisexual lover, has put their relationship on hold. Mandy is devastated. And why does she suddenly get gray envelopes with anonymous newspaper clippings?
Follow every weekday her adventures on girlfriend.nl.
Friday, September 19
Table of Contents
On Friday morning there is tension in the office before I took off my coat. Maureen stands by the window, her phone still in her hand. She turns to me, eyes bright. “With you,” she says briefly. In silence we walk to Nick‘s office.
Trainee
Nick looks up from behind his desk. ‘What is?’ His voice sounds tight. ‘Is this about what you told me yesterday? About those envelopes? ‘
Maureen lays her bag down, leans over the table. ‘I saw a logo in a photo and I called around. At Story. First an editor who didn’t remember anything, but then I got someone on the line who immediately started talking. He knew about a trainee, years ago, of the same training as our colleague. He got a lot of what happened when Evert Kamperman in that dance tent. And last month that guy called again, asked for digital files. They were sent to him. “
Nick contracts his eyebrows. “So … the profile is correct?”
“Too precise to be a coincidence,” says Maureen. Her voice does not vibrate, but I see how tense her fingers rest on the table. “Because his name was indeed …”
My stomach pulls together when I hear the name of my colleague. Here is the proof. With open mouth I look at Maureen who has just arranged this. I am not a liar. She took me seriously.
Then the door opens. Our colleague comes in, papers under his arm. He stops, feels the tension in the air. “What is this?” he asks sharply.
“Sit down,” says Nick. His voice is commanded.
He puts the papers on the table. ‘No. First you say what is going on. Everyone here is so mysterious here. I still have to call a customer, so can it be fast? “
Maureen lifts her chin. ‘We know that you did an internship at Story. That you requested files from your old internship supervisor last month that were never intended for you. “
“Why do they?”
His face stiffens, he bursts loose. “Nonsense! Why should I do that? ” Maureen lifts her finger. ‘Yes. Just say that. Why did you do that? ” My colleague hits the pile of paper that he just put on the desk on the floor. Leaves swirl on the laminate. ‘You have always kept me small! Always! And her, “he points to me,” that bitch … “he grabs the chair behind him and throws it around. The metal hits the floor with a hard blow. I am shocked that I step backwards. My heart pounds in my throat. “Why do they?” he screams. His finger shoots at me. “Why does she get everything? The promotion, trust, attention? What makes her better than me? She plays the good girl, but you don’t see who she really is! “
Cut his words. I feel my cheeks glow, but I force myself to stay standing.
With a jerk he winds Nick’s coffee mug through the room. He breaks on the floor. He stamps, hits his fist on the cupboard. A plant rolls off and the pot splashes apart. Shards slide over the floor.
Maureen steps forward, her voice sharp like a knife. “And you thought chantage would yield your promotion?”
‘Shut your mouth!’ He spits at her, eyes wild. He takes a step in her direction, threatening. I see how Maureen stiffens, but she doesn’t give in centimeters.
I stand pap. Is this my colleague? The same boy who always gets coffee for me? Who lends me his umbrella when it rains?
Nick comes up, big, controlled. His voice cuts through the noise. ‘Enough.’
But the colleague roars further. ‘You don’t see anything! I work myself and she – she only has to laugh and she gets everything! It’s sick! Sick! ‘
Maureen kicks some shards towards the plinth and then turns to Nick. “Do I have to call the police?”
“YES!” Nick says, without looking away from the colleague.
Police
The colleague is now kicking a fallen chair with a hard blow to the wall. “You will regret!” he roars. Then he takes a stack of printed documents from the printer bin and tears them on. Snippers swirl across the floor. He stoops, while in the event of a piping, grabs printer paper, staplers and file folders over the ground.
My legs feel like water. Maureen breathes heavily, her hands balded into fists. Nick’s face is tight.
“The police are on the road,” he says Kil.
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