Honestly, I always thought those stories about office affairs were exaggerated or just drama from TVB/Mediacorp shows. Like, people are busy trying to survive KPIs, clear emails, and go home, right? Apparently not. Over the past six months, I watched two people in my department slowly cross every single boundary until it blew up completely last week.
For context, I work in a mid-sized firm around Raffles Place. Let’s call the guy “Darren” (early 30s, married for about 3 years, always showing photos of his BTO renovation and his golden retriever) and the girl “Chloe” (late 20s, engaged to her uni boyfriend, wedding supposedly next year).
It started out super innocent around April. They were paired up to lead a major client pitch. Naturally, they had to OT together a lot. At first, it was just normal colleague stuff—dabao-ing cai fan together at 8 PM, complaining about management, sharing Grab rides home since they both stay along the East-West Line.
By June, the vibe shifted. They started having inside jokes that nobody else understood. Every morning, Darren would buy two kopi pengs—one for himself, one for Chloe, remembering her exact “siu dai” order. Chloe started adjusting his collar before client meetings or playfully hitting his arm whenever he teased her. Whenever anyone pointed out how close they were, they’d laugh it off with the classic “Aiya, we are just work besties lah, he’s like my kor kor” or “She’s my work wife, we trauma-bonded over this project.”
Looking back, the micro-cheating was already happening in plain sight. They were texting on Teams even during weekends when there was zero urgent work. During team lunches at Amoy Street, they would always sit next to each other and share food, totally ignoring the rest of the table. You could literally feel the tension, and a few of us started side-eyeing each other whenever they interacted.
The point of no return happened last Friday during our company’s D&D after-party at a bar near Clarke Quay. Most of the team left around midnight, including me. I went back inside because I left my umbrella under the booth. The music was loud and the lights were dim, and right there in the corner booth, I saw Darren and Chloe straight-up making out. Not a peck—full-on hands everywhere. I froze, grabbed my umbrella as quietly as I could, and walked out before they saw me.
Monday morning was the most awkward thing I’ve ever experienced. Both of them acted like nothing happened, smiling and chatting at the pantry while Darren still had his wedding ring on and Chloe was wearing her engagement ring.
I’m not going to snitch or play morality police because it’s not my circus and I don’t want office politics blowing back on me. Plus, I don’t even know their partners. Still, watching it unfold from day one really messed with my head. It didn’t start with some grand passion—it was just a slow erosion of boundaries, one overtime session and one coffee run at a time, until both of them threw away years of commitment.
Honestly makes you think twice about how people justify “harmless” closeness at work. Has anyone else seen this kind of thing happen in their office, or is this just way more common in SG corporate culture than people admit?