I got top surgery recently. I don't want my coworkers to know. It got complicated. For things to work out, I might have to tell one more lie. So it better be convincing.

I'm so close to being stealth at work. My chest was always relatively flat with a binder. Not 100% male looking if you looked closely, but I don't think my coworkers are looking at me that hard. Unfortunately, a few of them were there earlier in my transition and know for sure that I'm trans including my direct supervisor. I'll be back to work soon. If they notice my chest changed, they could realize that I got top surgery. I can't let that happen.

Thing is, my workplace is a breeding ground for rumors. I only said "surgery" as the reason to my bosses when requesting medical leave. The office clearly played a lot of telephone with that info, because before I knew it people were acting as if I was dying and needed major surgery. Some of them were actually really worried about me. People started asking me a lot of questions. I didn't think I could refute the rumors without outing myself and making my transness the center of the conversation. I kind of panicked. So I lied to them all. I made stuff up about vague medical issues, described a combination of random symptoms, never naming whatever conditions I supposedly had. They believed me. They backed off. Such a relief. But the spotlight will undoubtedly be back on me for a while when I return, so I might have to lie again to maintain the facade until people move on to the next drama. After a while of business-as-usual nobody will be thinking about me or my medical leave anymore...

Unless someone notices that my chest changed. Maybe they won't, but it's definitely worth preparing for. I could be outed. They'd be damn mad that I let them worry, too. I especially don't want my bosses to know that I lied to them. It could affect my career. I'd probably deserve that, it'd be directly because of my own lies after all, but of course I'm gonna try to avoid it. So if someone brings my story into question, I really only have one idea: Gaslight. Don't believe your lying eyes. I don't know what you're talking about. You're being weird. Even if you know I'm trans, so what? I had top surgery long ago, before I met you. Your memories are wrong. You're crazy.

Would that be a terrible thing to do? Maybe. Would it even work? Idk, but it's the most convincing lie I've got at the moment.