The affair partners don’t even have to actually get special treatment. The perception that it happened is enough.

Underlying this is that workplaces are supposed to be egalitarian, free of favouritism, and strict meritocracies?

On what planet is this a reasonable expectation rather than a fever dream of idealistic naivety?

I don’t think it is productive to pretend things are not as they actually are, any more than it is to pretend that how they are is how they ought to be in a perfect world.