He sent her love songs and ardent emails, and the pair exchanged 1000 text messages in a single month.
But Fatima Hammoud broke down in tears on Friday when she gave evidence at a corruption inquiry about upsetting "rumours" that spread throughout the NSW justice department about her relationship with a senior colleague.
"What are you getting so upset about?" the head of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Megan Latham, asked as Ms Hammoud dabbed at her eyes with a tissue.
Ms Hammoud is under investigation by the corruption watchdog over allegations her then colleague, Anthony Andjic, did her family favours to the tune of $1 million.
Mr Andjic, a former assistant director in the department, has admitted to the ICAC he was "infatuated" with Ms Hammoud. He professed his affection in a series of emails in 2012, declaring he would "die" for her.
But Ms Hammoud insists she and Mr Andjic were not in a relationship at the time the rumour mill was in overdrive. They have since married.
She told the commission on Friday she was "uncomfortable" at work in mid-2013 "because of the way everyone made me feel on the floor...just rumours and them sneaking around and following me".
"What were the rumours that were upsetting you?" Commissioner Latham asked.
"That Anthony and I were in a relationship," Ms Hammoud replied.
"The rumours had substance, didn't they?" Commissioner Latham asked.
Mr Andjic has given evidence he may "subconsciously" have been trying the impress Ms Hammoud when he awarded $1.3 million in court refurbishment contracts to an inexperienced company owned by partner of Ms Hammoud's sister, Fayrouz.
Ms Hammoud knew her sister used a fake name, "Fay Rouze", when she was dealing with the department as the public face of one of the companies.
She denied suggestions by counsel assisting the inquiry, Grant Brady, that she "knew they [the companies] were not doing a lot of the work that they claimed for" and denied she was involved in a scam to line her family's pockets.
The inquiry has heard allegations Mr Andjic also tried to get Ms Hammoud a very senior job in the department when he was sitting on the selection panel.
The recruitment process was aborted when Mr Andjic's supervisor became suspicious that the pair were in a relationship. Ms Hammoud was upset by an internal memo in which Mr Andjic's supervisor said security footage could be reviewed to confirm the pair "drive to work together".
Ms Hammoud admitted her July 2013 application for the job was riddled with false claims and "over-exaggerations" but she said she was not in a relationship with Mr Andjic until August 2013 and the application was just a "training" exercise.
Phone records tendered at the commission show the pair texted each other 1000 times in April 2013, and 664 times in March.
"Do you think it's normal to text someone every single day over 1000 times a month if they're not in a relationship?" Mr Brady asked.
"Yes, from my perspective," she said.
