"Signs of getting old," Christian sighed leaning back in the chair, "never ending stress, and back pain as a result for sitting too long throughout the day.... Too young to suffer!" The evening had settled into a deceptive silence and pain.From the outside, the company looked normal, lights glowing on several floors, employees moving like small shadows behind glass walls, coffee machines humming quietly, keyboards clicking as if nothing in the world had changed.Inside Christian’s office, the silence felt heavier.He arched his back slightly, sleeves rolled to his elbows, fingers resting against his temple as he stared at the projections spread across the screen.Numbers were wrong, not by much, just enough to irritate him, small deviations, and tny delays.Adjustments that technically made sense… but together felt deliberate."Again…" he muttered under his breath. "I thought once I get rid of Oliver, everything will be fine, but looks like I'm wrong, there's still an insider who is

"Tell me," the man asked, his voice carrying quiet authority, "what do you see?" The analyst swallowed hard. "I see a normal subject."A pause, and the man said, "Look again!" The analyst did, this time his expression changed."…No," he whispered with a confused face. "He moved before the impact."Silence filled the room, then the man smiled faintly. "Seems like this needs our attention...." Miles away, in a sterile office washed in cold blue light, the flagged footage finished rendering on a curved monitor.The room was quiet in the way expensive places usually are, insulated, controlled, deliberately silent. Rows of screens flickered softly again and again, reflecting in the glass walls like fragments of an artificial sky."Anomaly confirmed," one analyst said, his voice came out to be low but steady."Time skip? Are we still talking about it?" Another asked without looking away from the data stream."No, it's about movement.... I think we need to check it out carefully once aga

"Chirp.... Chirp...." Birds are early risers just like always, the morning did not feel like morning, it felt too quiet apart from the low Chirping sounds of birds.It's not silent in the ordinary sense, but quiet in a way that made Christian aware of things he had never noticed before.He opened his eyes slowly, staring at the ceiling of his room, and for a few seconds, he didn’t move, he just simply listened.The faint hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen, the soft shifting of fabric as Adrian moved somewhere beyond the hallway.The distant sound of a car passing three streets away.Even the subtle creak of wood settling inside the walls.Every sound felt closer, clearer, and sharper.Christian frowned slightly.He lay there for another moment before exhaling and pushing himself upright, running a hand through his hair."What is wrong with me…" He muttered quietly with a clueless face, "what's happening within me from the past few days...." He swung his legs off the bed and stoo

"These are files you need to sign, Chris!""These are the documents you need to check, Chris!""These are the projects which need your presentation, Chris!""This is the schedule for your next week, Chris!" These are the continuous words that surrounded him for the whole day, even Christian completed all the tasks without any further delay. And the rest of the day refused to settle into anything that resembled normal.Christian tried to convince himself that it was nothing more than lack of sleep and leftover frustration, but the feeling persisted in ways he could neither explain nor ignore.Though he tried to bury himself in extra work even after completing all the tasks, it felt kind of troublesome to him.He sat behind his desk, files open, numbers waiting for his attention, yet his focus slipped repeatedly, not because the work was difficult, but because something inside him refused to relax.It was subtle at first, a faint awareness that existed beneath his thoughts.Not a soun

“Why are we even here?” Christian looked at Adrian with a confused face after getting pulled along with Adrian to the police station.Adrian gently said, “Just a formality my dear, once we are done with our work, we will leave immediately, no need to worry about it.”“I already told you,” Christian groaned in frustration, “it's a small accident I'm not even hurt, why bother about dragging that poor driver to the police station? What if he is innocent and it's purely an accident? What about his family? If he has a wife and children, don't you think they'll be worried to hell….” Adrian looked at Christian who is kind enough to worry about the family of a person who almost dared to hurt him, “at this moment, I really don't know whom you take after…. Being kind towards even an enemy, what an innocent person are you! At this moment, I really want to hide you forever from this cruel world, I think that's the only way to protect you.” “Mr. Adrian…” Christian snapped his fingers in front of