Type... Type... Type...
Aside from the pouring rain outside, the only noise that could be heard in the dark and lonely office space was the repetitive clicking of a keyboard.
Vincent Solace paused his work and carefully grabbed the cup of noodles on his desk. He already ate most—if not all—of the noodles, so all that's left is to drink the remaining broth.
He leaned back on his chair, closed his eyes, brought the cup next to his mouth, and Slurp! savored the flavorful liquid inside.
It was already cold, but it didn't matter, given that he had already gotten used to eating cold foods ever since he started working in this awful company. Neither his greedy boss nor his indifferent colleagues would give two sh*ts about whatever he wanted to eat or whether he ate at all. All they cared about was simply if he was done with all the assigned work or not.
After he finished drinking all the remaining broth, Vincent weakly stood up from his office chair, made his way toward a nearby dustbin, and tossed the empty cup in.
"Oh, it's already 11:54 PM..." he muttered as he looked tiredly at the clock that was glued to the wall. He wasn't surprised, not at all. Actually, working overtime had become a common occurrence for Vincent. This wasn't the only time he had to work past ten in the evening; there had been far more worse occasions where he was forced to work his ass off until two or three in the morning—and that comes without any bonus payment.
Had it not been for his younger siblings—whom he was raising alone because their good-for-nothing parents divorced and completely abandoned them—then he wouldn't at all hesitate to point a gun to his head.
Oh... to be a child again... Vincent's lips curled up into a melancholic smile.
11:55...
After he returned to his seat, the super exhausted fellow continued his work. He had already informed his siblings beforehand that going home tonight might be impossible because he had more work to do than usual... Of course, he told them to lock all the doors and close all the windows. Despite knowing the fact that his siblings were already in high school, and that they were already pretty mature for their age, he still couldn't help but still feel slightly worried... Perhaps it's the so-called brotherly instincts kicking in.
11:56...
"I wonder what Vanessa cooked for dinner," as the thought of Vanessa's cooking entered his mind, Vincent couldn't help but salivate; to be frank, the noodles from earlier did very little to satisfy his hunger, and his younger sister was a pretty good cook so it was only natural that he always looked forward to her cooking—not that he'd taste it tonight though.
Her husband in the future will be very lucky... Vincent almost nodded to himself before his brother instincts kicked in once again, But who will be worthy?!
11:57...
As he was typing on his computer, he suddenly recalled something that made his heart ache for some reason.
It's December 31 today...
11:58...
Tomorrow... Tomorrow—no, later—will be my 25th birthday...
When was the last time I tasted cake again..?
11:59...
What was the exact flavor?
Was it strawberry, cheese cake, lemon cake... Or was it vanilla?
Ah... That's right, hehe...
How could I ever forget?
...It was chocolate.
12:00, January 1.
At this moment, a blinding light suddenly surged out of the monitor and completely engulfed Vincent's field of vision—causing everything before him to turn akin to pure white ashes...