Without realizing it a week had already passed. Sherdan's 'vacation' was done, and it's time to go back to work.
Secretary Lincoln was waiting outside wearing a casual wear, no longer dressed in a formal black suit unlike usual.
"Good morning sir!" He cheerfully greeted. Sherdan nodded in acknowledgement.
Secretary Lincoln had already submitted a leave, and he only came here to introduce the new secretary to Sherdan.
He'll be gone for several weeks to prepare his and his fiancée's wedding. It was actually a personal reason, but it was easily granted because he's close to Sherdan.
The moment they arrived at the office in the CEO's floor, they saw a tall man waiting for them.
His features are stunning, his hair jet black, and it was slicked back, making him appear more mature and a little sexy. The Lucian before was handsome, but now he became even more attractive.
The moment they arrived, Lucian greeted them.
"Greetings to the CEO. Greetings to Secretary Lincoln. I'm the new temporary secretary, Lucian Lewis." He introduced himself. Sherdan looked at him, assessing him a little.
Actually he had forgotten how Lucian looked like, and now that he saw him he's starting to remember a little. He remembered this man from when his parent's wake was hold, Lucian gave him some sort of advice despite them not being close to each other.
Aside from that, he had an initial impression of him. After all, during his high school days, Lucian was popular because he had tons of friends and belongs to all kinds of circles.
Sherdan had no absolute trust to anybody aside from Secretary Lincoln, but it wouldn't hurt to see this man's capabilities.
Sherdan extended his hand. Understanding what this implies, Lucian immediately extended his own intending to shake the other's hand.
However, the moment the tips of their fingers touched, an astronomical sphere appeared in those two barely touching hands. Connecting them together like a chain.
This event wasn't known or seen by anyone, even the two persons involved, it was because the time had stopped the instant it had appeared.
The sphere then transformed into a golden ring, still invisible to naked eyes. In both rings is a golden thread, connecting both people's fates.
This frozen time, greatly impacted another world.
Two parallel worlds came to a halt. From the parallel world's sky emerged two balls of light. One was bright and shiny, one is grayish and flickering, almost dim and transparent. The bright one encircled the dim one, like it was protecting it.
They danced in the sky before separating. The two ball found its destination. And it shattered into tiny bits before gradually merging with this world's counterpart of themselves.
"Haaa!" A 16-year-old boy breathed roughly upon waking up. He seems to have been dreaming for a long time.
It was a long dream filled with nothing but sadness and grievances.
He can remember this dream's content so vividly, like it wasn't a dream at all. It was his life in the future, it was his sufferings in the future, it was his life for the next 16 years.
He placed his hands on his aching head. Seemingly in a confused state.
'Was he just dreaming of the future? Or did he come back from the future?'
He doesn't know the answer. He can't grasp the truth behind such a phenomenon.
However, is that even what he should think about at this moment? Instead of worrying whether who he is right now, he should worry about one thing.
'That day'
He had to prevent it from happening, no matter what.
Sherdan stood, he was quite surprised by the familiar room. This is his room during high school. He can still remember it. A plain looking room that is painted black and white, it was wide, but Sherdan doesn't care about decorations or anything. So he just asked for all the important furniture and then left the room be.
He remembered he had a whole body size mirror in this room, so he searched for it. The moment he saw it, he saw himself.
The 16-year-old him have a more youthful face. Unlike his 32-year-old self, this face looks more approachable.
But since he already had that default emotionless face for too long, his eyes now carried an air of indifference.
He was a little smaller than he was on his 32, obviously because by this time he still wasn't madly frequenting gyms like an obsessed freak. Aside from his appearance who had lost it's 'maturity', there's one thing he finds strange.
He seems to have more thoughts than his usual 'self'. But despite that, he still had a listless expression. But his mind have now formed a jungle from those unanswered question.
Like his 16-year-old self and his 32-year-old self had fused. He disliked these feelings, it was familiar, but it was also unfamiliar. Unfamiliar things make Sherdan anxious.
He hates it.
That's why he seeks for familiarity. He only seeks for things he knows. As his mind drifted to these thoughts, he thought of Friedde. The other's face appeared in his mind. One was Friedde's smiling and happy face and one is a Friedde with indifferent eyes. It was both familiar and unfamiliar, and Sherdan can't make out of what emotions he's feeling.
His 16-year-old self loves this radiant and loving Friedde and is scared of seeing this indifferent Friedde, but his 32-year-old self doesn't have any emotions for any of this Friedde anymore. He was only looking for a familiar person, a person he can talk about his self, no matter who it may be.
KNOCK! KNOCK!
In the middle of his thoughts, he heard a knock outside his door. What follows is a voice of a young girl.
"Brother! Ma and Pa is leaving soon! Come out already." It was Imogen's voice, only that it's pitch is a lot higher and childlike.
Sherdan's body stiffened. As a mix of both present and future, he doesn't know how he will face his sister without showing her that he's uncomfortable. Imogen is still 7 years old now, and she's probably still sensitive to emotions, especially the negative ones.
"Brother? What's taking you so long?" Imogen can no longer wait and opened the door. Her big round eyes peeked at the slightly opened door. She's small, and cute, different from whom she will be in the future.
Imogen's bright eyes scanned the room and when she saw her brother already awake, her eyes turned crescent, and she smiled. Her small canines showing.
Sherdan's mind is messy, and he doesn't know what to do. However, contrary to his messy mind, his body moved. He swept Imogen and carried him, even kissing her cheeks. All this series of actions was done so naturally, and he didn't feel like it was odd.
"Just wait for Older Brother here for a minute. I'll brush my teeth then after that we'll go." Sherdan spoke. His tone slightly cold, like his usual self.
After finishing, he carried Imogen again and went down the stairs.
He looks calm, but he's actually in a turmoil. He's scared, that it might be like any other dreams he had after his parents died.
He's afraid of them suddenly vanishing, and reminding him of his reality. But he can't stop himself from expecting. Expecting for this to be true.
His heart started beating loudly, Imogen noticed and asked him about it, distracting him a little. But when the conversation was done, that throbbing came back again.
It's making Sherdan feel nausea. And his eyes felt hot. In the 12 years of his life, Sherdan had never felt something like this again.
When they reached the door leading towards the outside. Sherdan stood there, hesitating. He can't stop his hands from trembling.
He had the mentality of a 32-year-old, but how come he's acting like a coward now?
Imogen noticed him not opening the door and was in a hurry, so she went to the door herself and opened it. The moment the door was opened, the sudden bright light shortly hindered Sherdan's vision. And when he regained his sight, Sherdan saw 'them'.
"Baby, come here. Kiss mama before she leaves." Andra said. Sherdan and Imogen's mother. She was bright like the sun and also very beautiful.
"Mama!!" Imogen run towards Andra and hugged her neck. She was able to do this because Andra had already bent down to accommodate her.
"Aww, my cute baby! I'm gonna miss you so muuuch."
"How about Daddy? Am I not getting any kiss here?" Nicholas spoke. Feigning his 'hurt' tone. Imogen granted Nicholas a kiss in the cheeks, making the husband and wife so happy that they showered her with kisses.
Nicholas noticed Sherdan standing stiff in one place and laughed. Andra noticed it too and went towards Sherdan, aiming to tease her son by asking him to hug her.
She gave Imogen to Nicholas and went towards Sherdan. She opened her arms, indicating that she wanted a hug. She was so sure that the other will just grunt and refuse it like the usual, so she was exceptionally shocked when Sherdan really went to her and hugged her tight.
This was so unusual that even Nicholas was surprised.
"D-dear? Did you eat something wrong?" Nicholas asked with a flabbergasted look on his face.
Andra was also about to ask Sherdan but went stiff after seeing his shaking shoulders.
"M-mom. I miss you."
Sherdan spoke in between his sobs.
It was inaudible that nobody aside from him knows what he said, but it was enough. For 12 years, he had dreamt of seeing them again. And now that it was granted, he became greedy. He doesn't want this to be just a dream.
He gripped her tightly. He was afraid they'll vanish again. He was afraid he'll wake up again. He doesn't want that reality again.
Andra who was just surprised before was now worried. She doesn't know why her son will cry like this, but instead of prying she just caressed his hair. Soothing him silently.
Sherdan's heart throbbed.
He....doesn't want this to ever end.