The woman smiled, her face glowing with radiance in her green eyes, and said gently, "I will give you the details tomorrow. I believe you're already ready to go to your apartment. Or perhaps you still feel tired and need more rest? You can sleep here if you want."
"Thank you, I feel fine and I'll go to my apartment." Sam replied with a slight smile, then got up from the bed. He felt a bit weak, but he could easily manage.
The woman noticed that she was trying to help him, but he declined. Nevertheless, she persisted and held onto his hand, leading him towards the door stubbornly.
When they stepped out of the door and found themselves in the living room, the woman asked Sam, "What's your name?" Sam glanced at her for a fleeting moment and thought of giving a fake name before dismissing the idea from his mind as she might uncover it. He preferred to gain her trust as she represented a tremendous opportunity he intended to seize completely.
He replied "Sam, and… what's your name?"
"My name is Angela." the woman told him, supporting him to sit on the simple couch in the living room. Sam responded with a light expression, "Nice to meet you, Angela." as Angela replied with a gentle smile.
She quickly went to the small kitchen within the living room and fetched several bags, holding them in her right hand and extending her left hand to support Sam and help him stand.
Then she headed to her apartment door, opened it, and said, "You need to eat this. A variety of chicken, meat, and some salads. It might not be the best-tasting, but it's necessary for you right now."
Sam wanted to ask her about her insistence, but he somewhat understood why. He believed that using the ability had exhausted him physically and mentally. To compensate for this fatigue, his body needed to replenish its energy through food. And of course, he didn't doubt that the food might be poisoned in some way. She could kill him a long time ago if she really wanted to.
She led him up the stairs to his apartment. Sam took out the key weakly and tried to insert it into the keyhole, but he failed before he felt Angela's gentle hand guiding his hand and correctly placing the key in the keyhole.
"I hope this will be your only failure on this side." she said, then smirked a little mischievously.
'What side is she talking about?' Sam thought before catching her joke. He sarcastically smiled at himself and didn't respond when they entered the apartment.
'Nonsense, I forgot how terrible, untidy, and dirty this apartment was.' Sam cursed in his heart and then turned to Angela before he could get a better look at the room.
"Thank you for bringing me to your apartment and taking care of me. I owe you one." he said with a tone of respect he managed to conjure up.
Angela looked at him before smiling, "You're welcome." before adding mysteriously, "In the end, neighbors... are always there for each other."
He didn't quite understand what Angela meant exactly, but he was already fatigued and wanted to end this cursed, or perhaps blessed, night. He said to her, "Of course. I'll visit you tomorrow at 4 PM if you don't mind."
She thought for a moment before answering, "Fine with me, but don't overexert yourself right now. Rest well and get some good sleep, so you can see me again." When she reached the last part of her sentence, she smiled gently, yet with a hidden cunning.
"Of course" he returned the smile, bid her farewell, and closed the door.
Sam weakly went to his bed, sat down, and took the closest thing from the bag, starting to eat. 'I never thought I'd miss this bed.' Sam thought sarcastically, then continued his simple meal.
Sam lay on his blanketless bed and removed the surprisingly clean coat he had on, using it to cover himself.
'God, so many things happened in these hours.' Sam thought as he looked at the clock, indicating 2 AM.
'I gained the power to stop time. I can do it either at the expense of get myself in a dangerous situation to my temple or by immersing myself in something.' Sam summarized what he knew about his ability, but he realized he didn't possess much knowledge about it at all.
To be exact, he didn't know how to control it properly. Every time he used the ability, the duration and intensity of the time stop varied. The first time, time slowed down dramatically. The second time, it stopped completely but was shorter. The third time, it slowed down severely but was less than the first time. There was a movement, albeit unnoticeable.
Sam couldn't determine whether the decrease in his power's strength was due to his exhaustion or if the way he activated it caused the ability to vary. He simply didn't know!
'Damn nonsense.' Sam cursed silently in his heart. He hated having variables in his life. He sought certainty in everything he did. Everything present in his life, he wanted to have complete control over. And control doesn't come without knowledge.
'Also, my encounter with Christina and Angela.' Sam thought about meeting the two women.
'Perhaps... no, impossible.' Sam momentarily considered that his meeting with them wasn't a mere 'coincidence' but he quickly dismissed this idea. Christina had been present for a while in that library. Sam visited it from time to time. It's very unlikely that She is a government spy or something similar to take Sam.
However, he couldn't say the same about Angela. Sam honestly didn't know who his neighbors were. He had little information about Angela beyond what she had provided. Yet, his heart felt that meeting her was indeed peculiar.
What are the odds of gaining a supernatural ability only to find out that one of your neighbors, whom you don't even know, also possesses a supernatural ability? Extremely low to non-existent.
Sam also remembered her saying that she was on a 'business trip.'
Sam assumed her work would involve using these abilities to do something. He had no idea what. But he knew his encounter with Angela wasn't planned. It definitely wasn't a coincidence. Something big was happening, something Sam didn't know.
Sam cursed in his heart again and finally decided to rest a bit. This crazy night would finally end well. Sam closed his eyes...
Sam opened his eyes and noticed the light streaming through the room's window, trying its best to block the sunlight. Sam glanced at his alarm clock and found it was 10 AM.
'Slept well' Sam thought with a smile on his face and felt much better. Then he quickly went to the bags given by Angela and began eating leisurely.
Amid his meal, Sam remembered that he was supposed to be at work now. Sam worked at a clothing factory, a 25-minute walk from his apartment. Sam remembered that one of the reasons he bought this apartment was because it was 'close' to the factory.
Sam chuckled dryly and decided to finish his meal without much concern about his job.
Sam finished his meal calmly and peacefully. He didn't have much to do, almost nothing to do until his encounter with Angela.
For a moment, Sam thought about meeting Christina, but he didn't want to seem too invested in her. He rejected the idea.
He decided to turn on the TV, or what was left of it at least, as it was almost broken due to one of Sam's anger episodes.
Somehow, the TV turned on, and he decided to watch whatever nonsense might come up.
Then Sam heard a knock on his apartment door. At that moment, he heard a heavy African-American accent from the outside.
"Yo, fool! Hand over your payment right now, or I'm kickin' your ass outta that room!"