Vernon removed the glasses from his face and rubbed his tired eyes with both hands. With school, his part-time job at Go Technologies, the Spring Expo presentation, and his own personal projects, he barely had any sleep in the last several weeks, and it was finally beginning to take a toll on him.
The occasional naps he managed to take in empty classrooms between his lectures and seminars were clearly not enough to keep him going.
Saturday mornings used to be his favorite time of the week, but now he could not even remember the last time he enjoyed sleeping in or taking a day off for himself. Ever since he set his unmovable life goal, reaching it was the only thing he could think about.
And he was determined to get there, whatever it took, even at the expense of his social life or his health. He just had to do it, no matter what; otherwise, he would simply go insane.
"Vernon! Your friend is here!"
Mrs. Lin knocked on her son's door and walked away, while a slim guy with curly brown hair smiled and thanked her for letting him in. Then, he knocked on the door as well and swung it open as if he were entering his own room.
"Morning, Lin!"
Annoyed by the guy's overly exuberant voice, Vernon gestured for him to come in and shut the door.
"Another all-nighter, huh? You're gonna drop dead pretty soon at this rate, what's the point of working so hard if it is practically killing you?"
Vernon's best and virtually only friend, the one who was genuinely concerned about his well-being, was Felix Song, his neighbor, whose parents owned a small Korean restaurant, which was not particularly popular due to its location and overall somewhat shabby appearance.
Just like the Lin family, Felix's family also faced financial struggles of their own and Felix was eager to resolve them as quickly as possible.
"If it kills me, then it kills me. I'm going to push through until it happens, then."
Felix looked at Vernon from head to toe, then let out a disappointed sigh––there was no point arguing with that guy, he was as stubborn as a mule.
"Fine, whatever, I'm not your mom. The reason I came so early today is that the date of our pitch presentation was moved again, and now it's final."
Vernon leaned back in his chair and covered his face with both hands. For nearly a year, Felix and he had been working tirelessly on creating their own software product, with the intention of pitching it during the annual investors' initiative.
This event attracted influential individuals in search of young talent, start-ups, and promising investment opportunities. It marked a crucial milestone for Vernon, as it was the year he aimed to set his revenge plan in motion––unless something went horribly wrong.
"So? When is it?"
Felix shook his head and sighed again.
"It's during your Spring Expo presentation, dude."
"Fuck..."
And that was the first thing to go wrong.
The reason Vernon was upset was not only because it cut a good amount of time to polish their pitch to perfection, but also because of two other, rather important reasons.
Firstly, it was important for all members of the start-up to be present at the event. Secondly, it meant he now had to choose between dividing his potential between two equally significant tasks.
Felix was not particularly pleased with this turn of events either. While he excelled in technical aspects, his presentation skills were below average, especially when it came to selling something of such immense importance that could greatly impact their future in numerous crucial ways.
Vernon finally fixed his posture and threw a serious glance at his friend.
"There is no helping it, Song, if I don't make it in time, you will have to present alone."
"Are you insane?! If I do it alone, then we're definitely not getting anything!"
Felix's loud voice shook the otherwise quiet room like thunder but Vernon remained unfazed.
"We don't have the luxury of contemplation, Song, if we fail this time, we'll have to wait two more years before we can reapply. I'll get the pitch ready, you'll just have to present it... And again, I'm not saying that you'll HAVE to present alone, but it IS a possibility."
Felix let out a miserable groan indicating that he was still not happy with the current turn of events, but there was nothing else to do, their product idea was supposed to be their ticket to the promised land of money and prosperity. And they were desperate for that ticket.
"Fine, but you'll have to promise to do everything you can to get there in time for our pitch, understood?"
Felix nodded and crossed his arms in front of his chest. Yes, he had to do everything he could. There was no room for any errors. He could not wait anymore.
***
When Felix finally left, Vernon's surroundings fell silent once again. Although he preferred absolute silence above all else, at that very moment, he began to feel that it was numbing his mind.
Thus, despite the enormous fatigue dragging his heavy body down with the help of unrelenting gravity, Vernon rose from the chair, grabbed his university bomber jacket, and went outside, disregarding his mother's pleas to have some food before leaving the house.
He needed to get some air into his stale brain ASAP.
As he aimlessly wandered around the old, half-demolished neighborhood, his body, perhaps finally awakened by the much-needed movement and fresh air, reminded him that it required sustenance, and Vernon began to regret ignoring his mother's suggestion.
He reached his hand inside the inner pocket of the jacket, hoping to find some money, and instantly froze when his fingers collided with something small and round. He took the object out of his pocket and held it before his eyes, as if to estimate its worth.
"I have completely forgotten I had you."
He addressed the round candy in a glossy pink wrapper as if it was alive, then hesitated, contemplating whether or not he should eat it, only to shake his head in the end and hide the candy back into his pocket.
"Not now, princess. Not yet."