THE OMEGA | ✓

Chapter 39 - Hard Truth

"Sai Yud Station."

New takes a deep breath, slowly eyeing around his carriage, making sure it is not obvious. As usual, a few people enter the already full train, but there is no sign of Fort. Letting a long sigh of relief, New lets his guard down and relax. He only has a few more station before he needs to get off. Then he will have to be aware of that alpha again.

Since the day Fah introduced them, New has been seeing that man a few times. And in that few times, that alpha always gives him a weird look, as if he is discontent about something. Which is weird because Mike treats him normally, that is, as normal as mere acquaintance can be, while Fah is as friendly as she probably always is. But that alpha from marketing, he scares New.

And unfortunately for him, he discovered that the man lives around Sai Yud station, which is coincidentally on the line that he has to take to go to work. The first time he realizes this fact, he was on his way back home. Their eyes met and Fort kept staring at him the whole time, as if threatening him, before getting off at his station. Needless to say, New makes sure to get on the train back home after making sure the man is nowhere in sight since then.

Only, the commute to his work is a different story. There is no way to know if they are going to take the same train because the man's station is after his. He has no way to avoid it, except going to work earlier. Which is not worth it because he is usually exhausted after a day's work to get up early.

So New just bears it, the torturous 45-minute commute to his company, for almost a month. He only has to endure this a while longer – the internship will end in two weeks.

Already arriving at his station, New quickly gets off to the platform, and heads straight to the elevator, making sure not to look at his surrounding. He doesn't have to suffer if he cannot see the man. Turning the volume of his earpiece up, New jumps as he feels a hand on his shoulder. "Sing!"

Thank god.

****

New just cannot keep himself awake right now as his keeps dozing off, even while working on his drawing. The project he is working on will be concluded this week so there is a lot he has to do, hence why he does not get more than a few hours of sleep every day. It seems the exhaustion finally caught on to him.

"Hey, go get some coffee." Jirayu, one of the senior architects seated in front of him suggests. Shaking his head a few times to hopefully activate his brain by hurting it, New rubs his eyes softly. He then brings up the canned coffee he just drank, to show to the man.

"Go get some espresso." New turns his head, to look at the mini lounge they have on the floor. As far as he knows, there are no espresso machine, or even instant espresso. Or did Jirayu mean making a really saturated instant coffee?

"Here, go get me one too." The older man hands New his card, to which New only stares at him, confused. It is still working time, he is not allowed to go out. Right?

"Nobody cares. You worked till late every day. Just go take a nap."

"Lunch's over…" New reminds the man, still very much reluctant. He is afraid this will ruin his reputation which will affect his performance evaluation. And he does not want that to happen, because he really wants to work here. He can't screw up right now, not at the end.

"It's better to take a nap and be more efficient than working like this. Go. But half an hour." Not knowing how to argue with Jirayu since the man is speaking the truth, New says his thanks and accepts the card. He then makes his way to the elevator, constantly looking left and right while waiting to see if anybody is eyeing him suspiciously or talking about him. But indeed, nobody cares.