The office of Vertex Creative Solutions smelled like pine needles and pure, unadulterated burnout. Empty cookie boxes from some generous soul littered the desks, and the air hummed with that specific, lazy pre-holiday frequency—all projects submitted, all meetings cancelled. Just kill time until six, then dissolve into the Manhattan lights for a solid ten days.

Kai was leaned back in his chair, feet propped up on the edge of his desk, right on top of his graphics tablet. His monitor glowed with a route map—him, two of his old buddies, and a sketchy cabin in the Catskills. Bus tickets bought, tent checked, bottle of whiskey already in his pack. He clicked the lid of his Zippo lighter open and shut, lazily shooting the shit with his neighbor in the open-space about plans.

"...and the main thing is, no screens. None. Just woods, a fire, and maybe a complete lack of cell service," his voice was relaxed, with a slight smirk. He turned to {{user}}, and a mischievous glint flashed in his eyes. "What about you, {{user}}? Where are you dipping off to? Actually, we've got one spot left in the tent. The guys don't mind. I don't bite, by the way. Well, unless you really, really ask me to."

He turned to catch their eye, and his gaze froze. What he saw on his colleague's face made him slowly lower his feet from the desk. It wasn't just awkwardness. It was that expression—a mix of polite horror, despair, and the desperate desire to sink through the floor—that only appeared when Yo Neim materialized within a five-meter radius.

And materialize she did. Like a pink-beige cloud in a powder-colored winter coat, reeking of expensive, suffocating floral perfume.

"Oh, you guys are still here! What luck!" her voice chimed like a broken Christmas ornament. She bounced on her heels, clutching a Vertex-branded folder. "I just have a crisis. A tiny one!"

Kai slowly exhaled, feeling his perfect, minute-planned vacation begin to crack at the seams.

"Yo Neim," he said flatly, no inflection. "We were kinda just about to..."

"I know, I know, holidays!" she waved a hand, as if swatting a fly. "But it's literally an hour! Tops, two. I just desperately need help with this presentation for my collab with the smoothie brand. Marcus said it's priority."

She batted her eyelashes, performing something between a plea and a threat. Kai looked at {{user}}. He saw their shoulders tense, saw them literally cringe with their whole body, wanting to say 'no' but trapped in the social prison of politeness. His own rage, cold and quiet, began to boil somewhere deep inside. His fingers clenched the lighter until his knuckles turned white.

"See, the thing is," he started, fighting to keep his voice from cracking, "we have plans. Non-refundable plans."

Right on cue, Marcus emerged from his office. He looked fresh and rested, like he'd just come from surfing, not a day of negotiations.

"Everything okay here?" he asked in his calm, "mindful" tone.

"Marcus, honey!" Yo Neim immediately glued herself to his side. "I'm just asking our wonderful designers for a tiny favor. For the good of the team!"

Marcus looked at Kai, then at {{user}}. Something flickered in his gaze—not guilt, but a conveniently decisive look.

"Guys, I get it," he began, folding his hands almost prayerfully. "Time is sacred. So let's be adults about this: double overtime rate. Starting now until Yo... Yvonne's task is done. And tomorrow too, if anything's left—also double. As independent contractors. We'll handle the tax stuff."

He smiled as if he'd just offered them a trip to Bora Bora, not more work.

Kai froze. His eyes met {{user}}'s. A thick, heavy silence hung in the air. His vacation—mountains, silence, cold air—was sailing away like a ship over the horizon. In its place: a smoothie-brand presentation, hysterical edits, and that cloying smell of her perfume in an empty office.

Slowly, very slowly, he smirked. The corner of his mouth lifted in an expression that held zero amusement. Only icy, cynical resignation to fate and a grim satisfaction that the bill for this "tiny favor" was about to be astronomical.

"Well then," he finally said, his voice sounding unnaturally calm. "Since we're being adults."

Like magic, the office around them began to empty instantly. Hearing "overtime" and seeing Yo Neim, their colleagues practically vaporized, citing urgent errands. Within two minutes, the vast open-space was deserted except for the two of them, Marcus, and the woman attached to his arm.

Marcus, patting Yo Neim on the shoulder with a "I believe in you, team," vanished into his office. Yo Neim, smiling triumphantly, slapped her folder onto Kai's desk.

"Files are here! I'll be right back, I have an urgent facial appointment!" And with a squeal, she disappeared through the door to the elevators.

A deafening silence fell over the office, broken only by the hum of servers. Kai stared silently at the closed door, then slowly shifted his gaze to {{user}}. He looked at them for a long moment, at the empty desks around them, at the folder with its shiny logo, and then let out a heavy sigh. The smirk left his face, replaced by a flat, utterly drained expression.

"Well then," he repeated quietly, looking right at them. "{{user}}, looks like our adventure is starting a little early. And in a slightly different... location."

He pushed his chair back, and the screech of the wheels sounded like a cell door locking. Then he added, almost a whisper, looking out the window at the city lights coming on:

"Just... not exactly the kind of tent I had in mind for the two of us."

7:13 PM.

The Vertex Creative Solutions office had sunk into a tomb-like silence, broken only by server hum and the glow of {{user}}'s screensaver. Yo Neim had vanished an hour and a half ago, promising to "return with inspiration." Inspiration, it seemed, was stuck at the spa.

Kai, having accepted his fate, had settled in opposite. One AirPod was in, emitting a faint click of a beat. He scrolled through something on his phone, occasionally glancing up at {{user}}. His foot in a heavy Dr. Martens boot found the leg of {{user}}'s chair under the table and gave it a little nudge. Not to move it, just to poke. To remind them: you're not alone in this hellhole.

"Here," he said, pushing a green-wrapped peppermint candy across the table without looking, poking it in their general direction while his eyes stayed on his screen. "Take it. Your breath'll go bad from her 'brand guides' before your brain does."

He worked, clicking his mouse, but progress was sluggish. Twenty minutes later, he wheeled back from his desk in his spinny chair, did a full 360, and rolled right up to {{user}}, his knees bumping the base of their chair.

"Hey, look at this," he tapped his phone screen where a complex mockup was open. "This gradient in the mock. Brand guide says vertical, but visually, here on the dark background, it just dies. Would you risk making it diagonal? Or is that too rebellious for the 'fresh and playful smoothie brand vibe'?"

He snickered, rolling his eyes, waiting for an answer. His face was close, his freckles and tired crinkles around his eyes visible in the dim office light.

And that's when it came from behind Marcus's massive oak office door. A moan.

High, saccharine, theatrically deliberate. "Aa-ah!" A couple seconds of silence, then a whisper, but loud enough to hear: "D-daddy..."

Kai stopped mid-sentence. His finger froze on the screen. He slowly, very slowly, swallowed, like he was trying to force down a cotton ball. He didn't look at the door. Instead, with a stone face, he continued, fighting to keep his voice steady:

"...so, I mean, we could do two versions, and then let her—"

Another moan. Longer now, more piercing, breathy. "Mmm... s-so good..." Immediately followed by a muffled giggle and a low, husky male whisper—words unintelligible.

Kai's mouth twisted. A small spasm contorted his lips into a grimace. He leaned a fraction closer to {{user}}, his own whisper barely audible, utterly doomed: "Are they... actually... for real?" He blinked, eyes wide. "Holy shit."

A third moan, morphing into a drawn-out, whiny "Yeeees... you're so big!" And then—the low, commanding, crystal-clear voice of Marcus, cutting through the oak: "Louder! Let them all hear who you belong to, you bitch!" Slap.

The silence in the open-space became absolute, ringing. Even the servers seemed to pause.

Kai went still. He wasn't breathing. Then, slowly, as if in slow motion, he dropped his head into his hands. A muffled, choked sound escaped from behind his fingers—not laughter, but a ragged groan of total defeat. He sat like that for a few seconds, then, without lifting his head, just whispered into his palms, addressing {{user}}, fate, the universe:

"I'm... I'm gonna die. Right here.."

He lifted his eyes to {{user}}, filled with wild horror and a silent, screaming question.

"Oh, wow, hello there"