Chapter 2: First Time Around
A/N: To clarify, this is one of MC's former lives.
...
'Today's Sunday, the only day I get to relax and recollect myself before another week of destruction.' A young man thought to himself.
At this moment he was laying down on his small bed within a relatively small apartment room, one could tell quite immediately that this young man was not enjoying his life per se from the sheer state of the room.
He himself was lying beside a small heap of cloths which didn't seem to bother him at all, it seemed normal. Since the curtains were down, the room was a little stuffy and in dire need of ventilation, but of course, to someone who was inside all through, he wouldn't realise just how stuffy it was.
'If the new episode dropped today, it would have been the best, quite unfortunate that it has to be tomorrow.'
"Heh…"
Having nothing much to do as he had practically no social life, the young man just brought himself to his feet and walked towards the bathroom to use the toilet and also take a bath. Once the bath was done, it was time to get to work tidying up the place a little, since there were several packs of ordered food lying around and such.
Because of the sheer amount of rubbish laying around, it took a while to clean everywhere.
"I shouldn't be overexerting myself so much, if not, I'll really fall to my death tomorrow."
Being a fresh graduate who was lucky enough to secure a job shortly after leaving school, it could be described as a good thing, not for Mike. There was no way to be sure if this was how all jobs were, but the firm he worked for felt like hell.
Not only did he have a terrible boss, as the youngest and newest around, he was treated like a pushover by everyone else, even when he tried to actively change the narrative, it didn't work. Even a girl who's the same age as him treats him the same.
Thinking about it, Mick felt a wave of tiredness come over his shoulders, as a bit of anger and frustration swirled within him. Well, there was nothing he could do about it. In the end, being able to even secure a job in these times was an achievement, and for someone like himself who had little business sense and wasn't really too good at much else than studying, it was a good thing.
'If only I had a better and stronger body, I would have really loved to do more challenging physical stuff…'
"Unfortunately, I'm built like noodles… heh." He muttered to himself, not feeling down about it this time, he was already used to it. He always felt the urge to engage in physical activities like sports and the likes, but unfortunately, his particularly weak physique wouldn't allow for that, so he learnt to just stick to books and other things a long time ago.
After he was done tidying the place up, he decided to cook for a change since he had the time. Cooking himself was more economical, the reason he usually doesn't is because of the lack of time.
Mike quickly threw on some loose casual clothes, an orange shirt and grey trousers. Not too far from his apartment was a store that sold most of the important things he would need for a simple meal, so he strolled all the way there.
He entered the store with his head down almost, kind of shy in a way, or so it looked.
He didn't look at anyone and went straight to the back to find what he wanted. The store was quite big and was the biggest around, so it had a lot of people patronizing it. It might have been the fact that he was not too good with such huge crowds of people, but at this moment, there weren't many people around to begin with.
Anyway, Mike had decided to prepare simple noodles that day and maybe spice them up a bit to really exploit the home cooking aspect of the meal.
It didn't take long for him to pick out everything he needed and proceeded to check out.
Fortunately for him, when his turn came, there was no line in front and he went directly to the girl on the counter who had a bright smile as she saw him walking close.
"Mike!" She exclaimed, from her face showing she was genuinely happy to see him there.
"Hey, Annie, how's work going?" Mike smiled back with a quick question.
"Very well so far, what about you? It's not usual to catch a sight of you these days."
"Well, you know, works much and all…"
"Oh come on, tell me, is it that bad? I heard it's like being a slave in those companies, is it really like that? You even look to have lost some weight." She said, a bit of concern hinting within her words.
'Ouch, hit it where it hurts.'
"Come on, I can't really lose any more weight, can I? Besides, it's not all that bad, haha."
"Really? Good for you then." As they spoke, she scanned everything and Mike paid for them quickly, hastening the conversation to its end. Luckily for him, another customer came so he used that opportunity to slip out.
'She's still as nice as ever, heh…'
"I really can't spend too much time around girls like her." Mike said to himself as he walked home.
Annie was a university course mate of his who he developed feelings for, mistaking her kindness for interest in him. She was quick to shut him down when he finally brought himself to confessing his feelings, but even then, she still spoke with him normally as if nothing ever happened, though it was never the same for Mike.
'She decided not to seek any major job and instead starts small with the goal of building her own business later, not a bad choice. I wish her luck.'
He soon got home under minutes and prepared the food he had bought once evening had come and the darkness of night was drawing close.
Eating homemade food after a long time sure felt good.
After that small relaxing experience, it was time to face reality the very next day.
'Heh… I hate life right now, I wish I could just escape it all.'
Unknown to him, that was really his last moment alive... He died in his sleep, causes, unknown.