The office felt smaller than he remembered.
Not in a way that was uncomfortable, but in a way that made Dayo realize how much the world outside these walls had expanded over the past week. He stood in the lobby for a moment, taking in the familiar sight of the reception desk, the framed records on the walls, the low hum of machinery and voices that formed the soundtrack of a working label. He had built this space piece by piece, filled it with people he trusted, turned it into something that functioned with or without his daily presence. But stepping back into it now, after seven days of being somewhere else entirely, he felt the distance between who he had been when he left and who he was now.
"Well."
The voice came from behind him, sharp and amused. Dayo turned to find Valerie leaning against the doorframe of her office, arms crossed, eyebrow raised.
"Look who decided to rejoin the living," she said.
