The walk from the bus stop to Arun's house was barely ten minutes, but today it felt longer.Every few steps he kept glancing at his hands.
Anyone watching him would think he'd lost it.
He didn't care.
His mind replayed the impossible moment from the bus again and again.
Time stopping.Everything frozen.He walked through it like nothing happened.
"Unmai dhaan… it really happened," he muttered.
A lady walking ahead of him gave him a strange look and hurried away.
Arun cleared his throat. "Sorry."
Talking to himself in public. Great start.
He reached his street—a narrow lane barely wide enough for one car, with scooters parked like Tetris pieces on both sides.
A kid was trying to inflate a football with a foot pump.Two aunties were fighting about garbage rights.Someone's pressure cooker whistled violently.
Normal Chennai.
He exhaled.
If time can freeze, why can't noise freeze too? That would be nice.
He unlocked his rented room—a small tiled box with one cot, a plastic table, and a ceiling fan that made noises like a dying helicopter.
He threw his bag aside, closed the door, and leaned against it.
The silence of the room felt unusual now.Almost suspicious.
He sat on the edge of the cot.Stared at his hands again.
"Okay. Breathe. Think like a normal person."
He inhaled deeply.
"What the hell do I even do now?"
His stomach rumbled loudly.
Ah yes. The most Indian reaction to world-changing events:
He was hungry.
"Right. Breakfast first. Crisis later."
He opened the tiffin box he packed last night: lemon rice. Cold, but edible. He sat cross-legged on the cot and ate, eyes occasionally drifting to the digital clock on his table.
He tried to relax.
Didn't work.
His brain refused to shut up.
How do I trigger it again? Do I need fear? Danger? Someone shouting in my face? That's basically my whole office anyway.
He finished eating, washed his hands, and stood in the middle of the room.
"Okay, attempt number one."
He squeezed his eyes shut.
"Stop."
Nothing.
"Freeze."
Nothing.
"Pause."
Nothing.
"Dai stop pannuda please."
Nothing.
He sighed.
Of course it won't work like Alexa. Why would life be that simple?
He looked around for something to test with.His gaze landed on the ceiling fan.
Perfect.
He stepped under the slow-rotating fan.
"Let's see…"
He watched the blades move… one… two… three…
He tried to will them to stop.
Nothing.
"Come on… freeze! If you can freeze a whole lorry, at least stop a stupid fan!"
Still nothing.
He rubbed his temples.
Maybe I need adrenaline? Like some emotional trigger? Fear? Stress?
He paused.
"Oh God… does that mean office is the training ground? Great."
He took a long breath and jumped up, grabbing the spinning fan blade with his bare hand—
—only to immediately regret every decision he had made in life.
"AIYO HOT!!"
The fan jolted, his palm burned, and he stumbled back, hitting the table.
The fan continued spinning as if mocking him.
Arun glared at it.
"So you stop when you WANT and run when I want? Bloody egoistic fan."
He sat back on the cot, thinking.
Nothing happened until he was about to die.Or at least, he thought he was about to die.
Panic. Helplessness.A desperate wish.
Maybe that was the key.
He looked around.
Okay, how do I simulate danger without actually killing myself?
He scanned the room.
His eyes fell on the only tall item in the room — the wooden cupboard.
He sighed dramatically.
"This is how idiots die."
He dragged the cupboard slightly forward, enough that it looked unstable.
He then lay underneath it.
He stared up at the wobbling cupboard.
"Alright. If this works, good. If it doesn't… well, the landlord will kill me for breaking his cupboard."
He reached up… and pushed the cupboard off balance.
It tilted forward dangerously.
"Okay okay okay—!!"
The cupboard fell toward him—
—and Arun yelled instinctively:
"STOP!"
And then… it stopped.
Mid-air.Half-fallen.Frozen.
Arun blinked.
"Oh thank god."
He crawled out quickly and sat up, looking at the suspended cupboard.
It hovered like a paused video frame, a few inches above where his chest had been.
He poked it.
Solid.Impossible.Frozen in time.
He grinned.
"YES! I'm not crazy!"
He stood and took a few steps back, hands on his hips.
"So that's the trigger. Fear. Or more like… the urgent desire to stop time."
He placed a hand on the cupboard and pushed gently.
The usual resistance was there—frozen objects were like pushing against concrete. He couldn't move it much, but enough to confirm the rule.
So frozen mass is heavy. Got it.
He took a long breath and said quietly:
"Resume."
He didn't know why he said it—intuition maybe.
Time snapped back.
The cupboard slammed onto the floor with a loud crack.
Arun jumped.
"Oops."
The wood splintered on impact.
Shit. Landlord will scream.
But the excitement drowned out the guilt.
He had done it again.
He sat down, chest heaving slightly.
Time had obeyed him.
He leaned back and stared at the ceiling.
"This… this is insane. Not normal. Not even movie-level."
His mind whirred.
If I can freeze time… even for a minute… there's a LOT I can do.
Not hero things.Not noble things.
Just… life things.
Avoid crowds.Never be late.Steal glances at exam papers.Escape boring meetings.Punch someone and walk away before they blink.Avoid paying auto charges.Actually catch that mosquito buzzing around at night.
He snorted.
The possibilities were too many.
His phone buzzed.
TL: "You're not here yet. Meeting in 40 minutes. Hurry."
Arun stared at the message.
Then at the broken cupboard.
Then back at the message.
"…oh right. Life."
He grabbed his bag, almost tripped over the fallen cupboard, and rushed out of the house.
The auto ride to the office was uneventful except for the driver insisting on telling Arun about his son's education and how IIT coaching was too expensive.
Arun nodded politely.
Inside the office, everything felt annoyingly normal again.
AC too cold.People typing loudly.Someone talking about last night's CSK match.HR aunties staring into Excel sheets like they were ancient curses.
He sat at his desk, opened his laptop, and tried to act normal.
But how does someone act normal after stopping time?
He glanced at his coworker, Senthil, who smelled strongly of Axe deo today.
Senthil leaned over. "Bro, did you hear? A bus accident happened near your route. Terrible da. So close to your timing. Lucky you didn't get caught."
Arun stared at him.
"Yeah… lucky."
His mind whispered the real truth:
Not luck. Me.
He opened the logs for the client escalation, but his eyes weren't on the screen.
Time freeze.A cupboard stuck mid-air.A lorry suspended like a toy.
The more he thought, the more he felt a mix of thrill and anxiety.
Fear wasn't gone.He wasn't some emotionless hero.
He was scared—of what this power meant, of what he might become, of what could happen if others found out.
But beneath that fear, there was a spark.
A dangerous, exciting spark.
If I have this ability… then why am I still living like a background character in my own life?
He shook the thought away. Too early. Too risky.
But it didn't fully disappear.
Later, during the meeting, the client shouted about server downtime. The manager pretended to care. The team nodded like bobbleheads.
Arun sat quietly as usual.
But inside, he kept thinking one thing:
I need to understand this power properly. I need to test it. I need to learn the rules.
For the first time in a long time, he wasn't bored in a meeting.
He was planning.
He didn't know that the next few days would change his life completely.
That this was only the beginning.
That this tiny rented room in Chennai was the birthplace of someone the world would one day fear.
For now, he was just a quiet guy in an office chair……who could stop the world whenever he wanted.