The cold air of the street lamp-lit road still lingered on Ashok's skin. He could still feel the weight of the silver chain in his palm—the one with the "PA Eye" and the engraving of two hands holding. He could still taste the bittersweet 4:30 AM kiss they shared before the Dubai flight.
He closed his eyes for a second, feeling the ache of the distance... and then he felt a sharp poke on his shoulder.
"Ashok? Are you sleeping standing up? The coffee machine is going to overflow."
Ashok's eyes snapped open. He wasn't in his bed. He wasn't looking at a WhatsApp message from Dubai. He was standing in the breakroom of Alpha Corp. The smell of cheap office beans hit him like a physical blow.
Standing next to him was his supervisor, Kumar, who had retired two years ago in Ashok's timeline.
"You've been acting weird all morning," Kumar grumbled. "Anyway, the new recruit is here. Since you're the six-month senior, I'm putting her on your shift. Teach her the ropes. Don't scare her off with your 'rarely talking' routine."
Ashok's heart hammered against his ribs. New recruit?
He turned slowly. His breath hitched.
There she was. Sony.
She looked younger, her eyes wide with that familiar "first-day" anxiety. Her hair was tied back neatly, and she was clutching her notebook so hard her knuckles were white. She didn't have the ring on her finger yet. She didn't know the taste of the chicken rice they'd share a hundred times. To her, he was just a stranger.
"Hello," she said, her voice small and shy. She bowed slightly. "I'm Sony. I look forward to working with you... Senior."
Ashok couldn't speak. He wanted to reach out and pull her into a hug, to tell her not to go to Dubai, to tell her he missed her so much it felt like a hole in his chest. But he saw the way she looked at him—with polite, professional distance.
She doesn't know me, he realized. To her, the 'Moon is Beautiful' hasn't happened yet.
"I'm Ashok," he finally managed, his voice raspier than usual.
He looked at the shift schedule on the wall. It was exactly as it had been years ago. He realized with a jolt of electricity that he had a second chance. He could fix the bike accident. He could buy her the earrings sooner. He could find a way to make her stay instead of watching that plane fly to Dubai.
"You're on my shift," Ashok said, a small, naughty glint appearing in his eyes that confused the shy Sony. "Follow me, PA."
Sony blinked, her head tilting in confusion. "PA? Sir, my designation is Junior Associate."
Ashok smiled—the first real smile he'd had in months. "I know. But in my head, you're already my PA. Now, come on. We have a lot of work to do, and I have a lot of movies to catch up on with you."
Sony watched him walk away, her overthinking brain already spinning. Why is he looking at me like he's seen a ghost? And why... why does his smile feel so familiar?