Chapter 5: Confrontation.

The next day, Ren was coding like always. His coworkers, on the other hand, were laughing while setting up the Christmas tree; they seemed to be enjoying some quality time together.

At another time, maybe he would have joined them. But the memory of his first Christmas there made him not want to try.

When he entered the company, in the first days, he was a twenty-two-year-old guy, freshly graduated. Smiling, cheerful, and very friendly.

Something that would cost him dearly. Because yes, your intentions do not matter. Nor how good of a coworker you want to be.

In every job, the ones who have been there longer always want to charge a “rite of passage,” making your days impossible.

That first year, no matter how hard he tried, it was never “enough.” Then he understood that he had to focus on his work and interact as little as possible.

But every day they made it harder for him. Especially Yadav, the senior programmer.

No matter how much he tried. His lines of code were never up to his level.

“If we were in Silicon Valley, I would have already fired you for that,” he used to tell him.

“Excuse me… Mr. ‘I graduated from Stanford,’ ‘with honors,’ ‘the University of Tokyo is not that good,’” he muttered while looking at the errors marked in his code.

The nerves were consuming him as he heard their laughter.

“Look at him, he’s still fixing his mistakes,” he thought.

He began to look for his lighter. He needed to empty his mind.

“Where did I leave it…?” he muttered, moving the energy drink cans, but he could not see it anywhere.

He quickly opened his drawer, and his face immediately showed a certain disgust.

He slowly pulled out an envelope… the same envelope that the day before he had thrown in the trash.

This joke had already gone too far.

He stood up quickly with the envelope in hand and walked with firm steps toward his coworkers.

“Who was it?” his voice did not sound loud, but it was firm.

His coworkers turned to look at him, confused.

“Who was what?” said García.

Ren still had a sharp gaze.

“The funny guy who left this envelope in my drawer,” he said, while showing it.

They all looked at each other, puzzled.

“Did you ask Yamada? That mail guy is always spacing out…” said Fujimoto.

“He says there is nothing in the manifest, and the envelope has no sender. Just a burned folder… I know someone is messing with me.”

Yadav stepped forward, with that mocking expression as always.

“You are not suggesting that we are trying to break your… perfect composure, right, Takahashi?”

Ren looked away.

“No, sir.”

Then he looked back at the group.

“But yesterday I threw this in the trash, and by some strange coincidence it came back to my drawer.”

“It must be your imagination. So much work stress is clouding your judgment… or maybe too many energy drinks are making you see things,” Yadav replied.

“That is why I always have to go around fixing your work…” he added.

Ren’s hand began to tremble and, discreetly, he started searching for his lighter in his pockets.

The air began to feel colder, heavier. Each breath made his heartbeat faster. His eyes started to dilate. His ears seemed to slowly shut off, while the world slowed down.

“Where is my damn lighter?”

At that moment, Mr. Nomura came out of his office and approached the group.

“Takahashi…”

“Takahashi, can you hear me?”

Ren was completely clouded, gone from himself, until a hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality.

“Are you okay, Takahashi?”

His eyes settled on Nomura.

"Yes, sir, excuse me… I just…"

His boss looked at everyone seriously.

"I don’t know what’s going on here, but you’d better get back to your workstations."

With some indignation, the workers scattered, as if Ren had ruined their fun.

Nomura watched how Ren’s clenched fist trembled. He had seen that expression in other employees before, right on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

"Why don’t you just take the rest of the day off…?"

Ren, thinking he had done something wrong, looked at him quickly.

"Sir, I… it’s only 1 PM."

His boss stopped him at that exact moment, watching him stutter.

"I’d tell you to go get some fresh air, but it’s still snowing hard outside… so just go home."

"But…"

"No buts. It’s not a suggestion. It’s an order."

Nomura gave him a pat on the shoulder and went back to his office.

Ren returned to his desk, heaviness in every step. He didn’t know how to feel about it.

He turned off his computer and, while putting on his coat and scarf, Yadav stood up from his seat, looking at him face to face.

"By the way, Takahashi…" he said, tossing something at him.

Ren caught it in the air and, when he saw what it was, inside the hatred consumed him alive. It was his lighter.

"Sorry for taking it from your desk, but I needed a smoke… Hope there’s no hard feelings."

Ren squeezed his lighter with contained anger as he slipped it into his pocket.

He didn’t answer. He simply grabbed his briefcase and walked away quickly.

When he got home, he went straight to the bathroom and took out the alcohol along with some cloths.

He began cleaning his lighter, inch by inch, as if he were scrubbing it down with alcohol.

He hated when people touched his personal things, but especially his lighter.

"Don’t touch my things…"

ANGER.

"You can make fun of my work all you want…"

INDIGNATION.

"That my code isn’t up to your level."

RESIGNATION.

"Does my mechanical keyboard bother you? Fine. Does it bother you that I work overtime? Fine."

"Who do you think you are to take my lighter without my permission…?"

The memory of his father handing him that lighter in his childhood flashed through his mind.

"It’s the only memory I have left of my father…"

Yadav’s face laughing at him reflected in the mirror.

"And you dared to touch MY lighter!"

RAGE.

"You damn son of a…"

He threw a hard punch at the bathroom mirror.

His knuckles shattered it, and his hand began to drip blood.

He felt nothing.

He only saw his face, filled with rage, reflected in that shattered mirror. A face he never thought he would see in his life.