It was roughly around 3 days before doomsday started.
It had been a regular day for Han, he had woken up from a relatively troubling dream, which was nothing unusual, considering the stress he was going through. Then he went through his morning routine, and was finally preparing to leave for work when he noticed it.
The time was off, by a whole hour.
He could have sworn that it was supposed to be 8 am. Not 7 am.
He checked his watch, his alarm clock, even searched it on the internet.
It definitely said the time was one hour earlier than what it was supposed to be.
"What in the actual..." He blinked a couple of times, trying to make sense of the situation, his mind racing for answers as his eyes stared at the world time web page.
Finally, when he felt like he was going insane from overthinking, he had gone shook his roommate awake.
"Dude, wake up."
All he got was a tired 'hmm' in return.
He jerked out the pillow from the lazy bastard's head, giving him a strong smack with it.
"What.." He groaned from underneath his blankets, his tired voice barely strong enough to reach Han's ears.
"Isn't it time for you to go to work?"
A beat of silence.
Then his roommate startled awake, throwing the blanket away. His disheveled, groggy face stared at Han for a small moment. His eyes widening as he jumped out from the bed.
"You were supposed to wake me up early!"
"I was supposed to try to wake you up early, do you have any idea how much i had to rush because i wasted time trying to resurrect you?"
"That's not my fault, you clearly didn't try hard enough." His roommate groaned.
Han stared at him for a moment, mouth half-open, before letting out a short breath through his nose.
"Never mind," he muttered. "Just... get ready. You're late."
His roommate frowned. "Late? It's seven."
Han didn't reply. He just stepped back, rubbing his temples as the other groaned and dragged himself toward the bathroom.
Seven.
He checked again.
Phone.
Watch.
Laptop.
7:03 AM.
The world time page refreshed on its own, the numbers blinking once before settling.
Han grabbed his bag and stepped outside.
The hallway was loud—doors opening, footsteps, someone arguing over the phone. Too lively for what should've been eight, too lively for what should've been a quite morning of work.
He glanced out the stairwell window.
Traffic flowed as usual.
A bus pulled up to the stop across the street right on schedule.
He stopped walking.
The digital display on the bus station flickered.
07:10
"…Right," Han muttered.
He exhaled, long and slow, and kept moving.
Maybe he'd misremembered.
Maybe his sleep schedule was finally catching up to him.
Maybe he'd been running on autopilot for so long that his sense of time had slipped. After all, work had been flaying away pieces off of his sanity long before this happened, Han couldn't put psychosis out of the question considering just how much he was struggling to not quit his job.
And It wasn't like anything else was wrong.
Work started when it always did.
People complained about the same things.
The coffee machine broke down at the same time it always did.
By noon, Han had almost forgotten about it.
Almost.
During his lunch break, he pulled out his phone again. Just to be sure.
The calendar stared back at him.
Today's date was correct.
The meeting scheduled for this morning—
He frowned.
The timestamp said 7:30 AM.
Han was certain it had said 8:30 when he checked it yesterday.
He scrolled.
Refreshed.
The entry blinked, disappeared for half a second—
Then reappeared.
7:30 AM
Han locked his phone.
He didn't check it again.
He pushed the damned thing to the back of his mind, diving back into his pile of excel sheets in an attempt to get his mind off of the growing uneasiness.
Work ended when it always did, right around 5 PM, nothing out of the usual as Han readied his things to leave.
He was busy shoving a pile of paper into a document when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching from behind.
"You finished early." The voice of a woman said casually.
Han straightened, pausing for a moment before answering, continuing his business without looking back.
"I stayed overtime yesterday, so nothing extra to do today."
A moment of awkward silence.
"That's nice." She hesitated. "...So you're free tonight?"
He tensed, a sheet of paper sliding out of his fingertips as he held his breath.
"Yeah.." He finally said, trying his best to sound casual.
"That's great! Me and the others are going out for drinks-"
However, Han turned around before she could finish her sentence.
He looked at the woman standing in front of him, He stared into her ocean blue eyes for a second, momentarily lost in it. Promptly snapping back to reality, he took a deep breath, steeling himself before he spoke.
"Sorry Jenny, i just remembered that i have something else to attend today, I'll join you some other time, okay?" He forced out a smile, doing his best to sound sorry.
Jenny smiled back, giving him an awkward nod. "Okay then."
Han waited until her footsteps faded before letting out the breath he'd been holding.
He packed the rest of his things quickly, slinging his bag over his shoulder and heading out of the office without looking back.
The train ride home was uneventful.
Too uneventful.
By the time he reached his apartment, the sky had already begun to darken. Han dropped his bag by the door and collapsed onto the couch, rubbing his eyes.
He reached for his phone, intending to set an alarm.
A notification caught his attention.
Jenny:Let me know if you change your mind.
Han frowned.
The timestamp read 4:52 PM.
He was still at his desk at that time.
He stared at the screen for a long moment.
Then, slowly, he locked the phone and set it face down on the table.
"…I really need sleep," he muttered.
He didn't turn it back over.