Chapter 02

By the end of that day — which had felt like it lasted an entire week — Alan was already prepared to stop by HR and have his dismissal processed on day one.

But it didn't happen. Which was a relief, accompanied by the far less encouraging feeling that he'd boarded a one-way ride straight to hell.

The world had always made it clear that he needed to earn his place on his own. It used to be easier, back when he'd had his mother. She had pushed forward after his father abandoned them.

Juliana hustled, picked up odd jobs, did whatever she could to take care of her sons — Alan and Gael. Alan was born with sight, but before his first birthday, an accident left him permanently blind. Juliana cried and grieved for months, but then she faced the reality that she needed to accept it and help her son move forward.

Gael was born twelve years later, and within the first week after his birth, their father left. Alan was thirteen.

In the years that followed, Alan understood how fiercely his mother had fought for them — and how deeply she'd blamed herself, both for his blindness and the hardships it brought, and for the struggles they all faced.

The people around them didn't help either, making comments about how she hadn't taken proper care of Alan, about how she'd let him go blind, and on top of that, left the younger brother under his responsibility. But she had no choice if she wanted to work and keep her boys fed.

Even so, the three of them were happy. They celebrated birthdays modestly and invented something to commemorate whenever they could. When Alan was accepted with a full scholarship to law school, Juliana cried hard — but from pride.

The road had been brutal, but together they were making it through — until a tragedy changed their plans, and the ground opened up beneath Alan's feet.

Now, looking back, Alan had trouble pinpointing exactly when his life had gone off the rails. Maybe because the most devastating changes rarely happened all at once. They arrived silently, stripping away one certainty at a time until, by the time you noticed, everything you'd known had already disappeared.

There were moments he preferred not to remember. Interrupted conversations, promises that could never be kept, and decisions no young person should ever have to make. Some memories remained so vivid that the smallest detail was enough to bring them crashing back at full force.

That was why this job meant more than a salary or a career opportunity. While other employees worried about promotions, recognition, or prestige, Alan had far more urgent reasons for being there.

He needed this position. He needed to prove he was capable of taking on responsibilities and demonstrate that he could provide stability.

And more than that, he needed to show people who didn't even know him that he was perfectly capable of taking care of someone. So failing was not an option.

Maybe that was why the hostile behavior from his coworkers bothered him less than it should have. The jokes, the snide remarks, and the obstacles placed in his path were unpleasant, but they didn't come close to what was actually at stake.

Because at the end of it all, it wasn't just his own future that depended on this job. It was his only chance to recover something that had been ripped away from him.