Flashback

The room is silent and dim, the only sound is the buzz of the air conditioner. Luna felt exhausted after she organized the papers from her box to the drawer and her table. Then she grabbed the black swivel chair to sit and take some rest. She picks up the folder in front of her, unsure of what to do with it. The soft rustling of pages fills the air as she flips through them, but the words blur together, elusive.

As she flips another page, a sudden flash invades her mind.

"This is not the life I wish to live. I don't have a job, no family or friends. What's the purpose of my existence if nothing is left for me. They all die by the earthquake then why am I the only one who is alive. I want to be with everyone and it will be better for me to die and be with them." She stood at the very edge of the bridge, her toes barely brushing the cracked pavement, looking down at the dark river below. 

She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt anything other than this suffocating numbness—the cold emptiness that wrapped itself around her heart. The world had become a blur of meaningless days, and she, a ghost moving through it, haunted by memories she wished she could erase.

The faces of the people she had lost appeared before her eyes—her mother, father, siblings, her best friend, the smile of the man who once promised to never leave her side. All of them gone, taken by circumstances beyond her control. All she had left were memories—fragments of a life that had slipped through her fingers like sand.

She jumped off the river and before she finally landed into the river out of nowhere there's a flash of light that her eyes couldn't bear to watch. Then she sees nothing but darkness and feels someone is tapping her back. 

"I bet the company is wasting their money by hiring you." a familiar voice wakes her up from sleeping.

She lifted her head, trying to see who spoke. When her eyes finally opened, she saw him. The last person she wanted to see. 

"It must be nice, getting paid just to annoy their colleagues." she replied with sarcasm thick in her voice, as she struggled to straighten in her seat, wincing slightly.

"May I know what you are doing here?" she added.

"Well.."

"Good thing you two have met," Mr. Bartholomew's voice interrupted, cutting through the tense atmosphere as he strode confidently toward them. His presence immediately shifted the dynamic in the room.

Luna quickly stood, her posture straightening as she instinctively greeted the President with respect. "Good morning, Sir." Her voice, while polite, betrayed the undercurrent of tension that still lingered between her and the man standing beside her.

"Ms. Hawthorne, this is my eldest son Braxston Montclair and he is the Chief Finance Office of this company. Braxston, this is Luna Hawthorne and she'll be working with you starting today. So the two of you should get along with each other." Mr. Bartholomew, makes a shocking announcement for the both of them.

"What!" they replied in chorus.

"I can't work with this woman. Don't you see, she's sleeping while on duty. I don't think she's capable of the job you gave to her. She will only drag me down. Replace her with someone else, better than her. She's the last person I can opt out. May I know why she's working with me and what kind of job it is? As far as I know I don't need an additional person to my team." Braxston disappointedly replied to his father.

"Whether you agree or not, this is my decision. Effective immediately, all cash disbursements must be reviewed by her before they are approved. Additionally, she will be responsible for reviewing all liquidations following any expenses incurred."

"Oh really? And what exactly is that supposed to mean? My team has always handled all cash disbursements—why the sudden change? Her role is to audit, not to pre-approve requests. So why does she need to see them first now? I think I see what's going on here. Fine. Go ahead. I have nothing to hide and nothing to fear from your so-called auditor. Let's see what she's really got."

"Then great. Keep it up," Mr. Bartholomew said, his eyes narrowing with a challenging look. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have more important things to attend to." With that, he turned and walked away.

"I'm not afraid of whatever job he gives you. And I'm certainly not afraid of you. A mere employee like you has no power over me," he snapped, voice tight with irritation. Without waiting for her response, he turned on his heel and walked away.

"I think I'm losing my mind," she murmured to herself, brushing a hand across her face in frustration.

She stared intently at the folder. The contents were damning—fifty million had vanished in just a year, and every transaction pointed to one person: Braxston Montclair. Attached in the folder were records of his withdrawals and the liquidations from the projects he had been handling.

As she pored over the documents, she swayed her legs under the desk, and absentmindedly bit the cap of her black ballpoint pen. Her eyes scanned each line with growing focus—until her foot nudged something beneath her.

Pausing, she pushed her chair back and leaned down to check it. Lying half-hidden beneath the desk was an old magnifying glass. She picked it up, studied it for a moment, then returned to her seat.

"Why is this even here? I'll look like some kind of detective with this," she muttered, holding the magnifying glass in her right hand. "Well… might as well try it."

She hovered it over the folder she'd been reading—and immediately froze. Her eyes widened. The numbers and words looked like they were floating above the paper.

Startled, she stood up so fast her chair scraped back. She blinked hard, then slid the glass aside—everything looked normal. She placed it back, and once again, the text lifted off the page.

"What the hell—" she whispered.

A jolt of panic hit her. Convinced the object might be cursed or haunted, she flung the magnifying glass across the room.

"Okay, that's it. I probably need to go home before I actually lose my mind."