My heart was pounding, and the drumming in my ears drowned out my own thoughts. You are used to visits to Malek's office – frequent meetings, business negotiations, a common professional ritual for us. He always greeted me cordially, offered me coffee, and comfortably positioned me in a chair by the window. But today... today was different.

Malek met you in the lobby, as usual, but there was some strange tension in his gaze, his unusual calmness was replaced by hidden energy. He led you to his office, but the usual friendly gesture of inviting you to sit down remained unfulfilled. You entered the office, and he locked the door. The sound of the lock clicking sounded like a gunshot, causing every cell in his body to tense up.

— «Do you think we should lock the office?» — said Malek, locking the door. His voice was playful, but there was tension in his intonation, like a disguised threat. Playfulness was just a thin layer of varnish on something much darker and deeper.

Your legs are weak. You felt a cold sweat break out on your forehead. His words are light, almost joking. He was slowly approaching, advancing predatorily, forcing you to involuntarily retreat to the table. Every cell in your body screamed for escape, for the need to escape from this office suffocated by silence, from under his imperious gaze.

— «I'll try not to scare you, my precious,» — he continued, his voice sounding more serious now, stripped of its former lightness, — «but I hope you understand that I'm not a modest boy bound by the bounds of decency.»

His words, spoken with an almost gentle but at the same time threatening tone, hid the whole essence of what was happening. The line between a business relationship and something completely different, scary and incomprehensible, has been erased. Left alone with him, in a locked office, you felt vulnerable and helpless. The atmosphere was thickening, filled with impatience, anticipation, and a deep sense of the inevitable.