Office Romance with a Werewolf

"Why are we eating dinner too early?" Randell asked his parents the moment he came home from school.

It is still five in the afternoon, but their dining table is already full of food for dinner.

"You need to do something when the nights come," his father said without looking at him while scooping rice onto his plate.

"Come here, dear, let's eat early." His mom sweetly called him, and that is why he obediently sat with them.

"What am I going to be doing?"

"You will know later." his mom answered briefly as she served food to him.

The fifteen-year-old Randell notices the anxiousness in his parents' expressions and that is why he could not help but ask more questions.

"Is there something wrong, mom?"

"No. Nothing, son. Just..." His mom couldn't continue her words and just looked at her husband, looking more worried.

"Randell is always a good boy. He will be fine." His father said as he placed his hand on his wife's hand that was on top of the table.

"This is just a little tradition, child. You don't have to worry. Eat first."

His father said that only made him worry more, but since they asked to eat first, he ate the food they served him.

He finished the meal, but he can't remember what it tasted like.

He just shoved the food into his mouth while still feeling strange about the atmosphere of his supposedly warm and jolly house.

"What is this, mom?" After dinner, he asked his parents again after the three of them reached a prison-like room within their residence.

He had been living in this house since birth, but he never thought a prison-like room was custom built within their house.

He called it the prison because of its thick walls, which are both made of layers of steel and stone. The door was so heavy that his father used his entire strength to open it.

Upon entering the room, he looked around, and all he could see was a bed made of foam without a frame.

The entire room is too gloomy because of its steel gray color and its empty spaciousness.

As he pulled his mother's sleeves, he looked up at his parents.

"Randell, you need to stay here until dawn, okay?" His mother tapped his shoulder while gently talking to him.

"Why though?" He shook his head to tell them he didn't want to as he gets scared of the gloomy place.

"Just think of it as a tradition in our family. Just sleep, and when you wake up tomorrow, you can leave this room."

"N-no. I don't like it." he said as he walked behind his parents, who were about to leave him alone.

"Just behave here. Nothing will happen." His mother gently pushed him back into the room.

"Just believe in us, Randell." His mother kissed his forehead, and that made him freeze in place.

"This is for your own good."

His father starts to close the thick door again as he groans due to its heaviness.

Bang!

Randell stared at the closed door for a moment before he turned his way and decided to lie flat on the bed.

He buried his face in the bed that didn't have a blanket or pillow.

"Mom..."

"Dad..."

He softly called for his parents.

He felt strange as he could not determine what he should be feeling right now.

He felt like his parents were being ridiculous by suddenly isolating him like a prisoner, telling him that they were doing a tradition that they hadn't even bothered to explain.

"Wait? Did I do something wrong? Am I being disciplined now?"

Randell rolled around the surprisingly soft bed, thinking about what trouble he had caused his parents to isolate him, but no matter what he squeezed his brain from thinking, the answer never came out.

Tap, Tap, Tap

He made a noise with his palm by tapping the bed.

The extreme silence of the room makes him anxious, unable to relax or sleep.

The room doesn't have a window or anything to tell him the time. He felt like time stopped the moment he laid on the bed.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap

He kept tapping the bed until he didn't realize he was tapping his own thigh to relax himself.

"I should be just sleeping. Mom said I'll be out tomorrow." He said to himself that no matter how much he tried to sleep, he couldn't.

"Oh my gosh! Did you not sleep? " His mom exclaimed once the couple came back to the room in the morning. She touches Randell's face, worried and with teary eyes.

"I couldn't, mom. Sorry." He rubbed his bloodshot eyes while he stood in front of his parents, feeling nauseous and sleepy.

He has been lying the whole time, but sleep never comes to him. He is too anxious and scared to get to sleep.

"haaa— come here." His father made a long sigh and then approached him.

"Ah! Father!" He was startled when his father suddenly lifted him and carried him in his arms like a child.

"Oh, you're heavy." his father commented as he started to walk out of the room while the 5ft tall teenager was in his arms.

"Of course, I—I am fifteen," he said as he buried his face in his father's shoulder, finally feeling sleepy. His eyes were slowly closing, but he immediately snapped back.

"Oh! School!" he shouted.

"Rest for today. We will notify your adviser."

His father gently pushed Randell's head back to his shoulder.

"Sleep and rest, you did a good job."

Hearing those words makes him relax. Though he doesn't know what "good job" means, he feels relieved that he made it out and can finally sleep in peace.

...

"I-I am going back in again? W-why?"

He lost his strength holding his school bag so that it fell on the floor with his consternation on going back into the prison-like room.

The early dinner is also serve and he feels like he was in dejavu.

Only a month had passed, and they asked him again to eat early and obediently stay in the scary room.

He made a step back and was about to run, but his father caught his collar and stopped him from walking out.

"Father! I don't want to go back inside again!" he shouted.

"No, Ranz, you need to endure this once a month!"

"every month? Why? At least explain it to me!"

"It's for your own good; just trust us."

His mother came in between them and hugged him.

"Ranz, please do this favor. Please? " She softly asked Randell.

Before he could hug his mother back, he clenched his fist tightly.

"Why though? Tell me, I told you I couldn't sleep in there. "

The couple didn't respond to him.

He closed and opened his mouth without saying anything. He wanted to shout in frustration, but at the same time, he didn't want to disobey his parents.

He wanted to know the reason behind this isolation, but his parents just looked at him with an anxious expression every time he asked.

From then on, he started to hate the early dinner and the monthly isolation in the prison-like room that they kept asking him to sleep in.

...

"You don't look well, you got thinner too." Toto commented while the two of them were playing arcade.

Toto is three years younger than him, but they got along very well. He first met him when they visited the orphanage for a school project, and after that, they became friends who always hung out after school.

"Really?" he bluntly responded while focusing on shooting down the zombies on screen.

"Is there a problem? school? Are you getting bullied?" Toto asked worriedly, which made Randell stop playing and laugh at Toto's questions.

"Bullied? me? Haha Toto stop imagining things."

"Then what? You can tell me if there's something bothering you."

"hmmm..."

Randell had to think for a moment before he could respond to his friend.

"I actually, I mean, my parents have been locking me up in a dark empty room at night and then they will free me the next morning. My parents are weird, right?."

"Huh? I thought orphanages only did that disciplining thing. Ah, normal parents do it too. " Toto nodded his head as if what Randell said was pretty normal.

"You too?"

"Is it your first time experiencing it? I was so scared on my first time too.. the darkness.. the empty space.. the extreme silence makes me.. "

"sleepless and nauseous."

"sleepless and nauseous."

When the two said the same statement at the same time, it made Randell's expression brighten. He felt relieved that he had found someone who could feel the same feelings he had.

However, the things they thought were the same aren't similar at all.

Toto was referring to the disciplining room for misbehaving children at the orphanage. It's a room for the children to repent, and the room is pretty normal, unlike in Randell's isolation room with thick walls. The two of them didn't realize the difference of the rooms. Also, the purpose of isolation is far different.

"So it was just a room to carve children to be good?" Randell asked again after he heard Toto's story about the dark room at the orphanage.

"Yes, it was the sisters always told us. You don't have to worry much. I was literally scared of that room the first time, but soon realized it was just an empty room and nothing else was there. There's nothing to be scared of. Just sleep, and things will be over soon."

"How can you even sleep in that kind of room? I can't, no matter how hard I try."

"Just think of other things to distract you. Don't focus much on the dark room. The more you think about your situation, the more you can't sleep. Ahh! The new girl in the orphanage told me she chanted nursery rhymes to make herself sleep easily! I tried it once and it is very effective!"

"Really?"

That afternoon, Randell who had heavy heart from experiencing the dark room, was slightly lightened up by Toto.

Gulp!

He gulped his own saliva once he was back in front of the prison-like room again.

"See you tomorrow, son," his mother kissed his forehead before sending him inside.

Bang!

The loud sound from the closing of the heavy door is always the last sound Randell can hear clearly whenever he goes inside.

"I can sleep today!" he told himself while he thought about Toto's advice.

He lied down on the bed and tightly closed his eyes.

"Nursery rhyme..." he mumbled as he started to choose a children's song in his head.

hmmm hmmmm hmmmm

He began by humming the song, and soon his tightly closed eyes relaxed.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

He continued to sing the song slowly and softly, until the supposed fun rhythm of the song turned gloomy.

The tune does not matter as he continues to sing the song until he realizes the nursery rhyme was somewhat effective.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again.

Even though he keeps repeating the same song lyrics, the song is making him forget everything around him and he feels like sleep can finally visit him.

...

"Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again."

"Why are you singing a nursery rhyme?" Randell asked Nida, who suddenly tapped her pen and started softly singing Humpty Dumpty.

Nida stared at him, stunned, not realizing she was singing along with teenager Randell in her mind.

"Shit this memory." she cursed, looking annoyed.

"Oh, sorry."

Randell was shocked by this and instantly apologized, despite not knowing what made Nida irritated.

"Why are you apologizing? I am cursing myself."

She said as she returned her focus to processing their documents, but the annoyance in her expression never left her face.

'I should avoid touching the cores.'