<Crepusculo : Language - Spanish. Meaning: Twilight. The soft glowing light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon, caused by the reflection of the sun's rays from the atmosphere. Here; means the time before dawn.> 

Chapter 1 – He Descended from the Rumbles

He opened his eyes to see a dark world.

It was evening, and he hadn't slept for the stretch of over twenty-four hours now. While he was reluctant to call it a disease, what he was suffering from was very widely diagnosed in the domain he worked.

It was called insomnia.

People said – most of whom were doctors – that using computers and any blue-light emitting device dried the moisture in the person's eyes. It also affected the nervous system that connected the eye to the brain, which in turn caused side effects like a decrease in sleep, also known as insomnia.

Apparently, blue light made the brain think it was day or something just as stupid.

For him, these did not matter the least. In life, he'd never known anything other than these gadgets. No matter if blue-light emitting screens were making him lose sleep because they were the most significant part of his life.

The doorbell of his apartment rang, and he walked outside to see to it.

Not many people visited him. If he thought back, the number would be probably close to zero. He didn't have a maid, or newspaperman, or milkman who came to the housedoor.

"Yes?" He asked at the man in front of his door.

He'd been in a hostel for most of his life. After school, he'd started programming software and selling them to companies online and started earning on his own. Since then, he had been unstoppable. He knew everyone was selfish.

His father had been selfish, and so had been his mother.

He took and directed his selfishness to solitary confinement.

"Aryan Harshwal?" The man asked.

"Why?"

"I have a letter addressed to him."

Aryan frowned. Was he supposed to have a letter?

He signed for the man and took the package from him. Then locked the door before tearing up the seal and looking at the contents of it.

He was currently working from home for a software company on Internet Security. The position was something fancy like Cybersecurity Specialist. It had been over four months since he'd left his previous job.

That job reminded him of pain. He didn't want to be reminded of heartbreak again. Love was not something that was ever going to be on his platter again. Ever.

Back to the letter, it was an offer/request letter.

It was a request letter from the MNC that he'd been working in till four months ago. It was where she loved working. It was a research institute in which they were working on integrating biology with mechanics.

For the most part, they were working on Biomechanics. Indeed it was an arena in which India was to develop in vastly. He had been the in-charge of the IT firm there. The senior-most position for the cybersecurity handiwork.

It was common knowledge in the industry that he was one of the best, especially at such young age. That had to be why they wanted him back, with such exuberant offers.

When no one had had time for him, he'd made time for coding languages. He made sure that he surveyed, researched and learned about as much as there was to about computer technology.

"They want me to join back, huh?" He said himself with a sardonic smile. He could go back there; they paid him a hefty amount that was deposited in his bank account every month. But...

That but was his reason for not going back. His thoughts kept him busy. He threw away the letter near the garbage but it didn't go in the bin.

Going back into his room, which didn't have a bed, he sat down. There was a decent-sized futon along with comforters on the floor.

The morning crept in. The floor was littered with CDs, Flash Drives, and what seemed like hundreds of chips, wires and adapters. They would seem like a mess to anyone who stepped inside, but they all were kept where they were meant to be.

After a whole day, he'd finally got some sleep. Taking a bath, he slipped in his usual black clothes. He liked keeping them dark by shade. Grey and black, sometimes blue. Those colours helped him fade into the background.

He gelled his hair into a side-swept quiff.

The doorbell rang again. Kicking aside the so-called bedding in the room, Aryan went to open the door. Two doorbell rings within a day? That was unusual.

What, or whom he saw, took him by surprise.

"Please come back." She said without any salutation.

"And who are you to decide?" He looked at her sternly. How the hell did she even know the address of his place?

"We can't do it without you!"

"I will not come, Sanaya. Get that straight."

This was only the third time they were communicating in all the time that they'd known each other. Something about Sanaya always irritated Aryan.

"Please, I beg you." Her voice softened.

Her head was lowered. The light brown of her hair was open, now hiding her face behind them. She had a really stubborn chin and personality.

"And why do you need me?" He gritted his teeth, fisting his hands and glared at her.

She was not getting away with this. She was no one. She was simply a no one, and she had no right to come to this place and plead him to join in a company he'd left for his well-being.

He'd left because he'd thrown away his heart right then, at the moment before leaving.

He was simply 119, and he was happy with that.

119 was the code name for his name. He was called that and an identity he abided by. Code number – that was what his existence was.

"I don't need you," She said sternly, her expressive eyes stern yet just pleading, "But the firm does."

Aryan didn't answer or let her speak anything more.

He closed the door on her face and walked away into his room to descend into the rumbles again. That was where he stayed, and that was where he was supposed to remain all his life – alone. 

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