Accidentally become a father-Chapter 76: An Idea That Couldn’t Wait
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A white screen.
The cursor blinked.
Fast.
Too fast to follow.
I wasn’t watching it.
My fingers moved first.
Typing.
Without pause.
Sentences appeared one by one.
Without thinking.
Just pouring out.
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The sequence was already there.
In my head.
If I stopped, it would vanish.
I didn’t stop.
A cramped desk.
The computer.
Its fan whirring loudly.
The air in the room was warm.
A little stuffy.
To the side—
a coffee mug.
Empty.
Dregs at the bottom.
Cold.
The story moved.
Faster than usual.
Usually, I would stop.
Evaluate.
Revise.
Not now.
There was no room for that.
If I interrupted it, the flow would break.
I let it run.
One scene finished.
Straight to the next.
No rereading.
No checking.
Inefficient.
But necessary.
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The priority right now:
pouring the idea out quickly.
Not accuracy.
My eyes felt heavy.
It didn’t matter.
My body protested.
Irrelevant.
I ignored it.
The cursor stopped.
Not because I was done.
Because of a pause.
One second.
Two seconds.
I stared at the screen. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
The last line.
Still connected.
Not yet broken.
There was more to come.
I resumed typing.
A notification popped up in the corner of the screen.
Small.
A short chime.
Distracting.
I didn’t look right away.
Kept typing.
One more sentence.
Two.
Three.
Then I stopped.
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I sat still.
The notification was still there.
An email.
The subject line partially visible.
"Congratulations..."
I moved the mouse.
Click.
The screen changed.
The inbox opened.
The topmost message.
Unread.
I opened it.
Standard formatting.
Formal.
Brief.
Not long.
I read from the top.
The first line.
Then the second.
Stopped in the middle.
"...your novel has received a contract..."
I didn’t continue reading right away.
My eyes stopped on that sentence.
For a few seconds.
I scrolled down a little.
To make sure.
Not a misread.
Not spam.
The sender’s name was clear.
The details were there.
The formatting was correct.
Nothing was out of place.
I went back to the top.
Read it again.
Slower this time.
Unhurried.
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The words were all the same.
They hadn’t changed.
I leaned back in my chair.
Slowly.
The chair creaked slightly.
I stared at the screen.
Unblinking.
For a few seconds.
"...I see."
My voice came out quietly.
Barely audible.
I looked at my hands.
I took a breath.
Short.
Then let it out.
Slowly.
Not deep.
Just enough.
The corners of my mouth lifted slightly.
Not wide.
Not obvious.
But it was there.
"...I didn’t expect this."
I looked at the screen again.
The sentence was still there.
"...and I wasn’t even sure about it before."
I closed the email.
Returned to the document.
The cursor was still in its last spot.
Blinking.
Waiting.
I didn’t start typing right away.
My fingers stayed still.
For a few seconds.
Then they moved.
One more sentence.
A temporary stopping point.
Enough to lock the idea in.
No need to continue right now.
If forced, the quality would drop.
I hit save.
The file was saved.
Safe.
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I pulled my hands away from the keyboard.
Slowly.
My body felt heavier now.
More noticeably.
I stood up.
The chair slid back a little.
Walked to the kitchen.
Grabbed a mug.
Turned on the tap.
Filled it with water.
Then stopped.
Thinking.
Coffee.
I grabbed the coffee powder.
Poured it in.
Hot water.
Steam rose.
A strong aroma.
Sharper than before.
I picked up the mug.
Turned around.
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Looked at the wall clock.
10:41.
I stopped.
For a few seconds.
Processing.
The schedule.
School.
Dismissal time.
I was late.
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