The call came just before lunch, right when the office felt sluggish and half asleep. Sofia had been staring at her monitor for so long that the screen saver had popped up twice and disappeared again. Her cold cup of coffee sat abandoned beside her, a sad little relic of her earlier attempt to function like a normal human. She was halfway to giving up on the entire day when her phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
Her instincts told her to let it ring. Hide. Pretend she was in a coma. Something inside her, maybe stubbornness or the last scraps of hope, nudged her to answer.
“This is Sofia Reyes,” she said. Her voice trembled just enough to betray her.
“Miss Reyes, this is Patricia Ong from Jacinto Group Communications.” The voice sounded polished and practiced, each word wrapped in a perfect
