As an ordinary genius

Ethan adjusted the cuffs of his shirt as he stood in front of the glass doors of LynxTech Solutions, his new office after graduation. The towering building gleamed in the morning sunlight, a stark contrast to the mild chaos brewing inside his mind. He had been on a whirlwind of events—graduation, parties, and a confusingly blurred memory of Felicity—but now it was time to focus.

He exhaled deeply and stepped inside, greeted by the familiar buzz of a workplace—the soft hum of computers, the rhythmic tapping of keyboards, and colleagues chatting as they passed by.

"Hey, Ethan!" called out Maya, the cheerful HR representative who had been one of his main points of contact. "Welcome back! How was graduation?"

"It was... good," Ethan replied, offering a polite smile. "I'm glad to be back, though."

"Good to hear. Your team is excited to have you back full-time," Maya said, handing him a new access badge. "Your desk hasn't moved, but the coffee machine has. Just a heads-up!"

"Thanks," Ethan said with a chuckle as he headed toward the familiar corner of the office where his team sat.

As Ethan approached his workstation, he was greeted by the sight of his team: Mark, a seasoned developer in his 40s who was always the go-to for debugging nightmares; Serena, a sharp and ambitious coder with an eye for design; and Adam, the jokester of the team who somehow managed to meet deadlines despite his constant humor breaks.

"Look who's back!" Adam exclaimed, spinning his chair around dramatically. "Mr. BSc Honours himself!"

"Cut it out, Adam," Serena said, rolling her eyes but smiling. "Welcome back, Ethan. Hope you're ready to dive in."

"Yeah, we've got a backlog waiting for you," Mark added with a smirk, holding up a stack of papers. "But don't worry, nothing too scary."

"Great," Ethan said, dropping his bag by his desk. "Nothing like being thrown into the deep end on day one."

"That's the spirit!" Adam said, giving him a thumbs-up.

Ethan powered up his workstation and scanned his inbox. As expected, there were countless unread emails, project updates, and meeting invites. He sighed and started sorting through them, making mental notes of priorities.

Halfway through, Serena leaned over from her desk. "Hey, Ethan, there's a new project starting next week. Maya hinted you might be one of the leads on it."

"Me? A lead?" Ethan asked, surprised.

"You've proven yourself during your internship," Serena said. "It's about time they gave you more responsibility."

Ethan wasn't sure if that was a compliment or a warning, but he nodded. "Thanks for the heads-up."

During lunch, Ethan sat with his team in the bustling cafeteria. The conversations flowed easily—Adam joked about their boss's obsession with metrics, Serena shared a funny story about a misbehaving code snippet, and Mark chimed in with his usual wisdom.

Ethan mostly listened, enjoying the camaraderie. It felt good to be part of a team again, to have a place where he belonged.

As they were wrapping up, Adam turned to Ethan. "By the way, what's your deal with Felicity?"

Ethan nearly choked on his water. "What? Nothing. Why would you even ask that?"

"Relax, man. I just noticed you seemed... I don't know, distracted whenever she came up," Adam said with a smirk.

"There's no deal," Ethan said firmly, trying to ignore the heat rising to his cheeks.

"Uh-huh," Adam said, clearly unconvinced.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of meetings, coding, and brainstorming sessions. Ethan found himself quickly falling back into the rhythm of work, tackling tasks with a sense of purpose.

But every now and then, his thoughts would drift. To Felicity. To that night. To the nagging feeling that he was missing something important.

As the office quieted down in the late afternoon, Ethan found himself staring out the window, the city below bathed in the golden light of sunset.

"You okay?" Serena asked, breaking his train of thought.

"Yeah," Ethan said, snapping back to reality. "Just... adjusting to being back."

"You'll be fine," Serena said with a reassuring smile. "You've always been good at finding your footing."

As Ethan packed up his things and left the office, he felt a strange mix of emotions—relief, anticipation, and a lingering unease.

Walking back to his apartment, he made a mental note to focus on the present. He had a job he loved, colleagues who supported him, and opportunities ahead.

Whatever had happened with Felicity, he would figure it out eventually. But for now, he had work to do.