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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