Chapter 2 LATE, LOUD, AND INFURIATING

CHAPTER 2 - LATE, LOUD, AND INFURIATING

The newsroom was never quiet, but today it felt like someone had slapped an amplifier on every single sound-phones ringing, keyboards slamming, printers whirring like they were on the verge of combustion. Sophia sat at her desk drowning in all of it, jaw tight, fingers curled around her mug as she attempted to rehearse patience.

She had been early. She had reorganized her notes three times. She had mentally outlined the feature, the angles, the interview structure, the tone. She was ready.

Dean, however, was thirty-four minutes late.

And counting.

It wasn't even that she disliked him yet. She didn't know him well enough for that. She just knew the idea of him-a comic artist, a "creative free spirit," the kind of man who doodled during meetings, probably smelled like pencils and chaos, and didn't take deadlines seriously.

Which was everything she hated.

Her editor, God bless his chaos-loving soul, had paired them intentionally. "You need someone who can loosen your writing. Something with a heartbeat," he'd said. "And Dean needs someone who can turn his stories into actual structure."

Sophia didn't want to be anyone's structure.

And she definitely didn't want to be waiting on someone who treated punctuality like an optional sport.

She sat there, checking her phone for the time again, muttering under her breath, "Unbelievable."

When the glass entrance doors finally burst open, the newsroom seemed to inhale collectively.

A man stumbled in-hair an unbrushed ocean of dark waves, backpack slung over one shoulder, sketchbooks falling from his arms, a coffee cup tilting dangerously in the other. He apologized to someone who hadn't even glared at him yet. Papers fluttered behind him like confetti.

And he was loud.

Too loud.

"Sorry! Sorry, so sorry-oh God, that wasn't mine-sorry! I'm here, I'm here-wait, no, I'm spilling-okay, alright-hi!"

Everyone turned to stare.

Sophia closed her eyes. The universe was mocking her.

This... this had to be him.

He spotted her instantly-somehow-and his entire face brightened like she was oxygen and he had been suffocating for years.

"You're Sophia?" he asked, breathless, dropping a notebook that bounced off his shoe. "Hi. I'm Dean. Sorry I'm late. I had-okay, long story. I'll explain. No, actually I won't, it's embarrassing. But I'm here now!"

He said it proudly, as if his arrival-thirty-seven minutes late-deserved applause.

Sophia stared at him. "You're late."

Dean blinked. "Yeah, I know. I said that."

"You said sorry," she replied. "You didn't acknowledge the fact that you wasted my time."

His eyebrows shot up. "Wow. Okay. Good morning to you too."

"It was a good morning," she muttered.

He laughed-an easy, warm sound that made her irritation flare hotter. "You're intense."

"You're unprofessional."

"Oh, so this is how it's going to be," he murmured under his breath, amused.

Sophia inhaled sharply. "This is how it's going to be if you can't respect schedules."

He opened his mouth, then closed it, then squinted at her as if trying to decode a puzzle only visible to him.

"Well," he finally said, "you're clearly the brains of this operation."

"And you're clearly the chaos."

"Chaos makes good stories," he countered.

"Deadlines make published ones."

"Oh, we're going to be fun," he said, half-teasing, half-challenging.

He took a seat beside her desk-well, technically he crashed into it, knocking a pen holder over and catching it with surprising reflexes.

Sophia pinched the bridge of her nose.

"This is a nightmare," she whispered.

Dean heard it. Of course he did.

"Hey," he said softly, tone shifting. "I know I'm... a lot. But I'm good at what I do. And I promise I'll take this seriously."

She looked at him then-really looked.

He wasn't smug.

He wasn't defensive.

He looked genuinely hopeful.

And something inside her chest tugged in a way she didn't give permission for.

It annoyed her instantly.

"Let's just get to work," she said.

Dean nodded, pulling out a pencil and sketchpad. "Alright, boss."

She froze. "I'm not your boss."

"Oh, I know," he grinned. "But you really give off that vibe. Like... if vibes could hold clipboards."

She stared at him.

He smirked.

She hated that she almost smiled.

Almost.

The meeting was supposed to last an hour. It took two, because Dean kept interrupting her structure with "What if the opening scene is a doodle?" and "Can we add a panel where modern love is represented by two pigeons sharing a leftover sandwich?" and "Do you think heartbreak is funnier or sadder when animated?"

Sophia resisted the urge to throttle him with her own notebook.

At one point he grabbed her pen from her hand in the middle of her sentence.

"Don't," she said.

"Why not?"

"I was using that."

"You were gripping it hard enough to snap it in half."

"That's because you kept-"

"Existing? Living? Contributing?"

"Interrupting!"

"Oh."

He shrugged, unconcerned.

She wanted to scream.

She wanted to walk away.

She wanted to... understand how someone could be so infuriating and strangely likable in the same breath.

And then, as if the universe wanted to make things worse, her editor passed by, leaned down between them and whispered, "Great chemistry, you two. Keep it going."

Dean grinned.

Sophia glared.

Chemistry?

There was no chemistry.

There was... combustion.

Which wasn't the same thing.

Not at all.

When the meeting finally ended, Sophia stood up, gathering her things with movements so sharp they could slice air.

Dean stood too, towering slightly over her. "So... lunch? To keep brainstorming?"

"No."

"Coffee?"

"No."

"A walk?"

"No."

"A truce?"

She paused.

"What kind of truce?"

"The kind where you don't kill me, and I don't annoy you intentionally."

"You annoy me unintentionally?"

"Yes," he said proudly.

Sophia exhaled. "We don't need a truce. We need boundaries."

Dean brightened. "Boundaries are my favourite! I cross them a lot."

"Exactly my point."

He laughed.

She did not.

"Well," he said, adjusting his backpack, "see you tomorrow?"

"Be on time."

He saluted with exaggerated seriousness. "Yes ma'am."

She watched him walk away, shaking her head, telling herself she didn't notice the way people naturally moved aside for him, the way he smiled at the receptionist, the way his steps bounced like he lived on a different frequency.

A lighter one.

A freer one.

She shouldn't envy that.

But she did.

And that scared her.

Sophia stepped into the hallway alone, hugging her folders tightly. She needed air. She needed silence. She needed-

Her phone vibrated.

Unknown Number: He's going to ruin everything. Don't trust him.

Sophia froze.

Her heart slammed against her ribs.

Another message popped up.

Unknown Number: You don't know who you're working with.

Her stomach dropped.

She glanced back toward the newsroom-Dean was gone.

Her pulse climbed.

A final message arrived, chilling her spine:

Unknown Number:

If he becomes part of your story... so will you.

Sophia's breath caught.

Her fingers trembled.

And the hallway suddenly felt much, much darker.

The newsroom was never quiet, but today it felt like someone had slapped an amplifier on every single sound-phones ringing, keyboards slamming, printers whirring like they were on the verge of combustion. Sophia sat at her desk drowning in all of it, jaw tight, fingers curled around her mug as she attempted to rehearse patience.

She had been early. She had reorganised her notes three times. She had mentally outlined the feature, the angles, the interview structure, the tone. She was ready.

Dean, however, was thirty-four minutes late.

And counting.

It wasn't even that she disliked him yet. She didn't know him well enough for that. She just knew the idea of him-a comic artist, a "creative free spirit," the kind of man who doodled during meetings, probably smelled like pencils and chaos, and didn't take deadlines seriously.

Which was everything she hated.

Her editor, God bless his chaos-loving soul, had paired them intentionally. "You need someone who can loosen your writing. Something with a heartbeat," he'd said. "And Dean needs someone who can turn his stories into actual structure."

Sophia didn't want to be anyone's structure.

And she definitely didn't want to be waiting on someone who treated punctuality like an optional sport.

She sat there, checking her phone for the time again, muttering under her breath, "Unbelievable."

When the glass entrance doors finally burst open, the newsroom seemed to inhale collectively.

A man stumbled in-hair an unbrushed ocean of dark waves, backpack slung over one shoulder, sketchbooks falling from his arms, a coffee cup tilting dangerously in the other. He apologized to someone who hadn't even glared at him yet. Papers fluttered behind him like confetti.

And he was loud.

Too loud.

"Sorry! Sorry, so sorry-oh God, that wasn't mine-sorry! I'm here, I'm here-wait, no, I'm spilling-okay, alright-hi!"

Everyone turned to stare.

Sophia closed her eyes. The universe was mocking her.

This... this had to be him.

He spotted her instantly-somehow-and his entire face brightened like she was oxygen and he had been suffocating for years.

"You're Sophia?" he asked, breathless, dropping a notebook that bounced off his shoe. "Hi. I'm Dean. Sorry I'm late. I had-okay, long story. I'll explain. No, actually I won't, it's embarrassing. But I'm here now!"

He said it proudly, as if his arrival-thirty-seven minutes late-deserved applause.

Sophia stared at him. "You're late."

Dean blinked. "Yeah, I know. I said that."

"You said sorry," she replied. "You didn't acknowledge the fact that you wasted my time."

His eyebrows shot up. "Wow. Okay. Good morning to you too."

"It was a good morning," she muttered.

He laughed-an easy, warm sound that made her irritation flare hotter. "You're intense."

"You're unprofessional."

"Oh, so this is how it's going to be," he murmured under his breath, amused.

Sophia inhaled sharply. "This is how it's going to be if you can't respect schedules."

He opened his mouth, then closed it, then squinted at her as if trying to decode a puzzle only visible to him.

"Well," he finally said, "you're clearly the brains of this operation."

"And you're clearly the chaos."

"Chaos makes good stories," he countered.

"Deadlines make published ones."

"Oh, we're going to be fun," he said, half-teasing, half-challenging.

He took a seat beside her desk-well, technically he crashed into it, knocking a pen holder over and catching it with surprising reflexes.

Sophia pinched the bridge of her nose.

"This is a nightmare," she whispered.

Dean heard it. Of course he did.

"Hey," he said softly, tone shifting. "I know I'm... a lot. But I'm good at what I do. And I promise I'll take this seriously."

She looked at him then-really looked.

He wasn't smug.

He wasn't defensive.

He looked genuinely hopeful.

And something inside her chest tugged in a way she didn't give permission for.

It annoyed her instantly.

"Let's just get to work," she said.

Dean nodded, pulling out a pencil and sketchpad. "Alright, boss."

She froze. "I'm not your boss."

"Oh, I know," he grinned. "But you really give off that vibe. Like... if vibes could hold clipboards."

She stared at him.

He smirked.

She hated that she almost smiled.

Almost.

The meeting was supposed to last an hour. It took two, because Dean kept interrupting her structure with "What if the opening scene is a doodle?" and "Can we add a panel where modern love is represented by two pigeons sharing a leftover sandwich?" and "Do you think heartbreak is funnier or sadder when animated?"

Sophia resisted the urge to throttle him with her own notebook.

At one point he grabbed her pen from her hand in the middle of her sentence.

"Don't," she said.

"Why not?"

"I was using that."

"You were gripping it hard enough to snap it in half."

"That's because you kept-"

"Existing? Living? Contributing?"

"Interrupting!"

"Oh."

He shrugged, unconcerned.

She wanted to scream.

She wanted to walk away.

She wanted to... understand how someone could be so infuriating and strangely likable in the same breath.

And then, as if the universe wanted to make things worse, her editor passed by, leaned down between them and whispered, "Great chemistry, you two. Keep it going."

Dean grinned.

Sophia glared.

Chemistry?

There was no chemistry.

There was... combustion.

Which wasn't the same thing.

Not at all.

When the meeting finally ended, Sophia stood up, gathering her things with movements so sharp they could slice air.

Dean stood too, towering slightly over her. "So... lunch? To keep brainstorming?"

"No."

"Coffee?"

"No."

"A walk?"

"No."

"A truce?"

She paused.

"What kind of truce?"

"The kind where you don't kill me, and I don't annoy you intentionally."

"You annoy me unintentionally?"

"Yes," he said proudly.

Sophia exhaled. "We don't need a truce. We need boundaries."

Dean brightened. "Boundaries are my favourite! I cross them a lot."

"Exactly my point."

He laughed.

She did not.

"Well," he said, adjusting his backpack, "see you tomorrow?"

"Be on time."

He saluted with exaggerated seriousness. "Yes ma'am."

She watched him walk away, shaking her head, telling herself she didn't notice the way people naturally moved aside for him, the way he smiled at the receptionist, the way his steps bounced like he lived on a different frequency.

A lighter one.

A freer one.

She shouldn't envy that.

But she did.

And that scared her.

Sophia stepped into the hallway alone, hugging her folders tightly. She needed air. She needed silence. She needed-

Her phone vibrated.

Unknown Number: He's going to ruin everything. Don't trust him.

Sophia froze.

Her heart slammed against her ribs.

Another message popped up.

Unknown Number: You don't know who you're working with.

Her stomach dropped.

She glanced back toward the newsroom-Dean was gone.

Her pulse climbed.

A final message arrived, chilling her spine:

Unknown Number:

If he becomes part of your story... so will you.

Sophia's breath caught.

Her fingers trembled.

And the hallway suddenly felt much, much darker.

Someone is watching. Someone is warning. But is the danger about Dean... or something else?

Sophia didn't breathe for a full five seconds.

Not because she forgot how-because her body refused to. The hallway felt narrower. Dimmer. Like the overhead lights had stepped back just enough to make shadows longer.

Anonymous text messages were not new to her; journalism came with its fair share of unhappy readers and defensive sources. But this?

This was different.

This was specific.

Targeted.

Personal.

Her fingers hovered over the screen before she typed, Who is this?

Delivered.

Read.

No reply.

Sophia swallowed hard. She checked the empty hallway again, half-expecting someone to be standing there watching her. Nothing. Just the faint buzz of printers and murmurs from distant desks.

She forced herself forward, heels clicking too loudly, echoing down the corridor.

She told herself not to overreact.

She'd had worse. She'd been threatened before-usually by people who had everything to lose if the truth ever surfaced. But those messages had always followed stories, investigations, leads. Things that mattered. Things dangerous people would care about.

But this message was about...

Dean.

The artist who spilled things. Who talked too much and ran late and sketched strange little characters on napkins. The man who could barely control his coffee cup, let alone cause enough damage to warrant anonymous warnings.

Unless she was missing something.

Unless she didn't know him nearly as well as she thought.

The idea unsettled her.

She shoved the phone into her bag and marched toward the exit. She didn't have time to think about threats. She had a draft to begin. A project to survive. A co-worker who needed to learn punctuality and basic human decibel limits.

That was enough stress.

Right?

Outside, the cold air slapped her in the face, grounding her a little. The city buzzed around her in a way that usually centered her-cars honking, people shouting across streets, distant music from a fruit seller's stall-but today it all felt too loud.

She only got a few steps from the building when someone stepped into her path.

She jumped back, hand flying to her chest.

Dean.

He stood there, breathless again, like he'd run down the stairs instead of taking the elevator. "Whoa-sorry, I swear I wasn't stalking you."

"That is exactly what a stalker would say."

He grinned, and somehow it softened the tension in her chest by a fraction. "No seriously, I forgot to ask-do you have a preferred style for outlining the article? Bullet points? Paragraph summaries? Or do you want to throw my entire structure out the window and create your own?"

Sophia blinked. He remembered the project? And was... eager?

"We can discuss it tomorrow," she said, adjusting her bag on her shoulder. "Right now I need to get home."

His eyes flicked to her expression-just a flick, but he noticed the tightness. The stiffness. "You okay?"

She hesitated. Just long enough for him to read something in her silence.

His face sobered. His voice dropped. "Sophia... what happened?"

She considered telling him. The messages were about him, after all. But sharing them felt too real. Too immediate. Too vulnerable.

And she didn't want him thinking she was frightened by some random unknown texter.

"I'm fine," she said firmly.

He didn't look convinced, but he let it go. "Alright. But... for what it's worth, today was fun."

She raised a brow. "Fun?"

"Yeah," he said, cheeks dimpling. "You're tough. It's cool."

"Annoying is not cool."

"It is when you're the good kind of annoying."

Sophia sputtered. "There's no 'good kind' of-"

"There is. You're organised, determined, and you have this very intense eyebrow thing that tells me when I'm pushing it too far."

"I do not have an eyebrow thing."

"You totally do." He pointed at her. "And there it is. Eyebrow Thing™."

She exhaled in disbelief. "Go home, Dean."

He stepped aside, raising his hands in exaggerated surrender. "Yes ma'am."

She walked past him, trying not to let the corners of her mouth curl.

She failed.

Just a little.

When Sophia got home, the apartment was quiet-exactly how she liked it. But even the silence didn't settle her. She kept replaying the messages, the unknown number, the implications.

She finally sank onto her couch, exhaling slowly as she pulled out her laptop to take refuge in the thing that had always grounded her: work.

But her phone buzzed again.

Her heart stuttered.

Same unknown number.

Unknown: He's not who you think he is.

Sophia locked her jaw.

Before she could type anything, another message came.

Unknown: Check his name.

Her pulse pounded.

Her fingers shook-more with anger than fear now.

She typed back: Stop messaging me or I'll report this number.

A beat.

Then:

Report all you want.

The truth doesn't care who believes it.

Sophia blocked the number immediately.

She tossed her phone to the other side of the couch and rubbed her temples.

This was ridiculous.

Probably a prank.

Probably nothing.

But another intrusive thought formed-the kind that slipped in through the cracks of logic:

What truth?

Across the city, Dean collapsed onto his couch with a groan, throwing his backpack onto the floor. His apartment was messy-coffee cups, sketches everywhere, a half-eaten packet of crisps from two days ago.

He stared at the ceiling, replaying the day.

Sophia had been... intense. Sharp-edged. All structure and precision and barely concealed annoyance.

But she'd also been smart. And brave. And frustratingly beautiful in that way disciplined people often were.

He liked her already.

Too much, maybe.

He grabbed his sketchpad, flipping to a page where he'd doodled earlier during their meeting-a tiny cartoon version of her, frowning at him with the caption: You're late again, Dean.

He snorted.

Then his phone buzzed.

He glanced at the unknown number. "Spam," he muttered.

But the message made him sit up straighter:

Unknown:

You shouldn't be working with her.

Dean frowned.

Then frowned deeper.

Another message:

She's going to dig into things you should leave buried.

His stomach twisted.

Before he could reply, the number sent one final message:

Some stories ruin the people who write them.

Dean's phone slipped from his fingers.

His breathing hitched.

He tried to call the number.

Blocked.

His hands went to his hair as he stood abruptly, pacing.

He wanted to dismiss it as spam.

He wanted to assume it was a prank.

He wanted to believe this had nothing to do with-

He shut his eyes tightly.

No.

Not now.

Not again.

He grabbed his coat, heart pounding as he left his apartment in a hurry, like the walls were closing in.

He needed air.

Distance.

Silence.

He needed-

He didn't know.

Sophia spent the evening trying to write, but her mind kept returning to Dean's face as he asked if she was okay. The sincerity. The softness.

She didn't want to think about him.

She didn't want to care.

But something in today's chaos had unsettled her in a way she hadn't felt in a long time.

She was still lost in those thoughts when her phone-her regular messages-dinged again.

This time, it wasn't the unknown number.

It was her editor.

Editor:

Dean's been trying to reach you.

Everything alright?

Sophia frowned.

Her phone had no missed calls. No messages. No notifications.

Then another message appeared from her editor:

He said someone contacted him.

About you.

Be careful.

Sophia's blood ran cold.

Someone had texted Dean too.

Her chest tightened.

Someone was watching both of them.

But why?

She grabbed her coat and keys with shaking hands. Someone needed to answer questions tonight. And Dean seemed like the only person who could.

She stepped into the hallway, locking her apartment behind her.

Then she froze.

A piece of paper was wedged under her door.

She slowly pulled it out, heart thundering.

It was a printed note.

No sender.

No message.

Just one sentence:

"He's not the one you should fear."

Sophia felt her back press against the door, legs weakening beneath her.

The hallway was silent.

Too silent.

Somewhere inside her apartment, something creaked.

Was it the radiator?

Or was she not alone?

Her breath caught.

She reached slowly for her phone-

Then nearly dropped it when the hallway lights flickered once... twice... then went out completely.

Pitch black.

And in the darkness, she heard it:

A soft, deliberate footstep behind her.