The Primal Hunter's
Monday Morning

It was a boring Monday morning. Rare sunlight entering through the narrow gap of the blindfold does little to disturb men who sleep soundly in bed. However, the quiet peace is short-lived when the sound of his cursed alarm begins his daily ritual to destroy a good dream.

Jake, who had previously enjoyed a sweet hug from his blanket, was shocked upon waking, fumbling until his hand finally found his phone. Grumbling, she rolled out of bed and began her usual morning routine, preparing for another day at work.

He went to a warm bath, had a quick breakfast, dressed himself, before finally picking up his things and heading for the door. The entire morning routine is done in less than half an hour.

Walking down the stairs to his car, he got a hunch that the day would be interesting. He didn't know why because everything was as usual so far, but he couldn't completely dispel those feelings. Maybe someone brought a donut?

Traffic was very bad as usual, living in a big city and so on. He spent most of the time not actually driving but sitting in the endless queue of the morning rush. He had considered cycling or maybe running to work, but then he had to shower and get dressed at work, and that sounded annoying.

When she finally stopped in the parking lot, she got out, picked up her bag, and walked into the office of the company that had been her workplace for the past few years. The building itself is a huge glass, with too many floors. It was not too strange, surrounded by similar structures.

As she enters, she is greeted by receptionist, Joanna. She was a middle-aged woman, who always wore these large earrings, and more makeup than an entire class of high school girls would need in a week. If Jake were to portray Joanna in the easiest way, it would be a soccer mom caught up in a persistent midlife crisis. Reception is located only a few meters from the elevator, so greeting it in the morning is a natural routine for most employees.

"Morning, Jake, is your weekend fun?" he asked, with too much energy for this early morning.

“Same as usual, how about you?” Jake answered politely, knowing what was going to happen.

“Oh, that's great! You know me and Mike are trying to..” he replied excitedly, explaining in great detail, giving Jake deja-vu to last week, where the exact same scenario seems to have played out.

After a long conversation about the crazy subject with her, the arrival of the elevator finally saved her, letting her escape as she climbed to the 14th floor.

Stepping out of the elevator, Jake is greeted by a quiet open office space. It seems I was one of the first to arrive today, he thought, as he found his way to his desk. Booting the computer, he began reading emails that came over the weekend.

Jake has been working in this office for over two years now. His job is what many would describe as boring, yet somehow he feels at peace to immerse himself in spreadsheets, financial statements, and more. He works in the finance department, and if he says it himself, he's pretty good at what he does.

He primarily works with investments, his official degree being a business analyst. Jake has the ability to pick good stocks and avoid bad ones. He always had a good feeling about such things.

The office slowly filled up as more and more came out of the elevator. After morning greetings and polite social exchanges, the noise slowly subsided as everyone was busy with their respective duties. There are no doughnuts, he said inwardly with great disappointment.

As he sat there, after finishing the task the fastest, he began to feel a little tired once again, obviously from lack of sleep. Most other people in the office have now learned that he is not a pleasant-nonsense person, so most leave him alone. Just like he wanted.

Jake has always been a rather relaxed person. Be careful and pull away a little. He is always a bit of a loner and chooses activities based on not interacting with others. Heck, when her father forced her into some kind of sport to get her out of her room, she chose archery because she could do it herself.

Everything completely? Jake is satisfied with his life. He has a high-paying job, a good family, a nice apartment, great co-workers, and his future looks bright if he says it himself. He was not an extraordinary person, but just another face among the crowd. And he kind of likes it that way. Stand out means unnecessary attention, and she prefers to avoid it.

As he finished his thoughts, his superior, Jacob, walked over with a wide smile on his face.

“Hei buddy! Me and the others will be out for lunch, you want to come?” he asked cheerfully.

He likes Jacob. Jacob is the type of man people call leaders. Excellent social skills, an interest in reading people, and making you feel comfortable around him. He is one of the few people Jake calls friends.

Following him was a man named Bertram. Big and brooding would be one's first assumption, but he was actually a gentle person. Apparently, she had taken care of Jacob while growing up and was like a butler or something.

All he knew was that Jacob's family was very wealthy. To be honest it was a miracle that Jacob did not turn into a proper brat, instead of the man he is today. He is popular in offices with every metric, especially with certain clients .

His handsome appearance, high stature, and overall charm certainly did not harm him when it came to women in the office. His hair always looked perfect, his suit was always perfectly worn, and what looked like an eternal casual smile adorned his face.

They manage to get along mainly because of the man's ability to have a conversation over a few sentences, even with someone like Jake. The fact that Jake is not the type to create problems in the office, but only provides reliable results, certainly makes their relationship easier for both parties.

Which is also the reason why Jake agreed to go to lunch. Because with Jacob together, he knew it wouldn't be entirely awkward.

Jake gets up and walks to the elevator with Jacob and Bertram. Talk along the way about work and meetings they plan to have after lunch break.

She sees Joanna with Mike, her husband, getting into the same elevator that she, Jacob, and Bertram are heading to. The elevator quickly became narrow, as three other people were already in the elevator waiting to get off.

One of them is Caroline. Caroline is a co-worker working in the human resources department, who shares their office space with Jake's department. She's a year younger than him, slim, blonde, and frankly everything Jake calls his 'typen'.

She realized that this was probably only because she became the only woman of her age who interacted with her regularly. Only two people of the opposite sex in close range. That was one of the reasons why he never acted on emotions. Along with some others. She is not the romantic type, and her previous experiences in romance did not really go well. Well, she thought, she was cheating on me with my best friend, does it count as 'unsuccessful', right?

So she only managed to give him a nod and a small "good morning" to him, even though it was noon. Jake can barely contain his embarrassment of not showing up, but luckily he seems to just take it as a bad joke.

Jake is well aware that Caroline barely sees him as a friend and has absolutely no romantic interest in him. Jacob, on the other hand, was clearly paying attention. Not that he could blame her. Jacob is a great man, no matter how you say it, and he can't force himself to dislike him, even though he's Jake's unconscious, one-sided rival, in love.

Jake himself is what would be described as a rather average person in the appearance department. Not too fat, not too thin, short brown hair, brown eyes, and a face that could not be described as handsome or ugly.

The only thing he had for her was her above average physique, especially since she was still doing archery for fun in her spare time, she said, even had homemade exercises at her parents' place. This, coupled with his gym membership (and actually going), made him maintain his healthy lifestyle from behind as long as he still dreamed of becoming an athlete.

*DIG!*

The sound of a rapidly closing elevator takes him back to the real world, as the descent toward ground level begins. And as his mind began to wander about what he should eat for lunch, his thought process was interrupted once again.

*DIG!*

A voice, very similar to an elevator, filled his head, while simultaneously, words appeared before his eyes; in his mind. He barely managed to get them out before he fainted.