One Click Billionaire

Seeing Adam at this late hour was unusual. It was so unusual that Sophia found she could not maintain her usual silence. She watched him fumble with his keys. 

He looked lost and exhausted. It was a sight so different from his usual purposeful rush out the door. She spoke before she could stop herself. Her voice was gentle.

"You're quite late today," she said.

The sound of her voice made Adam freeze. His hand stopped moving. His entire body went still. 

Is Sophia talking to me? The thought flashed through his mind. 

It was a jolt of surprise. And she knows my name? He slowly turned his head. He finally looked at her directly. He felt his face grow warm. A nervous smile formed on his lips.

"Oh, no, it's not like that," he said quickly. The words tumbled out in a rush. 

"I actually just came back. I remembered something I needed." He lied without thinking. He could not tell her the truth. 

He could not tell her that he had been kicked out of his job just an hour ago. 

He was afraid that this small fragile interaction they were having for the first time would be the last. He thought if she knew he was a failure she would not want to talk to him again.

A small private smile touched Sophia's lips. She heard his clumsy reply and was not fooled. But she did not care. She was pleased that she had finally spoken to him. The internal barrier she had built had been broken. 

Her feelings for Adam were not romantic. She simply admired his work ethic. She wanted to get to know him as a neighbor. He was the only other person in the building who seemed to be alone like her.

Adam for his part also admired Sophia. He admired her dedication to her job as a teacher. It was a profession he respected. He also admired her beauty. She was in his eyes incredibly beautiful. 

She had a quiet elegance that was different from anyone he had ever known. He did not know that Sophia was older than him. He assumed they were roughly the same age.

Adam took a breath. He decided to push past his own hesitation. He had to keep the conversation going. "So, you're heading to your school now?"

Sophia ran a hand through her hair. It was a casual gesture that made her seem more relaxed. 

"Yes I usually leave around this time," she replied. "You're normally gone much earlier so there's never a chance to say good morning. But since you're here today I'll say it now. Good morning."

Adam fell silent for several seconds. He just stood there looking at her. 

The words "good morning" hung in the air between them. It was such a simple phrase but it felt significant. The simple admiration he had felt for the woman next door was gone. 

It was replaced by a new undefined feeling. It was a warmth in his chest that he did not recognize. After a few beats of silence passed he realized he had been quiet for too long. He had to say something. He quickly smiled.

"Good morning to you too Sophia," he said. Her name felt good to say out loud.

Sophia gave a slight nod. She adjusted the bag on her hip. 

"Have a good day," she said. She turned and walked toward the stairwell. Adam watched her go. His eyes followed her until she disappeared down the stairs. The sound of her footsteps faded away.

Only then did he turn back to his door. A genuine smile spread across his face. It erased the earlier tension and defeat. He felt a small flicker of hope. He put his key in the lock. This time his hand was steady. 

The lock turned smoothly. He stepped inside his apartment and closed the door behind him.

He walked over to his small bed and sat down on the edge. The mattress sagged under his weight. He held the new phone in his hand. He turned it over and over. 

He looked at its smooth black surface. Was I just hallucinating? he thought. The whole encounter on the street felt like a dream now. The man in the black suit. 

The phone dissolving into light. It was all too strange. But then he remembered. If it had been a hallucination where was his old phone? He had looked around on the sidewalk after the man had left. 

There was nothing there. He vividly remembered seeing the shattered pieces in his hand one moment. Then he remembered watching them dissolve into particles of light that flowed directly into the new device.

Adam took a deep breath. His decision was made. He had to know. He held the phone upright and pressed the power button on its side.

The screen lit up instantly. Adam stared at it. His eyes grew wide with astonishment. The display was an exact replica of his old phone's home screen. 

Nothing had been altered. Every app icon was in the same place it had always been. The wallpaper was his old default image of a blue geometric pattern. It was all just as it had been on his broken device.

He tentatively swiped his thumb across the screen. The response was immediate and fluid. There was no lag. There was no stuttering. 

He swiped back and forth. He opened the app drawer. He closed it. 

The phone moved with a smoothness his old one had never possessed even when it was new. 

It felt as if the software was identical but the hardware had been upgraded to something far more advanced. It was a ghost in a new machine.

He tapped on the icons for his apps. He checked his contacts. All the numbers were there. He checked his photo gallery. The few pictures he had were still there. There was a blurry photo of a sunset he had taken from the roof of the building. There was a screenshot of a map. Everything was intact.

Then he opened the two most critical apps. They were the ones he used for his evening and night jobs. Both were delivery service platforms. 

One was called 'City-Sprint' and the other was 'Quick-Pak'. 

These jobs required him to deliver food and packages on foot. He often had to run to make the delivery times. They were the reason he was in good physical shape. 

They were also the reason he was always exhausted. He opened the City-Sprint app first. His login information was already entered. His profile picture stared back at him. His delivery history was there. 

His ratings were there. His pending payments were all listed. He checked the Quick-Pak app. It was the same. Everything was perfectly preserved.

He was completely baffled. He leaned back on his bed. The phone rested in his lap. He thought about the man in the black suit again. 

He replayed the entire brief encounter in his mind. The man's strange calmness. His expensive suit. The way he vanished into the crowd. "Who was that man?" he whispered to the empty room.

He looked back down at the screen. He was going to close the app. His eyes fixed on the display. He saw something he had not noticed before.