The next morning, Liam arrived at the Linxwell office ten minutes later than usual — just late enough to seem unbothered, just early enough to keep his reputation as "the guy who still delivers."
The email was already waiting.
Subject: Task Realignment — P.T.L.
From: Emilia Rook
To: Liam Vos
Hi Liam,
Given Mateo's limited scope over the next few weeks, we're temporarily shifting Package Test Logging oversight to you. We appreciate your flexibility during this period. Let me know if you'd like a short sync to review the scope.
— Emilia
He stared at the screen.
It wasn't a surprise — he'd known this could happen — but it still landed like a kick to the ribs.
"Temporarily."
He almost laughed.
That's how it starts.
Mateo passed by with his backpack a few minutes later, clearly heading out for an early physio appointment. He gave Liam a small wave.
"Appreciate you stepping in, man."
Liam nodded tightly, already clicking open the test suite interface.
Package Test Logging — P.T.L., in company lingo — wasn't hard. That was the worst part. It was easy. Just dull enough to rot your brain and repetitive enough to make time crawl.
For each software patch deployed to a client sandbox, the tester had to:
Confirm deployment.
Run pre-logged scripts.
Manually enter test outputs into the system.
Log timestamps.
Re-tag the archive.
Rinse. Repeat. Hundreds of times.
Liam stared at the blank fields on his screen, then looked up.
Across from him, Anika Meyer had her headphones on, one hand on her mouse, the other scribbling on a pad. Her desk was impossibly tidy. She noticed things.
Liam forced a yawn and stretched, as if this was all beneath him — a favor, not an obligation.
Later, while pretending to write a summary update, he opened Slack and messaged Emilia:
Hey — quick one. Just to clarify, given the family business situation I mentioned, any idea when the transition plan might be finalized?
She replied ten minutes later:
Still early. No hard exit date yet. We've opened a requisition for potential replacement but you know how slow recruiting can be. Let's touch base Monday as planned.
He leaned back, exhaled.
So he was still doing the task, while the company also expected him to leave.
Two feet in different boats. One slowly drifting away.
During lunch, he sat alone, scrolling his phone, until Anika sat across from him with her salad bowl.
"You okay?"
Liam blinked. "Yeah, why?"
"You look tense."
He gave a half-smile. "Just babysitting the logs. Mateo's on medical slowdown, so I'm filling in."
Anika's eyebrow twitched. "Didn't you mention last month you were thinking of leaving?"
Liam's hand paused mid-air, holding a forkful of rice.
"I said it was a maybe. Family's trying to pull me into something, but it's still murky."
She nodded slowly. "Right."
That afternoon, Liam pulled out of three meetings — citing "backend alignment" — and tried to knock out as many test logs as possible.
But the rhythm was broken.
He couldn't focus.
He kept wondering: How long can I drag this out before HR starts asking real questions?
The more he thought about it, the slower he worked.
By the time 6:00 p.m. rolled around, he had only completed 48 logs — barely half of what Mateo used to do.
And yet, he still left with a confident stride, waving casually to the cleaning crew, as if he were carrying the weight of the company on his back.
But the only thing he was carrying... was a lie.