Lin Rui woke up slowly. His head felt heavy, his thoughts sluggish, as if he had been dragged out of a deep sleep. For a long time, he didn't want to open his eyes. The darkness felt safe. But eventually, the silence of the room forced him to wake up.
When he finally pushed his eyelids open, the first thing he saw was the ceiling. It was white, plain, and perfectly flat. It was a ceiling he had not seen in a very long time.
He blinked, his vision blurry. He turned his head to the side, expecting to see stone walls or silk curtains. Instead, he saw a fabric couch with a small wooden coffee table in front of it. He looked further and found a laptop, still open, sitting on top of a work desk in the corner.
"My apartment..." he whispered, partly in disbelief.
