One office lamp left. She undoes the shirt and sits on the desk.

Story notes: one office lamp, booked by the two of them

Sui is thirty-three and Mark is thirty-six, coworkers in the same office, both past thirty. Staying tonight was written on both calendars on Tuesday. Nobody kept the other person last in the building by surprise. Half the ceiling lights are off because they find them harsh, so they kept one desk lamp. Before she undoes the shirt and sits on the desk, she asks: the door is locked from the inside, do you still want this. He says yes. A heel rests on the arm of his chair because she asked if she could, and he said he wants that.

The elevator chimes because the night cleaner is collecting bags, following a note they left in the afternoon: do not enter this room before the hour they named. The cleaner is not part of the lamp. Mark says that when he hears the elevator he wants a pause. Sui stops and waits until he says he wants to continue. Both are sober. The coffee is cold. Each button she opens comes with another look at him.

At 0:15 she asks about the lock and he says yes. At 0:45 the first button opens and she waits. At 1:10 the elevator sounds. They both laugh. She says they can stop. He shakes his head and says he wants to finish the minute. At 1:40 the shoe meets the armrest and she asks again if it is too much. He says it is right. At the end she fastens two buttons, says the two minutes are up, the lamp can stay, and the people can go home.

After the buttons are fastened, Sui unlocks the door and asks whether Mark would want the desk lamp left bright all night. He says he would want the lamp to stay and the people to leave, so this minute can stop. The elevator chimes again. They do not write the cleaner into the scene. Both of them remember the beats live inside about two minutes. Half the ceiling lights are still off. The coffee is still cold. They leave the office together, and tomorrow’s calendar does not call tonight an accident. She says yes to the walk down.