He looked around the office, thinking about where to start. I can probably disguise my intentions a little. I still need to maintain my reputation after all.

There were about twenty people in the office, their desks split into groups of four, with plenty of space for someone to walk between the groups. The office was large enough to accommodate this comfortably, but also small enough that you could talk with someone across the room.

One or two people were off sick today, so there were a few empty desks.

It would take a bit of time for him to make coffees if everyone asked for one, but ultimately, he still had to do it. He had to complete the tasks today.

He walked up to the first small grouping of people. He could speak loud enough for everyone in the office to hear him, but he decided to talk to everyone in smaller groups so that he could make sure he got the orders correctly.

“I’m gonna go make myself a coffee, does anyone want one?” he said casually.

“No thanks, I’m fine.” One of them shook the travel mug on his desk. Liquid sloshed around in the mug.

Two of them responded similarly, saying no, while the other asked for an espresso. Arno went from desk to desk, asking everyone if they wanted something while he made his way naturally to the coffee machine in the little office kitchen.

In total, six people asked for a coffee. The others either didn’t want a drink or already had something. That’s not bad, I can do this. All of the orders were easy to remember. None of them asked for anything too specific. Either because they didn’t want to ask for too much, or because they weren’t too particular with what they drank.

Reaching the kitchen, he pulled out seven disposable cups and set them out on the counter. One for everyone who asked, and one for himself. He didn’t like to drink coffee too often, but he had already used it as an excuse, so he couldn’t not make one for himself. It would be strange if he walked out there without one.

He turned on the coffee maker and ran through the list of orders in his brain again while waiting for it to wake up. Two black coffees, one with sugar, one without. An espresso, a latte, a flat white, and a cappuccino. That should be everything.

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With the machine ready and whirring to life, he went about making everyone’s coffees. It would take several minutes, but thankfully wouldn’t take too long to make.

He finished the first black coffee, the one without sugar that was the first one ordered. He didn’t want to walk around with a bunch of drinks, just in case he spilled something. So he walked out and gave it to the man before heading back to make the rest of them.

Finishing the orders one by one, he brought them out to everyone. They thanked him for the drinks, but didn’t find anything unusual about what he was doing. Feeling a bout of relief, he spent some more time in the kitchen while making his own coffee.

He made a cappuccino for himself, finding it the best smelling of the lot. At least, to him. He spent some time in the kitchen relaxing, hoping that the rest of the tasks would be this easy. I’m glad only a few of them asked for something though. If everyone wanted a drink, it would be a lot more time consuming.

He returned to his office and sunk into his chair. He closed his eyes and took a moment to rest. It was a little tiring, but wasn’t as embarrassing as he initially thought. Maybe this won’t be too bad?

Looking at his emails, he sent an email telling the person that he had done it. He was sure the person had seen him complete it, but he sent the email just in case.

As he waited for a response, he received an email from his friend. Hesitating, he looked around the office again. No one was watching him. He clicked on the email from his friend and began reading.

“Friday night then? Let me know if that works.”

I need to let him know its not safe. We can’t keep doing this. Taking a deep breath, he thought through what he would say and sent an email over. “Won’t be able to go bowling this week. Work has been very busy recently, so I won’t be able to hang out.”

That’s all I can do for him.

After a couple minutes of waiting, he received another email from the unknown person. “Well done. For your second task, I want you to drink the rest of the water in the water cooler in as fast a time as possible. You are not allowed to bring it somewhere else, and must drink it in a place that is visible to everyone”

Arno looked up from the computer, looking at the water cooler on the other side of the office. His face paled, as he looked at it with dread. There were still several litres of water left.

I-I Can’t do that. That’s too much water. That was a dangerous amount of water for him to drink. Even if it didn’t kill him, drinking that amount of water in a short period of time would definitely cause him immense pain.

It was more than the amount of water he should drink in an entire day. He gulped. HIs eyes flicked between the water cooler and his computer, half hoping that this was all a dream or a joke, and that he didn’t have to do that.

Another email appeared, tugging at his chest and making it difficult to breathe. “What are you waiting for? If you don’t complete all five tasks by the end of the day, this will no longer be kept between us. You will be torn apart by your bosses and lose everything you held dear.”