Niko, 28, works from home since before the lockdown. He works in three shifts throughout the day and usually did his errands after lunch. However, because of the lock down, he had to change his schedule to factor in long waiting times at queues when he needed to go out.
"My friends think that I'm more used to this lock down thing since I've been working from home for a few years now. Well, partly true. But for someone who's slightly OC when it comes to schedules and deadlines, the whole rearranging of schedules and workload is actually throwing me off my groove. I constantly have to adjust my schedule to accommodate everything that needs to be done. But I think I'm pretty successful so far. I haven't shaved my head out of frustration yet." Niko checks his to-do list for some work he has to finish for the evening. After dinner, he still has about two and half hours of work until he calls it a day.
He stretches and yawns loudly before standing up from his desk to take his water bottle and plate to the kitchen. He washes both and refills the water bottle with ice and water. He takes a mental note of things he needs to get at the grocery and then jots these down on the pad on the refrigerator. He takes out a microwaveable dinner entrée from the freezer and pops it into the microwave. Niko then gets an old laundry detergent jug from under the sink and fills it with water. He goes around the apartment watering his plants and switching on the lights as he moves along.
This was basically part of his daily routine – In the morning, Niko goes for a jog around the roof deck of his apartment building then has breakfast after showering. If he doesn't need to go on errands, he's seated in front of his computer and starts working on his morning workload. He's usually done by around 11am so he has time to prepare his lunch. After lunch, he'll either lounge around watching movies or videos on his computer or play video games on his phone or make a quick run for a short errand (if it's a major errand like grocery shopping for a week or so, he adjusts his schedule so he's free from work the entire morning until afternoon). He begins work again at around 4pm for another 2 hours or so. Niko usually turns on the lights when the sun sets and everything around his apartment starts to become dark. There are times though, that he delays switching on the lights so that he can marvel at the colourful sunset or watch how the city comes to life in the evenings with lights from streets and buildings automatically switch on.
Tonight was no different from other nights. It had been a week or so since the city had been placed on enhanced community lockdown. What used to be a rather noisy and vibrant city after dark was now eerily quiet. The lights would switch on as scheduled but now the streets were empty and void of life. No vehicles or people were seen anywhere except for an occasional patrol car which made sure people were in their homes and not out in the streets.
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Niko shuffled around the apartment in his sleeved shirt and shorts. He didn't really need to dress formally since only his upper body could be seen if he had a video call or meeting to attend. Since it was a warm evening, he decided to remove his shirt first and just wear his sando; he'll just put on the shirt later when he starts work again. He goes around the apartment watering his plants and switching on the lights. The last light switch he turns on is by the far wall nearer the main door of his apartment. He returns the water jug to the kitchen and flips it over so that it can drip-dry before he returns it to its place under the sink. He gets the container of fish food and feeds his fish before taking out the food he's nuked in the microwave as his dinner. He leans against the kitchen counter while holding his plate with one hand and eats his dinner.
"...what music are you playing tonight?" Niko thinks when he sees a silhouette move inside the apartment across the street. He's caught glimpses of the girl who always dances at around the same time every evening. She would sometimes move across the window. Niko had never actually been able to see her face although he knew she was a girl judging from her figure and fairy lights she had strung on her window last Christmas. And since she worked in an office more than at home, she only began being on this schedule recently.
After finishing his meal, Niko washed the dishes and put back his polo. He brought his water bottle to his work table and started his 'night shift'. He would glance every so often at the window across. In a few hours, the lights there would be switched off. This would happen around the same time Niko finished work and got ready to go to bed.
