This choice: Genuinely positive -- she likes him • Go Back...Chapter #4Genuinely positive -- she likes him by: Unknown Lawrence sat behind the large, wooden home office desk, fiddling with the paper reports that had been placed there this morning. The shares for Morpheus Industries fell another 21 cents, though the falling rate seemed to be slightly slowing down. As expected, the technicians had yet to find the mysterious flaw in the machine, asking for more time on diagnosis. And it seemed that the President had arranged a meeting with him later this afternoon.
Lawrence set the stack of papers back on the table, taking off his reading glasses that corrected the vision of his aging eyes. Nothing but bad news seemed to follow him. It was already causing him to feel a certain emotion – a feeling of apathy. He wanted nothing more than to stand up, overturn all the desks and chairs in his room, and storm out of here, yelling “To hell with it all!” But he knew this wasn’t possible; not if he wanted to retain the job he’d spent many years building up towards.
Glancing at his desk phone, he nervously picked it up with his bony fingers and dialed the extension to his secretary. His hands shook as the phone hummed in his hand. Once… twice… finally, he could hear a click as the secretary picked up on the other end.
“Good morning, Mr. Deluse. How may I help you?” Came the sweet mezzo-soprano voice from the earpiece.
“Morning, Olivia. I would like for you to come to my office right now,” Lawrence replied.
“Sure thing, Mr. Deluse,” Piped up Olivia. “I will be over in just a minute.”
True to her word, Ms. Summers – better known to Lawrence as ‘Olivia’ – arrived at his office door promptly. This was no surprise to him, since her office (she was the only secretary in the building to be given an office instead of a cubicle or open-air desk) was right next to his. A brief knock on the door and a yell of “Come in!” was all it took for the brunette to enter and stand before his desk.
“Good morning, Mr. Deluse,” Repeated Olivia her earlier greeting. “Would you like me to make a coffee for you?”
A coffee did sound tempting for Lawrence, as he reached out to smoothen his droopy eyelids. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night, having been nerve-wrecked about all the work problems. Nevertheless, he simply shook his head and motioned towards the chair on the opposing end of his desk.
“Sit, Olivia,” Softly commanded Lawrence, still gesturing to the chair. “I want to talk to you.”
Olivia’s face suddenly stiffened, turning stone cold, as she proceeded to sit down on the cushion chair offered to her. “What’s the matter, Mr. Deluse? I know it’s too early for my yearly performance – it was scheduled for November. Was it because I took time off work to go see my family? I know it wasn’t an appropriate use of sick days, but—”
“It’s not that,” Lawrence interrupted, scratching behind his ear. “I don’t mind you using your sick days in that manner as long as you report to me beforehand. It’s just that… I have a question to ask you.” He paused, leaning in and gazing into her wondrous, emerald eyes. “What do you think of me? As a boss, I mean.”
Silence. Olivia paused, surprised by the sudden question that came out of the blue. Lawrence felt as if though time began to stretch to its limits. The seconds passing by felt like minutes, hours, days even – as he waited for her response.
“I don’t know what to say,” She finally mumbled, placing her index onto her lips. “It’s just so sudden.”
“Just tell me your honest thoughts. No need to sugarcoat it to me. Lay it on me like you would to your mother.”
“Well,” Mused Olivia, her eyes wandering upwards. “I think that you’re a very good boss. I have never faced any harassment or discrimination from you. You’re always lenient and understanding when it comes to mistakes, and you genuinely care about others. When I worked as a physicist at the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory, they overworked me, put me down, and constantly caused me stress. Here – I get much better pay and my workload is less burdensome. I never thought that I would work as a secretary after graduating from Caltech with a PhD in nuclear physics, but now I’m glad I did. And I’m glad to have you as a boss. And I would even say friend as well.”
Lawrence was stunned. Tears wanted to flow, but he held them back, remembering his late father’s age-old adage – “A real man doesn’t cry”. But to think that this was how his closest subordinate felt about him; it was unimaginable. He had always tried to treat others with an attitude he expected back from them: with respect and understanding. But he didn’t expect that she had thought this highly about him – the depressed woman with shining intelligence he had hired 5 months ago.
“Is… is that all, Mr. Deluse?” Asked Olivia hesitantly. No doubt the question was still weighing on her mind.
“Yes. You can go now,” Told her Lawrence, as the clicking of her heels began, before adding, “A coffee would be nice.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Deluse,” Chirped Olivia, as she sashayed out of the room in her pencil skirt.
Lawrence breezed through the morning with an elated feeling on cloud-nine. All the misfortunates and tragedies that weighed him down were quickly forgotten, and he threw himself back into work. Everything was running so smoothly, issues were starting to be resolved, good news started pouring in. A permit for the shipment of goods had been obtained, and it would only take a couple days to resolve the problem with the shipping. Technicians had begun testing the device, and were quickly approaching to finding a solution. All the troubles seemed to have been swept away.
Lawrence didn’t even notice as the time flew by, the two hands of his office clock merging together to indicate 12 o’clock. It was lunch time. Normally, Lawrence would bring his own lunch to work; he was used to working even during this free time. However, he had decided to help himself to a treat, as he grabbed his car keys and rode to his favorite restaurant – Il Mare Bianco.
He was seated promptly, recognized by the waiting staff of the place. A table by the window, with a beautiful view of the paved streets and colorful signs. He looked down at the menu, browsing the many dishes he had and hadn’t before, wondering if he should try the lamb with crème sauce or go for the tried-and-true linguini with calamari.
The restaurant was nearly empty at this time, which was a plus, except for a couple seated at a nearby table. The man was handsome, with a straight posture and militaristic gait. A trimmed moustache and beard completed his visage. He was the type of guy whom many of women would fall for, yet only few would get a chance at him. The lady sitting opposite to him had her back turned to Lawrence, but something about that crimson red dress and vibrant hair seemed very familiar…
“So how do you find this place?” She finally purred, caressing the arm of her companion. Lawrence nearly choked on his spit. There was no way he would ever forget the voice of his wife. What was she doing here? He leaned in slightly closer, straining his hearing.
“The food is quite good here. I’m impressed.”
“Thanks. This restaurant was found by my husband. But that silly, old fool doesn’t spend the time with me here anymore.”
“About that – don’t you think it would be bad if he found out our relationship between each other?”
“I doubt that. He’s been working late at nights recently. He doesn’t even suspect what’s going on…”
Lawrence was already out of the restaurant by that time. He understood. He understood everything. And it hurt; it hurt so much. His heart was beating rapidly, ready to tear apart. The gym, the salons – they weren’t for him. They were for someone else. He should’ve known.
The rest of the day seemed to sour as a result of this. Authorities found an error in the papers, delaying the shipment once more. The president yelled at him during his meeting, threatening to fire him if he didn’t resolve the case. Technicians forgot to enter key parameters during diagnosis, leading to worthless results.
It was 6 o’clock. Everyone was gone by now. Lawrence exited his office, and began walking down the hallway to the elevator.
“Why even live…” Muttered Lawrence, walking past his secretary’s room. She was also probably gone by now.
Pressing the ‘B’ letter in the elevator, he took it to the former underground parking lot. He stood before the machine, which caused much grief and headache for him. It seemed to menace before him, taunting him, the doors left open by the technicians gaping wide.
“This is such a pain,” Lawrence muttered. He suddenly heard the clicking sound of high heels approaching him. He turned around, not knowing who to expect, and saw the figure of his secretary standing before him.
“Are you alright, Mr. Deluse?” Asked Olivia, approaching him. “I heard you mumbling something as you walked past my office. You seemed to be in a foul mood.”
“Ah,” Hesitated Lawrence, thinking what to tell her. “I just had a bad day. You know how it is.”
She nodded, beginning to approach closer. “Yes, I used to—“
Her words were cut short as she tripped over a ledge (a relic of its days as a parking lot) in the dim lighting, sending her tumbling towards Lawrence, causing them both to fall into the machine itself. His head hit the side of inside wall, causing the doors to slam shut and the machine to roar to life. Sparks danced in the air. The machine seemed to be falling apart, just enough energy left for one, last dying breath. Lawrence’s last hope was that he didn’t break something, as he began to lose consciousness.
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