Man of Fiction

The following morning, the same doctor visited Gareth's ward. He gave the monk another check-up, with Emily watching closely by. However, last night clouded her mind.

After his welcoming embrace, nothing else happened. She told Gareth that she went back to the apartment to pack some things they would need at the hospital, and that Alaric provided her with transportation. Gareth smiled with satisfaction and laid awake on his bed for a while. Emily lost her motivation to read, and she headed out to heat up some cup noodles that she has brought with her. The rest of the night became uneventful.

In other words, she was just overthinking.

"Your fever is gone," the doctor said. "But I think you should take it easy from now on."

"I will do my best," Gareth promised, grateful for his help. "Thank you so much for your service."

The doctor gave him a bright smile. "I'm just doing my job," he simply said. "You did well too. Because of that, you can get discharged today." With that, Emily stood and headed to the front desk. She opened her phone and received a text message from Alaric.

'Is he going to get out of the hospital today?'

'Yes see you in a bit.'

Emily filed for Gareth's discharge process from the hospital and helped the young monk get back on his feet. They slowly walked out of the hospital, with Gareth carrying their things. Soon, they met up with Alaric Bentlee and his iconic car. When they got in, the detective laid his dark blue eyes on Gareth. "How are you feeling?" he asked him.

"I'm perfectly fine." Gareth said, after he seated himself at the back along with their things. "I'd like to thank you for assisting Emily, yesterday. I also want to apologize for my foolish behavior."

"What happened to you the other day?" Alaric said, driving away from the hospital. The monk paused, with his head bent down. It was the first time Emily and Alaric saw Gareth feeling ashamed of himself. They waited as he tried to find the right words, for his so-called inexcusable behavior. "I got lost," he admitted. "It's because I thought I found someone I knew. So I followed her."

This brought some attention to Emily Rose. She peered at the front-view mirror and asked, "Her?"

"Doctor Rowan Adonis." he immediately said. "I thought I saw her at Downtown Mavon the other day. Turns out, it wasn't her."

"Doctor Rowan Adonis?" Alaric repeated, smirking at the strange name. Emily's palms began to sweat. This was the wrong time to discuss this. "Is she a friend of yours?" the detective asked.

"You could say that," the monk shrugged, his green eyes sorrowful.

"Do you have any information on her?" Detective Bentlee continued. "Perhaps I can search for her and give you what I can find. That is, if you are willing."

"NO!"

They all turned to the mortified Emily Rose. She closed her mouth, and looked out of the window. How was she going to get Alaric Bentlee out of this? More importantly, how was she going to explain to Gareth that the detective won't be able to find her? This was becoming a mess. "Uhm, I mean," she began. "She's from faraway. It's like she's out of this world. Do you know what I mean, Gareth?"

"But we must consider all possibilities, Emily." Gareth argued. No, please don't say that or else Alaric is going to get involved, Emily pleaded in her mind. But it was too late, because Alaric appeared invested. "If Detective Bentlee has access to such information, then he has my approval to do so."

"I'm just doing my job," Alaric said. "Let's exchange contact details, later. Then I will get to work." Great. Just great. Sooner or later, she was going to have to prepare a lengthy explanation for Alaric Bentlee.

They were back at Sunrise Apartment, and the two men exchanged their phone numbers. Emily internally panicked in her passenger seat. She had to come up with something that would not stir confusion...or worse, more conflict. The Mob Boy Order doctor did not exist as an actual person in Agapen, and she did not know how to tell either of them. The monk went ahead inside their building, bringing along their things. Alaric was about to take his leave, but Emily walked towards his car window and tapped it. The curious detective rolled it down and earnestly looked up at his brunette friend. "What is it?" he asked.

"When you find information on this….Rowan person," she said, hesitantly. "Can you call me first?"

Alaric smirked at her. "What's wrong? Are you jealous?" he teased. But Emily Rose was not in the mood for his antics. "I'm serious," she said, making her worry apparent to him. Cheeky Alaric melted away and the detective in him emerged. "Is there something I should know?" he asked, raising a brow.

"No there isn't." she said.

"Emily," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can't help either of you, unless you tell me what's really going on. I get even more suspicious when you behave, like this." Emily bit her lip. She really wanted to tell him the whole, more than ever. "Just tell me first, okay?" she said. "Please?"

The detective sighed. "Fine, I will see what I can find and go to you, first." he decided. "But if I find anything dubious, you are going to tell me everything. Is that okay?" It was her turn to sigh. She decided that they were not going to get anywhere, unless someone like Alaric was fully aware of what was really going on. She nodded to her detective friend. "Fine." she said, preparing herself for the worse.

*****

"Have you started reading the last novel?" Magda asked Emily, in the locker room. Emily brushed out her brown hair. She turned to her friend, apologetically. "I'm sorry, I'm still at the first chapter."

Magda twisted her hair in the prescribed bun for her work. "It's fine, take all the time you need." she assured. "You seem so busy, that you did not even show up to work yesterday. Did something happen?" It was a brand new work day, and the hospital incident almost faded like a dream. Gareth's health drastically improved when they got back home. But Emily's ears grew weary of the countless apologies he made every single hour.

"Gareth was in the hospital, yesterday." she told Magda. The receptionist nearly poked her eye with her mascara wand, right before she gasped. "What happened to him?!" she asked, placing a hand over her mouth.

"He caught a fever, but he's okay now." Emily replied, rummaging through her make-up kit. She pulled out her black bullet lipstick, but frowned at the sight of how small and squashed it has become. She searched for another lip product inside of her kit, but all she could find was a dried-up tube of a nude liquid lipstick. Magda took notice of her beauty emergency and handed her a tiny burgundy tube. "Try this lip tint," she encouraged the skeptical secretary. "It is not that dark, just put one dot and blur it out. I'm wearing it right now." Emily examined Magda's lips, and saw a muted warm pink color. She took her friend's lip tint and softly applied the color on her mouth. She smacked her lips and her brown eyes widened in fascination at her new appearance. "This is really good," she told Magda, returning the life-changing product. "I don't feel anything crusty or pasty on my lips. It's very light. Where can I buy that?"

"It's been a while since you've shopped for yourself, haven't you?" the redhead chuckled, closing her locker. "They've been selling those at beauty counters, for some time now." The last time Emily went shopping was for Gareth. She did not take that time to browse for new items for herself.

"Anyway, I hope Gareth is doing okay." Magda continued, walking out of the locker room with her. "It's such a shame he already likes someone else. Do you think he has a sibling or a close relative?" Emily winced at the question. She thought of Adal, Gareth's deceased brother. The show or novels never touched much on his character, but his loss defined the monk's life, whether he liked it or not. "I don't think so," she said, slowly.

The receptionist nodded, pressing the down button of the company elevator. Emily followed, by pressing the up button next. "I just realized he has the same name as Gareth in Mob Boy Order." Magda pointed out, making Emily's heart stop. "He looks like him, too."

Emily nervously laughed at her claims. "You think so?" she said, looking at the numbers above the elevator. "I did not notice that at all."

"He does! Don't play coy with me!" Magda insisted, playfully shoving her friend's nervous shoulder. "He even talks like him too, it's kinda scary. If Mob Boy Order had a live action remake, then he would've been the perfect cast for Gareth the monk! Don't you think so?" Emily nodded, desperately waiting for the elevator to reach their floor. Why did it have to be so slow?

Magda's tinted lips transformed into a dry smug. "Maybe you're around him because you subconsciously knew he looked like him!" she said, nudging her lightly. "Your type has always been someone like him, so it's only natural for you to gravitate towards guys who resemble him!"

"Yeah, right." Emily laughed. The elevator's up sign rang, and Emily hopped on as soon as the doors opened. She waved goodbye to Magda and her tensed shoulders went down, immediately after they closed. "Whew, that was close." she sighed, wiping the nonexistent sweat from her forehead. However, she knew that Magda Travey had a fair point. Since the Mob Boy Order character has always been her ideal man, it only made sense for her to be attracted to guys who looked or behaved like him. But all her life, she thought it would have been better if she actually had the real--

Now's the time to stop thinking about such nonsense, Emily Rose. She thought to herself.

She passed by the pantry, skipping her coffee because Gareth made it a habit to prepare one cup for her every morning (especially since he was still guilty about what he did for the whole weekend). She entered her office and started to work. After a few hours of organizing and catching up with last-minute paperwork, Madame Helga finally arrived. Her boss was occupied with a phone call, so they did not interact right away. Emily carried on with her tasks, with Helga Rooney's powerful voice dominating the Administrative Department. Soon, the phone call ended and the Assistant Manager addressed her subordinate. "Good morning, Emily Rose." she said, holding the papers Emily left on her desk. "Is everything alright with you? Were you able to take care of your emergency?"

Emily slowly turned her chair to her boss, whose piercing green eyes were fixated on the documents. "Everything is fine." Emily awkwardly said, not used to having small talk with her superior. The only thing that was normal was Helga not looking at her. It was her cue, telling her that Emily was performing swimmingly with her job. "Thank you for asking." Emily added.

"Well, I'm glad everything turned out okay." Helga Rooney replied. She carefully placed down her papers and faced Emily. Her face was surprisingly less icy and more warm, which was another thing that the secretary was not used to seeing. She felt another form of broken glass forming underneath her heels. At any moment, she was bound to do something that would get rid of Rooney's pleasant demeanor.

"So what do we have for today?" Helga asked, looking at her expectantly. It took Emily some time to process the new behavior of her boss. The passing seconds felt like hours, before she finally decided to move her hand towards the Danooki pad. A small part of her feared that she was too slow, but Helga's mood remained the same.

She flipped through the colorful pages and landed on the current tasks that her boss needed to do that day, and it was only one task. "You have the Head's Progress Meeting today at eleven o' clock sharp."

A manicured hand landed on Helga's forehead. Emily took a small step back, as her boss reverted back to her usual self. "I can't believe I forgot about that!" she said, dismayed.

"Everything is ready for the meeting, so there's no need to worry." Emily said.

"Thank you, Emily Rose." Helga said, softening back up. "But the thing is, I cannot attend the meeting today. I am expected at my son's school at the same time as the meeting. It's an appointment that I can't miss."

"I see," Emily nodded. For some reason, an idea came to her and it was a risky one. It was an idea that she does not see herself doing, because it was beyond her comfort zone. However, she knew how important this meeting was to their department and the entire hotel. And it seemed like Helga Rooney needed to be with her son, too. As her secretary, it was part of her work to come up with ways to make the Assistant Manager's job easier; even if it meant doing her job.

"Allow me to attend the meeting, for you." Emily suggested. The moment she said, she felt like she took a great plunge from the highest cliff. But there was no turning back. Madame Helga lightened up to her proposal. "That's not a bad idea," she said. "Are you sure that you want to do it?"

"It's the only way," the secretary reasoned. "It is also the least I can do for the adjustments you have made for my schedule."

Helga's red lips curved into a small smile. It has been a while since she saw her boss put on such a positive expression. "Thank you, Emily."

*****

Emily did not understand what was going on at the Head's Progress Meeting. She presented the complete data and proposals to the General Manager and Department heads. She spoke as loud and as clearly as could. In fact, it has been a long time since she raised her voice for more than a couple of minutes and her heart wanted to burst out.

But the General Manager frowned at her presentation.

"Are there any questions?" she asked the round table, filled with middle-aged men. The Department heads turned to each other and murmurs followed, making Emily's anxiety rise to a higher level. Helga had many plans to reform the work life of Blates Luxury Hotel. She met up with various lawyers and other professionals to come up with a new set of rules of regulations. This included refinement to the healthcare system, an extended year of paid maternity leave, and a new fitness program for the employees. They were incredible proposals that could make the hotel's current environment a better and much more healthy working place, but the General Manager was not happy with it.

"Is that the best that you can do?" the General Manager asked.

"..I beg your pardon?"

"I already approved of the upcoming projects of the Food and Beverage Department, and you're expecting me to approve this one as well?" he continued. "Miss Rooney's financial plan involves the hotel's current assets, which I simply cannot sacrifice just so pregnant women can get paid for staying at home. Do you realize how costly these changes are?"

Emily brought her presentation slide back to the financial plan. It was all perfect; the allotment for the changes did not reach fifty's percent of the hotel's assets. She could not see why he was being so agitated. They were making a plan to help their people, and he saw that as a troublesome matter. "She's not expecting much from the hotel's revenue. It's not going to make us go bankrupt."

"Every copper matters in this company, especially if we want our hotel to constantly gain more attention." the General Manager snapped. "We're already way behind our competitors, so we need all the help we can get to catch up. By doing that, we need to put all our resources into promotion and sales."

"These are indeed trying times." the head of the Rooms Department agreed. Emily raised a brow at the comment. The hotel was doing fine, and they were all acting like they were going out of business very soon.

"Exactly!" the General Manager said, validating the remark of the Rooms Department Head. "Now where are the financial plans for that? I asked your department to prepare that as soon as I approved the promotion plans from the Sales and Marketing Department, last week." Emily knew the answer to that, because Helga briefed this with her before she left. She knew that the big boss was not going to like it.

"Miss Rooney informed me that there will be no plans until you think of your workers."

The General Manager slammed his fist on the table. The other men in the room glared at Emily, telling her that she messed up. Emily certainly did nothing wrong, but it did not stop herself from becoming scared of the highest superior.

"YOU ARROGANT LITTLE WRETCHES!" he shouted. "Tell Miss Rooney that I need those financial plans by the end of the week, or else I am firing your entire department!" Emily nodded vigorously, as soon as he said that. Deep down she was mad, but she was unfortunately more afraid. "If it was not so obvious, this proposal is DENIED! NOW GET YOUR STUPID BUM BACK TO YOUR SEAT! USELESS! USELESS I TELL YOU."

Emily's legs became jelly, once more and the imaginary glass underneath her completely shattered. Not only that, she felt a warm and salty lump emerging from her throat.

*****

Emily bawled in her office. Her head laid flat on her desk, with her arms surrounding it. She felt the other members of the department crowd over her, and she felt their sympathetic pats drum on her shaking back. The comfort that she received only made her cry more, because the pity made her feel more ashamed; ashamed that she could not perform with tougher skin. Her heart could not handle all the petty insults that the General Manager threw at her.

"What is going on here?" A familiar female voice asked.

"The Head's meeting did not go so well, Madame." her female colleague said, patting Emily's back in a motherly way.

"We all heard it," a male colleague joined in. "He was yelling at Emily after presenting your proposal. We don't know what went wrong or what made him upset."

"Well, it looks to me that he made my secretary upset." Helga growled. "Emily Rose!"

The crying Emily sat back up, and prepared herself for more scolding. Her boss' look was more than austere. She was very angry. "Pull yourself together." she commanded. "What did the General Manager tell you?"

Emily tried to stop her sobs, but they kept on coming. Soon, the same male colleague rushed to her side and provided a cup of water. She weakly nodded at him and took one long sip. "He said that the proposal was denied. We have to send in the requested financial plans by the end of the week, or else he's firing everyone in this department."

The Administrative department gasped in horror, but Helga Rooney was not scared by the slightest bit. "That's not what I asked," she barked. "What did he tell you that made you behave like this?"

She was hesitant to share, but her female colleague nodded encouragement to her. "It's okay, Emily." she said. "Just tell her."

The secretary took a deep breath. "He called me a…. Stupid bum and...useless."

Helga rolled her eyes and marched to her desk. She furiously dumped her designer bag and pulled out her desk drawer with a great force, almost breaking it down. Helga took out one blue folder and she continued to march out of the room. The confused employees exchanged glances, but the male employee who gave Emily some water, bravely went for the door. Her motherly colleague followed too, and the young brunette found herself doing the same. They slowly opened their door and right before they could go out, they heard papers flying and more shouting.

"HERE'S YOUR STUPID FINANCIAL PLAN, YOU LOW BREED LOWLIFE." Helga yelled. "I'M FINE WITH YOU INSULTING MY VISION FOR THIS COMPANY. BUT ATTACKING MY SUBORDINATE IS NOT OKAY."

"I DID NOT ATTACK--"

"Wow, Madame is defending you!" the female colleague nudged Emily, excitedly.

"She sure is awesome!" the male colleague chimed.

The shouting match continued until it was only Helga's voice that filled the office floor. The colleagues were more than convinced that their Assistant Manager won the battle. Then they heard a door open and some clicking heels. The entire Administrative Department scrambled back to their places, including the victimized Emily.

Madame Helga went back inside their room, with her proud head held high. She sat on her desk, causing her seat to squeak from the tension she had brought. Emily pretended to keep herself busy, by looking at the read emails on her computer screen. She thought everything was over until her boss spoke up. "Emily Rose, take the rest of the day off." she ordered. "You've been through a lot today, and I want you to compose yourself.

"But I still have thirty minutes left till--"

"Do it for my sake." Rooney said, rubbing her temples "I'm so sorry that you had to go through that, alone. So please go and relax, to ease my conscience."

Emily nodded and took her bag. She took slow steps to the exit, but all of the sudden she stopped. The changes that she saw in Helga Rooney have been unsettling, but it did not mean that they were bad ones. She turned around to face her boss. "Madame Helga!" she called out.

The tired Assistant Manager raised her head.

"Thank you for today!" Emily Rose said out loud.

Helga Rooney smiled once more, which was another thing that she rarely did. Emily Rose told herself that she could get used to it.

"I'm just doing my job." she said. "We all are."

*****

It was still too early for her to pick up Gareth, she thought while heading down the elevator. Her mind drifted to the famous cones of cube ice cream that were being sold on the streets. Emily deserved some cheering up and she made the decision to buy some for her and Gareth. "If only this elevator can go down any faster," she muttered.

Five minutes later, the elevator doors opened to the back exit. She waved goodbye to the guard on duty and she was glad to see that the day was still bright. The streets had sparse crowds and there were less cars roaming around the scene, since it was still too early for others to finish work. It was the perfect time to buy some cold snacks. Emily Rose was feeling much better, already.

She walked with her brown eyes peeled for any ice cream vendors. She was going through a major dilemma of what flavor that she was going to order, until her smartphone rang. She picked it up and saw Alaric's name. "Hello, Al?" she answered.

"We need to talk. Can we meet up?" Alaric said.

"Sure, I have some time to spare." Emily said, choosing between strawberry and mocha. "What did you want to talk about?"

"It's about Gareth," he said. "I found her."

Emily's feet stopped. She paused for a moment, putting away the assumptions that followed her thoughts. "Found who?"

"The girl that he was looking for," he said. "Doctor Rowan Adonis."