Paul still laughs out loud.
He was always like that. When I first met him, he was annoyingly cheerful and overly positive, just as he is now. He has not changed one bit.
“I suppose things are not as easy as you thought.”
I never really thought they were. I just… I didn’t think too much about the consequences of my actions.
“And living under the same roof will be quite a problem because you are attracted to him.”
“What the hell…” I jerk up, accidentally bumping my cup and spilling my coffee on my desk. “Look what you made me do.” I try to clean up the mess with the tissues I keep in the office for the more emotional clients, but I’m afraid it’s too late for the documents on the desk.
“I can see you are nervous, especially when I mention a certain subject.”
“And you don’t mention it, would you?”
Paul laughs and shakes his head. He hasn’t even bothered to help me.
“Look what a disaster! And all because of you!”
“What has this to do with me?”
I throw the wet tissues in the bin, then go to the bathroom to wash my hands, leaving Paul alone in my office with his bullshit. I walk over to the sink, wash my hands and dry them under the warm air, but just as I’m about to walk back into the office, the phone in my jacket pocket starts ringing. I picked it up as I walked towards the office. Seeing his name on the screen, I pause before going back inside.
“Hey,” I say, a tightness in my throat I have no reason to feel and an anxiety in my fingers I have no right to feel. “What’s going on?”
“I need… er… a favour.”
Another one? I would say. Am I not doing too many already? But then I remember that he never asked me for anything, that I did everything myself with my own hands and my own stupidity.
“If I may…”
“It’s huge,” he says anxiously.
“Tell me.”
“I have to cover a shift tonight.”
“Mmm-uhm.”
“I know it’s not good for me to work at the club, but it’s extra. Well paid.” I hear the embarrassment in his voice.
Right now, his job at the club is the least of his problems.
And mine.
“Besides, they’re desperate. Two of the bartenders at the club have mono. Apparently, they caught it from each other. News that did not shock anyone. Everyone knows that those two?—”
“Seth,” I interrupt before he tells me about his colleagues’ affair on the phone during office hours.
“I’ll get to the point.”
“I’d appreciate that.”
“I have to stay at the club. And Mr Yang is having a Poker night with his friends. You may not know this, but Mr Yang has?—”
“Seth.”
“I did it again. Didn’t I?”
