TEAMWORK

Chapter 10: RECUR NIGHTMARE iv

Chapter
X
Favorite Childhood Memory
(Growing Up!)

***

Mop stood at the front of the room. Wu Xie was talking with several of the other men and Zhang Qi Ling stood staring out the window into the darkness. He was... uncomfortable... being in the woods at night. He was used to hearing the noises of the city and seeing the rising concrete slabs. The quiet and the green were... disconcerting. He glanced around the room. Wait... the green was on the inside.

"Tonight my comrades, we will be participating in an activity that will allow you to not only learn about each other, but get a much deeper understanding of your fellow co-worker. Each of you filled out a questionnaire this afternoon. The questionnaire contained ten questions. Each of you are being handed a sheet that has the answer to one of those questions for each of the men present. Your mission is to answer all the questions about your co-worker. You will need to talk to every person present to get every answer." Mop's smile sparkled and he gave the room a thumbs up. Wu Xie shivered and stepped back from the man.

"You may begin."

Wu Xie immediately turned to the man on his right, "Hey, I'm Wu Xie. I'm one of the VP's at Zhang Inc."

"You're kidding me." The dark haired man said looking down at Wu Xie in front of him.

"Nope, sorry. I'm here with my fellow VP Zhang Qi Ling." Wu Xie pointed toward the stoic man who was staring at some poor sap who needed an answer to question three.

"You attacked ZHANG Qi Ling?!" The man stuttered in disbelief staring wide eyed at the younger man.

"Yes, but only because he's mean. So, what answer do you have?"

***

"So tell me, what did you learn about your fellow co-worker?" Mop asked sometime later. Once again the ten men sat throughout the room. Zhang Qi Ling and Wu Xie had each snagged a single chair this time to their internal delight.

"Anyone?" When no one answered, Mop turned to the dark brown haired man that refused to make eye contact with him. "Sunshine! Tell me, what did you learn?"

Wu Xie fisted the paper he held in his hands before glaring at the damn monstrosity.

"Truthfully, I didn't learn a damn thing. I thought he was a cold Men You Ping (Poker Face) before and that hasn't changed."

Eight men inhaled loudly while Wu Xie stared blankly at the front of the room.

"Puppy." Zhang Qi Ling growled.

"What, Men You Ping?" Wu Xie said finally making eye contact with the dark haired man, emotion making brown eyes crackle, "Are you surprised? The question was 'What is your favorite childhood memory?' and you answered 'Growing up'!"

"Now," Mop said walking slowly toward the two volatile men, "Not all of us embrace our childhood memories."

"To 'what is your favorite animal' Men You Ping said 'filet mignon, medium well'."

"Little Puppy," Zhang Qi Ling stared impassively at the fuming dark brown haired man. He stood up and watched as Wu Xie mirrored his movement, "Let's see what you wrote, shall we? Hmmm... 'I remember my father carrying me on his back like a monkey before tucking me in bed each night.'" Zhang Qi Ling stared blankly at the sheet and turned his cool eyes to the other men in the room, "By a show of hands, who else said something along these lines," Zhang Qi Ling voice became sugar sweet, "I remember picnics in the park... When Mama kissed my booboos... Running in the rain..." Zhang Qi Ling crumbled the sheet in his hand and when he spoke again his voice was hard as steel, "Do any of you actually remember this or did you just pick your favorite moment?"