PARKER | Dark H.S. AU

li. yesss

Copyright © zylgnagnaba 2014

Harry entered the back of the black car wearing a stolid expression on his face and he remains this way almost after fifteen minutes into the drive. His brows are drawn together, lips pressed in a tight line, and eyes locked on the screen of his phone, scrolling away on the different e-mails sent to him from the last couple of days.

He remains oblivious to his surrounding even as the car starts to drive off from his penthouse. The view outside slip by in a blur, sunbeam casts swirling lights against the polished exterior of the vehicle, slight glare penetrating through the window. The car stops in the middle of a gridlock. A cacophony of impatient horns and distressed screams emit from the outside, urging for the traffic to move so that they may arrive on their intended destination on time. A usual catastrophe at an early morning in the middle of Chicago City, but none of these observations goes noticed by Harry as he is still drenched on the different messages on his phone. Somewhere in between all these, he'd just repel his eyes from the phone screen to glance up before going through his e-mails again.

A tedious sigh leaves his lips once the car finally moves from the congested road, a subtle sign that somehow he is paying attention. But it takes no genius to notice that Harry is slowly slipping away from the progress he'd been making for months now.

Betty sits with him just a few inches away, glancing at her boss every now and again; gray eyes framed with thick eyeglasses. She bobs her head to a non-existent tune, silently drumming the sign pen against the open page of her itinerary.

He might have seemed rough around the edges, but she had always known that he's not incapable of compassion and love. His tough facade may very well be his way of brushing these types of presumptions aside, of people thinking he is vulnerable to any kind of emotions. But Betty saw Harry gradually tear this veneer away these previous months right before her eyes.

She saw how Harry would walk in to the office as a whole new person every day, acknowledging everyone who bumped into him and greeted him. He wasn't the boss who looked down at his employees and imposed boundary between him and them anymore. No longer the inconsiderate superior who'd always humiliate an employee for doing an unaccomplished task. No more snide and condescending remarks. Lesser grumpy days. She's got Charlie to be thankful for.

Although the massive change in his attitude is still in existence, she couldn't shake off the observation that's something has been bothering him for the past three days.

Harry has been remarkably passive about everything that's going on, not only in the company, but in other matters as well. She took note of the several times he had zone out in the middle of a conference -- when it always took him few seconds to process an information before he could respond to them; or when a word enters one of his ears and out with the other. Betty could only accurately guess that her boss is preoccupied with something heavy or serious. Her eyebrows pull together at the few instances when she had heard sniffles from inside his office travelling to her post just outside his door.

It's not like her to ask him pertaining to personal matters, so she didn't bother. She was just contented with small bits of cryptic messages and small hints, then she'd be able to put two and two together...still, they remain as theories. All her theories are always leading up to Charlie.

"How is Mr. Tauss doing with his job?" Betty's train of thoughts is interrupted as a gruff voice sears through them, making her eyes avert from outside the window to the suited man sitting at the opposite end.

Harry's eyes are still focused on the phone screen as she replies, "Sir, he's doing awfully good. Really attentive. Gets along well with other people in the workplace."