Chilled Desires

After Hours

         It has been about 5 months since the 'incident'. Atlas and I have been working together quite well and he has been paying for therapy for me. We occasionally hang out at the cafe and just talk about recent events in our private lives. I walked into my office and gave Atlas my salutations. "Good morning." I said as I sat down at my desk starting to finish sorting the documents he had given me the previous afternoon. "Morning. When you're finished can you please come and speak with me?" He asked still looking at the paper in hand. "Yes, sir." I said pulling a stamp from the ink on my desk. I began stamping documents that had already been signed and put them aside in stacks to be shipped to the companies they were for. After about an hour and a half of stamping letters, I got up and knocked on Atlas's door. "Come in, Rhys." He said eagerly. I walked into the office and stood in front of his desk. "We have a conference with a major partnering company in a few hours. Can you please ask a few of the meeting assistants to set up the conference room?" He said looking at me with a questioning gaze. "Yes, sir. I'll be sure to notify them of this." I said as slightly bowed as a sign of respect. I turned to walk out the door and collided with another assistant who came running into the office. I was knocked over by the impact and fell to the floor with a loud thud, hitting my head scarcely on the desk. "Ow.." I groaned out, rubbing my head from the collision. "Oh my heavens, i'm so sorry! Are you okay..?" The assistant asked me holding out a shaky hand with a distraught look. "Yes, i'm fine. Thank you." I said as I grabbed her hand and pulled myself up from the hard ground. She kept apologizing repeatedly and I kept telling her it was okay and that i was fine. "Don't worry miss, i'm fine. Just please don't run down the hall again." I said as i held her hand in mine, lightly shaking it. I thought I heard an agitated huff come from Atlas but I figured it was in my head.
         I walked past the assistant and started towards the floor of the meeting committee still sore from my fall. I made it to the 6th floor and walked over to my friend Jonah. We had met soon after I started working here, it being both of our first few months. "Hey Rhys, what can i do for you?" Jonah asked me with a smile as I approached. "Hey Jonah, I need the committee to set up the conference room because of an important meeting happening today." I said as I gave a small wave. "Sure thing!" He said, picking up the phone. Jonah called the team manager and not long after a few members of the committee rushed out of the back room and into the conference room. He then hung up the phone and handed me a small logbook of previous and upcoming meetings. "Can you take this to Mr. Haruki? He asked for this about an hour ago and I was caught up in other work so I didn't get his email right away. Please tell him I apologize for the delay." Jonah said with a slight frown. "Yeah sure, I'll let him know." I said, taking the logbook and walking towards the elevator. "Thanks!" Jonah yelled out to me with a wave. I waved back and got onto the elevator. After what seemed like centuries the elevator opened and I rushed back to Atlas's office to give him the logbook. I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. "Come in." Atlas said. I opened the door and handed him the records. "Here is the logbook you requested. Mr. Starshot says to give his apologies for the delay in acquirement." I said as he took the book from my outstretched hand. "Thank you. Please tell Mr. Starshot that it was not urgent I get the logbook and he is excused for the delay." Atlas said, flipping open the logbook and scanning the pages. I walked into my office and sat down at my desk, trying my best to finish the workload that I had been assigned. 9:36 pm
         There was more work to do today so I decided to stay a while after work to try and finish a bit more work before I went home. I was supposed to go home about 3 hours ago according to my schedule. It occurred to me that Atlas also had more work to finish so he stayed after hours also. It was very awkward as there was no one else in the building except for the night guards and us. Every so often I noticed Atlas glancing at me from his peripheral vision and then going back to whatever work he was doing on the computer. I ignored his glances and continued to finish the paperwork. He finished before I did and spoke to me. "Are you finished with your work? I can walk you out to your car." He asked me as he put his hand on the doorframe to my office. "No, I have a bit more to finish. You can go on ahead, i'll be fine." I said looking up at him for a moment with a smile before looking back down to the documents in front of me. "I'll wait for you then. We can walk out together." Atlas said, leaning against the wall. I was slightly taken aback by the kind gesture but I didnt mind and tried my best to finish my work quickly as I didn't want to keep him waiting for too long. I finished about 15 minutes later and packed my things into my bag. Atlas and I walked out together, he turning out the lights in the offices before catching back up with me and slyly placing his arm around my shoulder. We got into the elevator and rode down to the lobby in an uncomfortable silence. He walked me out to my car and opened the door for me. I got in and he shut the door after. "See you tomorrow I guess." Atlas said with an awkward laugh. "Y-yeah, see you." I said as I put on my seatbelt and started up the car. Atlas started to walk to his car and I put the car in reverse, then driving off towards my house. I made it home and to my surprise Gene was home earlier than I had expected him to be. "Good evening, why are you home so late? Did something happen at work?" Gene asked as he took off my coat and hung it on the rack. "No, nothing serious. I had a bit more work to finish is all. Why are you home so early from your vacation? You've only been gone for 3 days." I asked with a concerned look. "There is nothing wrong young master, I simply decided to come back because I worry for you." Gene said with a grin. "Oh.. okay." I said as I lightly hugged him and made my way to my room.