Start of Something New

Work

Santa woke up confused as to why he was in bed. He clearly remembers that he fell asleep on the couch. All the moving he did yesterday drained him. Did Perth carry him to bed? He looked beside him but he was alone in bed. Three days of being married and he woke up alone twice.

Santa checked the time on his phone and was shocked to see that it's already 8 in the morning. He's late for work. Perth must've left already. Why didn't he wake him up when he told him that he'll be back at work today!? Scrambling to get ready, Santa jumped out of bed. He only took a quick shower and brushed his teeth then got changed. He ran outside of the house, not forgetting to lock the gate and dashed to look for a ride.

He can't sit still inside the taxi, constantly checking the time. The traffic was heavy since most people are also on their way to their workplaces. By the time Santa got into the office, it was nearly already past 9am. He cursed under his breath. There was a scheduled meeting with a business partner and he was supposed to take the minutes. He dashed inside but then he bumped into someone from the operations management department.

"Oh! Santa. I thought you were on leave?Did you just arrive?"

"Yes. I'm really sorry for bumping you but I'm already late for the meeting so I'm gonna go ahead." Santa said in a hurry before dashing towards the elevator.

If his luck for today couldn't get any worse, the elevator doors had just closed. This means that it'll take a few more minutes before it'll go back down. Santa had no choice but to use the stairs to the fifth floor. When he arrived at the door to the conference room, he took a minute to catch his breath and fix his appearance before entering silently. The sound of the door opening caught the attention of the people inside and Santa could only say sorry for being. He quickly went to his boss's side and took over his job which was taken up by his boss.

"Meeting adjourned. Thank you for your time." Perth shook hands with his business partner who quickly went on their way. The meeting lasted for another one and a half hours.

After the adrenaline of the morning was gone, Santa felt his body weaken. Fuck! I haven't eaten since last night. He felt light headed and his vision blurred so he tried to shake his head but it only worsened his situation. He couldn't get up even if he wanted to because he felt like he'd faint anytime. He hadn't noticed that it was only Perth and him who was left in the conference room.

Perth had no intention of waking Santa up to go to work. He thought that if Santa woke up late, he'd decide not to go to work anymore. He didn't expect Santa to be this stubborn. After the meeting was adjourned, he saw that Santa was not moving on his seat so he approached him but then he noticed his labored breath so he crouched so they could see eye to eye. His eyes were closed and beads of sweat could be seen on his forehead. Perth became worried so he held Santa's hand and noticed it was clammy.

"Santa? Hey. Are you feeling unwell?" Perth squeezed Santa's hand to get a reaction out of him.

"I'm okay. Just give me a minute. I forgot to have dinner last night because I dozed off on the couch and didn't have a chance to eat breakfast too. I'm feeling a little bit weak." Santa confessed, eyes still tightly shut. Perth froze upon hearing that. He thought Santa had eaten dinner but fell asleep waiting for him. If he knew that he hadn't eaten yet, he would've woken the guy up and made something for him.

Perth tried not to show Santa his anger that was quickly rising. How could he be stupid enough to forget to eat!?

"Wait here. I'll get you something to eat." Perth said in a calm voice. He got up to leave but Santa held him back.

"No it's okay. Your schedule is hectic today. I can manage to grab a snack in the pantry on the way back to the office." Santa argued, gathering their things so they could leave.