Amans

11. Five O'Clock World

Rinnnngg! Rinnnnngg!

"Thank you for calling Daily Dosage, this is Edith, how may I assist you?"

Amans burrowed his head deeper into his arms, trying to rid himself of the headache starting to develop.

After his shopping extravaganza with Magdalena yesterday, he hoped that he could sleep in. But duty called, also known as, his dreaded job at Daily Dosage. After dragging himself out of bed that morning, he had entered the office and immediately sat at his desk. He had remained that way for the past two hours. His mind was plagued with the evening with Magdalena the day before.

They had visited over nine stores, and Magdalena managed to find something wrong with each and every one of them. Lousy customer service here, cheap material there, she had insisted that everything be perfect for Amans. So imagine his surprise after their adventure all over New York, when Magdalena finally made the decision to get his suit made at Alan David. When he had asked her what made her arrive at that decision, she had answered, "I just feel more comfortable dealing with a reputable company that I have dealt with previously. I know when I give them something they are going to deliver it exactly the way I want it."

Amans had to struggle to hold in his anger for the rest of the afternoon. Not only had Magdalena made him miss a day of work, which he was sure he was going to pay for later, but she had dragged him all across the city, just to return to the one store they could have initially started with. When he had questioned her why they hadn't just gone to Alan David, since she knew they would be right for the job, her rebuttal was, "I wanted to see all my options before going with the obvious choice. Any great designer would tell you that, it's how you make discoveries."

Instead of arguing back with her about the conservation of time and amount of energy they had wasted, Amans decided to hold his tongue. It wasn't until his fitting took twenty minutes and the consultation that followed, led by Magdalena, in regards to the specifications of his suit was only ten, that he lost it and demanded Magdalena take him home.

She didn't understand why Amans was upset and he didn't feel like explaining it to her. When the Rolls Royce pulled back up at the entrance of his building, Amans exited the car. Magdalena had just rolled down her window when he looked back and said, "We will not be doing this again."

He turned back around and walked up the steps, leaving Magdalena behind, speechless.

That night she didn't call and even if she had he wouldn't have answered. Amans hated when he and Magdalena butt heads. It was rare when they did because he was always willing to put his feelings aside for the greater good, meaning not making Magdalena cross, but sometimes he had to intervene and yesterday was just one of those times.

"Amans!"

Amans pulled his head up, the gruff voice of his favorite person startling him from his reminiscence on yesterday's afternoon.

"Good afternoon, Rick," he dragged.

Rick narrowed his eyes, "In my office now."

Amans sighed and stood up from his chair, following after Rick toward his office. His coworkers grew hushed with whispers, aside from Oscar and Beatriz who made it apparent they didn't care and snickered out loud.

Entering his office, Rick shut the door behind them and walked over to the chair behind his desk, "Take a seat Amans," he ordered, as he sat down.

"I'd rather stand sir, thank you."

Rick twitched not liking Amans refusing his command, but he continued on, "I have one word for you," he paused for dramatic effect and Amans rolled his eyes internally.