Reflections [Complete]

Chapter 5

My shoes squeaked loudly as I padded up the stairs, water spurting all around it. That may very well also had been from my dripping wet clothes or my drenched hair. Mainly due to the fact that I had almost drowned having to swim myself out of my car and to the office, that has a strong possibility of never starting again, on the day that it seems the sky has dumped all the water of the oceans in the span on mere three hours. Yeah, and that's how long it had taken me to get to work even though my apartment is a short 15 minute drive away. And not until I had finally pulled into my parking space at the office did I realize that I had effectively stranded myself at work until this ridiculous storm was over. As I entered the building I saw a few of my colleagues rushing out completely ignoring me while deciding to brave the storm to find their way home. I did consider that option for a split second but I was in no mood to even attempt the atrocious swim back home. So if I am stranded in my office then so be it.

And then the day suddenly looked immensely brighter when I realized the one other person stuck at work with me was the only man I have been desperately trying to get closer to for the past month.

"How are you dry? I have water reaching my bones I am so badly soaked."

"Oh I got here before the storm began. I knew it was going to rain so I tried to beat it. I didn't realize it would get so bad though. Everyone left to go home already. I was thinking about it myself."

"Don't you live really far?"

"Ye..yeah."

"How do you plan on getting home then?"

"By bus"

"They stopped running ages ago. You would have more luck if you ran across a boat in the middle of the street."

"Oh, is it that bad?"

"Yup."

"What about you?"

"Oh I am staying very firmly inside. No one can pay me enough to go out there again."

He simply nodded and went and took his seat in front of the computer to continue working as if it didn't seem like the world was ending around us. Thankfully, KC had hounded me enough number of times to keep a fresh change of clothes at work so after a long warm shower and dry clothes I wasn't about to be in a murderous rage. I joined Kong in our office to get as much work done as possible since it seems the rest of my team shall be missing in action for as long as this storm continues.

It had been over a week since I had discovered Kong donning fake glasses for some arbid reason. I had even decide to confront him the next day about it when he had replaced the broken pair with a fresh new dose of ugliness, but at the last moment I thought the better of it. Confronting people with their quirkiness never leads to good results. Maybe I can get him to trust me enough to tell him why he chose the lifestyle he had. He obviously had friends who could help him pick out clothes that were decent to look at. Or that even fit. And clearly this was a choice he made. Which I am determined for him to change.

Cause c'mon let's be honest, it downright sucked. And I want him to succeed. It's all for his good after all. Hence, for the past week I have left him alone of sorts. Making sure he is comfortable sharing my work space. Chat with him about work. Keep personal questions to a minimum. Timing the amount of words he actually talks. Which has been slowly increasing every single day. And in the mean time I get to observe him unrestricted to the point that I have a few too many tidbits about him stored away in my head.

Like the fact that he always eat his lunch at his desk while continuing to work. He leaves exactly at 5, not a minute before or after. He likes to use only a particular brand of pens and has a bad habit of chewing the back of it when he is in deep thought. He must also despise coffee cause I have never seen him drink any no matter how it is made or how much he might be yawning that day. And the most important of all, I am almost sure he has a long running conversation in his head, cause he might not comment or participate outwardly at the things going around him but I have become a near expert on all his micro expressions. He pretends to be disinterested at everything going on in the office but he clearly wasn't. Now we need to at some point take the giant leap from him talking to himself to actually voicing his thoughts aloud.