Reflections [Complete]

Chapter 7

One would assume after the massive breakthrough I had with him he would stop behaving like a pre-programmed robot all the time, atleast in front of me, atleast when we were alone in the office together. But that would be a big, fat no. We were back exactly to our pre-trip days. I think the only noticeable difference being he wouldn't out rightly ignore me when I would talk to him throughout the day. He would look up from his desk, patiently wait for me to finish before looking back down to continue working. And we repeated this process a few too many times. I can't help it, I like to talk. Who in their right mind can sit silently staring at the computer in front of them all day, every day without exchanging two words with another human being. Kong, that is who.

Too bad for him I am a persistent annoyance myself, so if he thought for one second that I was going to drop my intentions for exposing the diamond in the rough that he is, we were not in any accordance. Obviously that means we had more than one ongoing battle. Some I lost, most I won.

Take for example last week when we were fresh from our return from China when he was clearly suffering from jet lag since he insisted on not getting a wink of sleep on the flight and stared out the window almost non-stop, I offered to fetch him some coffee so that he would survive till the end of the day. To which he vehemently disagreed. And I use the term vehemence very generously since that man might not even have that word in his dictionary. But two hours of constantly watching him try to hide one yawn after another, I had reached my limit. So I fetched him a large, piping hot cup and slammed it on his desk.

"Either you drink this or go home. I am tired of seeing your tonsils every 5 minutes."

He spent entirely too much time staring at the cup before he slowly lifted his eyes to meet mine and held them steadily. I guess one other thing had changed. He didn't seem to mind making eye contact with me as much as he used to. After considering something that seems ridiculous since it is just a stupid cup of coffee, he nodded and took a small sip.

"Thank you."

And just like that I won this round. Cause every morning since then I fetch a cup for him­­ and with a simple acknowledgment he downs it without any arguments. This isn't to say that I am on a winning streak, since we are currently in the middle of another battle.

I had walked in today morning with a new mission knowing full well that I would be met with significant resistance, but even I didn't realize just how much.

"No."

"Why do you think I was asking for your opinion?"

"It's not an opinion. It is my answer. No."

"Again, why do you think I am asking? It is an order. Shave that horrendous beard by tomorrow. We have an important meeting and I am not taking you there looking like this."

"If the only reason I need to shave is for the meeting then I just won't go to the meeting. Problem solved."

Oh another thing that seems to have changed, he has significantly found his voice when it comes to arguing with me when he is unhappy with something I do. On one hand I couldn't be more elated with the fact that he could speak his objection instead of burying his emotions in non-committal shrugs, on the other hand he has begun questioning my authority making it hard for me to manipulate him as much as I would have liked.

"You are coming to the meeting. And you are going to shave."

"No."

"Kong, I am not kidding. I need you there. And I need you to make a good impression."

"Arthit you are going to do just fine without me. I really doubt I am that indispensable."

"You are to me. Why are you fighting this so hard. You know it will grow back right?"

"And if I am that indispensable then it shouldn't matter I have a beard or not."

"Enough! You are coming with me tomorrow and you are getting rid of that monstrosity. If you don't want to then don't come into work either."

He stared at me in his dead panned robotic expression but I could tell he was seething internally, and eventually turned his back to me and took his seat wordlessly behind his desk. Where he fumed silently for a good half hour before he stood up with a jerk and hastily packed his bag, stuffed all the extra papers in the folders and marched towards the office door. Thankfully, I have spent entirely too much time observing the man these past few months and I could clearly predict what he was about to do and I reached the door a split second before him to bar him from leaving.

"Where do you think you are going?"

"If I am going to be fired anyway there is no reason for me to stick around."

"You....you moron! You actually think I will fire you over this? Do you know in how many ways I can get sued if I would even think of firing you over your beard."

"Then what exactly are you doing?"

"I am trying to get it through your thick skull that's its important they think well of us. You know how important this meeting is."

"And apparently you think our months of preparation is going to be undermined by my facial hair. Does it really bother you that much?"

"I wouldn't give two shits if you had a face full of caterpillars. And if you were at a position, or I at a position that we could wear whatever we wanted or behave any way we liked and not care what others thought of us I wouldn't have said anything. But unfortunately until you get to the point where no matter what you do people will trip over themselves to have 5 minutes with you, we need to make a good impression. And I need you. I trust you. I can't do this without you. But you keep making me the villain in all of this."

For a brief moment it looked like he was about to waver. That maybe everything I was telling him was finally getting through, but then his jaw hardened and his eyes started shooting daggers at me.

"I don't appreciate anyone trying to change who I am, no matter for what reason."

And then he simply brushed past me and left.

Great! Now not only did I not have a shaven Kong, I had no Kong at all. And if I wasn't so wrapped up in my own bruised ego I would have gone after him, partly to convince, partly to apologize. I realize a man so entrenched is his way of life wasn't going to be able to the just turn off his behavior. And despite knowing all of that I had pushed him beyond his comfort zone. I had been making so much headway with him, slowly, cautiously. Getting him to trust me. Open up to me. And then I had to go and ruin all of it by yelling and ordering him to shave when that was clearly something he was not willing to do. I guess I will go find him tomorrow and beg him to return. And I will do it after the meeting since I don't want him to think I came to him only cause I needed him.

Which meant I spent all night at work pouring over his files to get up to speed with everything that was supposed to be his expertise in the meeting. And I can unequivocally say that I am wholly underprepared. The meeting was going to be a downright disaster. I could feel it in my bones. Along with a missing Kong, now I had some gigantic dark circles to worry about, not to say anything about the holes in my knowledge.

I had both my hands buried deep in my hair as I continued pulling at them in frustration when the door to my office opened, with hopefully KC about to hand me a super-sized serving of strong coffee.

Instead who stood on my threshold was Kong. A completely shaven Kong. With clothes that didn't seem to overwhelm him. They were still very much hideous and faded in multiple places, but atleast they fit. He had even attempted to comb his hair.

And finally why this shy man hid himself behind his regular attire made complete sense. I have a feeling he is suddenly going to be getting a lot more attention than he is used to.