Technicolor Daze [Currently Being Edited]

five.

Monday, April 14th, 2014

It was 7:35 am on a Monday and Theo hit his snooze button. Just five minutes more, he thought for the second time that morning. He knew the extra five or ten minutes wouldn't really make a difference, but his head was pounding with a headache and his desire to leave the bed was practically non-existent. He wondered if he still had some aspirins in his bedside drawer but couldn't bring himself to move. When his phone's alarm blared once again, he forced himself to get up, closing his eyes to fight the intensification of the pain in his head.

He turned his alarm off and turned on the flashlight on his phone to check if he had any aspirins in his drawer. Luckily, he had three left. He took two and hoped for the best. Taking the charger off his phone, he got up and grabbed a towel, before walking out of his room to have a shower. It would help him feel more awake. Maybe he shouldn't have had wine for dinner at his parents' place, he thought.

After using the bathroom and having a quick five-minute shower, Theo went to his room and put on some briefs, a light blue dress shirt, and a pair of black chinos. He folded his sleeves up to be able to withstand the humidity of Macau as he exited his room to have breakfast. It was already 8 am and he had an hour to get to the office. Alice had already left as she started work earlier, so Theo had the kitchen all to himself.

Theo grabbed his usual smoothie ingredients and the blender to prepare himself a green smoothie. He also prepared two slices of toast. That would keep him full until lunchtime. After eating the toast slices and drinking the smoothie, he brushed his teeth, grabbed everything he needed, and left the apartment. He still had forty minutes to get to his office.

The walk to his office was a pleasant one. There was a fresh breeze and the streets were almost empty. A pleasant contrast to how the city would look like in a couple of hours. He arrived at the Venetian and noticed he still had ten minutes to spare before he had to be at his desk. He smoked a cigarette at the staff smoking area and checked his social media notifications.

After stubbing out his cigarette, he chewed on an Eclipse mint and then took the elevator up to his office floor. As soon as he stepped into his office, he greeted his work colleagues, politely engaging in some small talk about the weekend, before sitting at his desk. There were some treats on top of the file cabinet. It was customary at the office for employees returning from their trips to bring some treats to share with co-workers. He would check the goodies after reading his emails and setting his list of tasks for the day.

Halfway through the morning, after two long hours of using an ERP system to verify the items that are past due for delivery, contacting suppliers, answering emails, Theo needed a cigarette. He headed to the staff smoking area and took a cigarette out. Once his poison stick was already lit, he started scrolling through his social media feed before abruptly getting a phone call from his friend, Joel.

Oh, Theo thought, he must've returned from his trip.

"Hey, Joel, what's up?" He said as he answered the phone.

"Theo, my man. Just got back from Malaysia!" Joel's voice sounded quite lively and cheery. Theo smiled at his friend's enthusiasm.

"Nice! How was it?"

"It was amazing! But I can tell you more about it if you're free for lunch. Today is my last day off and I am going to be around the Cotai area anyway."

"Sure, I should be out of the office by 1 pm. Where do you want to meet up?"

"How about at Portofino?" Portofino was an Italian restaurant located within the Venetian. Theo had eaten lunch there occasionally when he was too lazy to eat in the Taipa village area or when he didn't feel like eating at the employee food court.