4 To Work

Sunday morning.

Brrrng... Brrrng...

The vibrating sound of the phone on the bedside cabinet sent a wave through the sleeping man's ears. Forcing an eye open, he muttered indefinitely, "The hell's that?"

Grumpily, he turned to his side and picked up the phone with his left hand. "What?" He lazily let out, drowsiness still visible in his eyes, not even having an idea on who was calling.

"RYAN! Where the f*ck are you?" An average masculine voice erupted in his ears, immediately sending a bit of shock to his system and jolting him from his supposed sleepiness.

He took the phone off his ear and casted a glimpse on the caller ID. Matthew? That jerk...

Putting the phone back to his ear, he exasperatingly replied the caller. "Matthew... have you gone crazy? What was that noise for?"

"I should be asking you that, you son of a... Argh! Don't force me to go vulgar with your sweet mom!" The voice from the other end yelled.

The man sneered in contempt. "Why are you calling me so early?"

"So early?" A mocking chuckle could be heard from the end of the line. "Are you having issues with your brain that you don't even know it's past resumption hour already?"

An invisible alarm bell immediately resounded in the man's ears. Resumption hour!

"Geez! I'm on the way."

"Make sure you are here soon. I promise, I'm not going to cover up for you this time around." The voice told him.

"Get off my line!"

He didn't wait for a reply before cutting the call. Immediately, he sprang up from the bed and rushed into the bathroom.

Under the shower, he began calculating his movements for the day. Firstly, 'Need to get to work,' obviously... but unfortunately, he's late for that already. Secondly, 'Grocery shopping after work hours to stock up.' Thirdly, he intended to visit Helen, his mom, to have dinner with her after a few weeks of deliberately not getting through to her, although, it wasn't meant to be deliberate.

Fortunately, his movements today weren't going to be hectic. And he thankfully wasn't going to do double his work which might lead to an uptight situation. That's thanks to his colleagues who voluntarily helped out yesterday, after he had a day off due to Friday night's events. He hoped not to get queried for his unplanned lateness today, which might perhaps go in line with his impromptu day off from yesterday.

He stepped out of the bathroom when he was done and got back to the bedroom. The bedroom, which was a simple paper-packed looking room, signified the work he was into, having no special interior decors involved.

He headed to the closet and picked out his wears for the day — a black jacket over a brown patterned shirt and a pair of black pants.

He got into the wears and a pair of loafers was chosen to complement the clothing. He took his wristwatch from the cabinet, a silver one, binding it to the wrist of his left hand.

A quick check of his face was made on the torso-length mirror hanging on the wall. A bald head with a round face harboring a set of brown eyes was revealed on the mirror. A firm dark brown skin with an average muscular body structure could be seen exuding a bit of attractiveness. Being a black man with a calm expression, the man could make a pass as being cool-faced.

He sighed out loud in satisfaction while still standing in front of the mirror. This was due to one of the things he was grateful for. He was an entirely bald headed man and so didn't have to be bothered about styling his hair. The main reason he was grateful was because he wasn't going to go through such time-wasting experience like most other men.

Putting the thought to the back of his head, he checked the time on his wristwatch and that was when he realized he was whiling away the limited time he didn't have.

Seven-thirty. He picked up his mini briefcase and rushed out of the bedroom. Handling the bunch of keys for the car and apartment, he dashed out as he began the journey to his place of work... in his Hyundai Elantra GT N-Line.

.....

Twenty minutes later, the man arrived in front of a company building which had the inscription: 'Sky Broadcasting Organization' written atop. This media organization was where the man works as the Chief Editor. The long barricaded gates automatically opened and the security guards greeted the man as he drove into the premises of the company.

The man parked his car beside a black Jeep in the parking lot and turned off the engine with the ignition. Ensuring the doors were locked, he headed straight to the company building in a rush.

He immediately halted in front of the glassy see-through bullet proof entrance. He couldn't get in without being scanned by the facial recognition machine which was placed directly above the door. D*mn, he hated this thing with every of his might. Why? He believes the biometric authentication is one of the basics which birthed the advancement of the production of AGI* in the Artificial Intelligence (AI) tech, which he detests.

Truthfully, he has no issues with the advancement of technology, but this idea of trying to use technology to overcome man's workload was something he couldn't willingly accept. If it hadn't been for the huge pay he receives from working with this company and his recent promotion to the Chief Editor, he definitely would have quit since the company obviously appreciated the AI idea.

The facial recognition machine revealed a green light buzz after ten seconds, indicating an approval. The scanner was put in place to prevent non-members of staff from invading the building. As long as one becomes a staff, the profile would be put into the database, giving one access in the scanner.

The man got into the now opened door and rushed straight to the elevator, after waving his hand to the receptionists at the counter who had greeted him. He pressed the 'up' button and soon after, the doors opened.

He got into the empty space, standing by the location of the buttons, as he pressed on the button with the number thirteen. The doors closed thereafter and the lift began ascending slowly, making him curse in his mind as to why his office was at such high part of the floors.

Ding!

The number '13' showed atop the door of the lift, indicating he had gotten to the floor. The doors opened slowly and he got out of the lift. It was 7:55 am already as he checked the wristwatch while heading to a door which was opposite the entrance of the lift, walking in after handling the knob.

His sight welcomed over ten people sitting and typing into different desktops, mostly chatting away silently. Packs of paperwork sheets and bonded ones were placed on the desks. His presence became noticeable to those near the entrance and they greeted him one by one.

"Good morning, Mr Stones,"

"How do you do, Mr Stones?"

He smiled at them. "Good morning to you all," he replied and passed by them before heading to a section of the office which was separated from the first part with classy furniture decors. The section harbored four seats, with his being the first of the seats.

"Finally, you're here..."

A white man with spiky brown hair seated among the seats said with a sneer. He was Matthew Holmes, the man who had called him earlier today. His best friend and first assistant chief editor, dressed in a black suit with a white shirt underneath. Matthew had a pair of golden brown eyes which presently stared at him intensely.

"Yes, I am," Ryan nonchalantly replied. "Hey Megan,"

Next to Matthew was a young attractive lady who looked up from the screen of the desktop she was immersed in, halting what she was typing into it when she heard the mention of her name. Megan Lynn, second assistant chief editor. With a long straight black hair and green eyes, her expression wasn't much of a welcoming one.

"Tsk tsk tsk," she shook her head, "Thought you wanted to skip today as well,"

The man went to his seat and sat with a sigh being heard from him. "Is that the best way to welcome me, huhn?"

"You made me do double of my usual work yesterday. Tell me why I should welcome you with open arms?" the lady threw an accusatory glare at him as she spoke.

"I'll return the favor, thank you," the man unwillingly told her and bent to pick out something from his briefcase. The lady sneered at him, unable to argue any further, and got back to what she was typing.

The man pulled out a mini laptop out of the briefcase and placed it atop the stack of files on the desk. As he powered it on, he heard a voice close to his ear.

"I saved a cup of Black Coffee for you. It's obviously cold now, all because you didn't get here in time." Matthew's hand was stretched out to him with a styrofoam cup in it.

He collected the cup from him and took a test sip from it. "It's still a bit warm though. Thank you,"

"Do you want me to help you get the one from the coffee dispenser? Hot coffee will do better you know..." Matthew suggested, suppressing a chuckle.

"No, thank you. This is fine." He turned to face Matthew with a bit of glare in his eyes, obviously seeing through Matthew's teasing. "You know I never take that!"