In the small room of an underground bas.e.m.e.nt,a lean and tall man was undergoing rigorous exercise.The room had been converted into a small gymnasium and a certain person who was known to be a glutton for food was sweating out what he had eaten.The secret behind the tempting body of the easy going and always hungry for food,Neil Long was this routine.Neil Long had an unshakeable routine of waking up every morning at the crack of dawn and working out for atleast two hours a day.His workout routine was a mixture of traditional martial art practices,athlete training,yoga and kick boxing.After the workout this morning Neil went out of the bas.e.m.e.nt and lay down on the gra.s.s outside.Staring up at the sky,Neil closed his eyes and tried to calm his heart.Her memorial day(Like Death Anniversary) was fast approaching and he always felt uncomfortable days in advance.Thankfully his family was returning this time and he had something to distract himself.He knew Al would not let him be alone this year.Last two years,Al had tried her best to distract him even though she had been overseas.Tonight,he planned to take Onita and surprise her when they came back!And he now had a perfect chance to take her to the airport without giving her a chance to escape.After knowing the truth from Hu Ge,he would then take her there directly.
Just then his phone,which was attached to his hip,beeped.He looked down and was amused to see the sender."Think of the devil and the devil messages you."Alicia had just texted him saying that they were about to fly and reminded him to come see them at the airport.He had been ordered to bring Matt as well.Reading until the end,he let out a laugh.His friend knew him too well.At the end she had written,"Morning exercise is injurious to sleep.Don"t do it,Neil."But soon that laughter turned bitter.His routine had been exactly the same for the last many years.And ever since Alicia realized that he did this so that when he laid in bed everynight he would be dead to the world,she had been trying to cut down his exercise and work load.Frustrated that every thought took him back to his past,Neil resolutely closed his eyes.Sweet laughter echoed in his mind and a pair of smiling eyes looked at him.
Very soon,the alarm on Neil"s phone went off,indicating that it was time to go to the office.Working a twelve hour day was common to Neil and today was not going to be an exception.As he turned off the alarm the same smiling eyes looked back at him from the phone screen.Irritated,he went to the photo alb.u.m app on his phone,he chose a random picture of Little Alicia playing that he had clicked yesterday on his phone.Yes!this picture was much better.
As Neil drove to work,his mind was still occupied in the past.This put him in a bad mood when he reached the office making him bite people"s heads off of whoever tried to approach him!
He worked on his pending load with the zest of a newly turned lawyer and the slightest mistake sent people quaking.One of the new paralegals had drafted an agreement.s.h.i.+vering,she sent the agreement for approval but it was soon returned.She thought she was saved but the moment she opened the file she gulped.The contract was marked with red on all the changes it required and now all she could see were the red markings.The typed words were hardly visible.It was going to take her all day to rewrite.
Only at lunch time did the people in the legal department get any respite.This respite was in the form of a delivery from a shopping site.The secretary had stutteringly informed Neil about the arrival of a package from the online shopping application.In a walk that actually resembled a stomp across the office,Neil came out and collecting the parcel went back inside his office closing the door behind him.The door would have banged against the frame if the office had not been padded with floor to floor carpets.
Inside the office,Neil opened the parcel and checked it"s contents.Looking at the pretty toys that he had ordered for his little cupcake,his bad mood evaporated in a jiffy.Back to his former self,Neil felt a little bad for his behavior since this morning.
To make up for it,he sent out an email saying that the lunch hour was extended by an hour and everyone should have fun.However,though lunch time had come n.o.body dared to move from their places as if they were stuck.When Neil came out and saw that n.o.body had accepted his generosity,he scowled and said,"Pack your work everyone!Right away.We are going to have a team lunch."And then showing his little smile continued,"Come on people,It"s my treat!You cannt say no to free food!I would like to apologize to you all for this morning!"
With that Neil left the office and everyone else scrambled to pack up their work and go with him wondering at the miracle.It usually took their boss atleast a day to calm down when he was in such a bad mood!Everyone wondered at the contents of the box that had successfully changed the boss" mood in so less time.But now was not the time for curiosity but to be thankful that they had been saved from a harrowingly long day!