Two Months Ago

Asher Jacobson a tall brown headed man with spiky hair. His eyes were a piercing blue. His figure doesn’t look like he missed a day at the gym. Zayner Chow is a much shorter man. He has short jet-black hair. He may not look as muscular as Asher, but he still goes to the gym but not as much. they exit Asher's car and head towards the building. Zayner argues with Asher.

“I'm telling you!”

“Doesn't mean that I got to agree with you.”

Asher says to Zayner. Zayner becomes very animated when trying to argue more.

“Angelina Jolie is a prettier woman than Jessica Alba!”

Asher shakes his head at Zayner.

“I don't believe in that horse shit at all.”

Zayner walks in front of Asher and starts to walk backwards.

“You're just saying that because Jessica Alba is a blonde!”

“That's irrelevant! You don't even have a shot with Jolie! She had Pitt by her side, and you are no where near as hot as him.”

Zayner gave Asher a sly smirk. He was going to tell Asher something thinking that this would solidify his win in this argument.

“She may have had Brad but have you noticed that the kids they adopt are Asian?”

“And your point is?”

“She wants an Asian man!”

Asher exclaims to Zayner. He knows he is full of it now.

“You're so full of shit!”

They enter the building together. Zayner continues to argue with Asher.

“You know I’m right and just jealous.”

“And I still think you’re full of shit.”

A male coworker walks up to the two of them with a warm smile.

“Good morning, Mr. Jacobson and Mr. Chow”

Asher smiles back at the man and nodded.

“Good morning.”

“Piss off, Frank!”

Zayner said with venom in his voice. Asher could only sigh.

“When will you learn to be nice to people?”

“Nice to people? Yes, I am nice to people. Frank’s just an ass that wants to kiss everyone’s ass to make himself look good.”

Zayner turns around to look at Frank. Frank looks back, and Zayner flips him off with a scowl on his face. Zayner turns back to Asher, and Asher stares him down.

“What?”

“You better be glad you don’t work in my department.”

A female coworker smiles at the two of them and waves. Her voice was thick as honey and almost seductively.

“Good morning boys.”

“Good morning.”

“Piss off.”

Asher looks at Zayner and scolds him.

“ZAYNER!”

“What!?”

Asher takes the elevator to his floor. He walks into his office and sits at his desk. Magan Jones walks into his office while knocking on his door.

“Mr. Jacobson?”

Asher turns his chair around and looks at Magan. Magan was a short woman with long black hair. Her figure was very blessed by a goddess of beauty. Most guys would stare at a particular part of her because she would make sure that her figure is shown in her clothing. Her clothes were tight, so it wasn’t hard for her to show off her body. Asher sighed.

“How many times do I have to tell you, Magan? Don't call me ‘Mr. Jacobson’ just because I just got promoted doesn't mean I'm still not your friend. Hell, we've worked together for years before I got this position!”

Magan gives Asher a flirty smile. She struts her way towards him.

“Yeah, I know, but you know I am professional. So, you are out of luck until we exit this facility before I call you Asher again, Mr. Jacobson.”

“Fine, have it your way then. I guess no more office-“

Magan covers his mouth. She closes the blinds of the office windows. Before she could close the door, she notices some female workers giggling at Magan. Magan mouths at them to shut up. Magan shuts the door and turns towards Asher. Magan blushes as she turns her attention back to Asher.

“Don't you speak of that while we are here!”

“Why? You didn't enjoy it?”

Magan blushes harder as she tries to keep her composure.

“Of course I did but it's unprofessional!”

“So is office sex, but you did it anyways.”

Asher gave Magan a cheeky smile as Magan's jaw dropped as she realized was Asher said was true. Asher mentally pats himself on the back because he had won the "battle". Magan’s gaze falls to the floor.

“I'm unprofessional...”

Asher shook his head.

“I was messing with you, Magan. Don't kill yourself over it. Now, what did you want to ask of me?”

Magan snaps out of it. She a folder under her arm and hands Asher the folder. Asher takes the papers and cocks an eyebrow at Magan. He is suspicious about the folders that Magan brought.

“What's this?”

“A new project that needs to be looked over and needs your approval before it is sent upstairs.”

Asher nods at Magan.

“Ah, one of those projects.”

Magan turns around and to open the door and leave but Asher hold up one of his hands to stop her by asking her a question.

“What do you think of it?”

Magan turns around to look at Asher. She acts all innocently trying to hide the fact that she already looked at the contents of the folder.

“What do you mean by that, Mr. Jacobson?”

“I know that you have read this project.”

Magan tries to deceive Asher by denying it even though she was smirking a little.

“No, I haven't...”

Asher shows where some of the pages were creased and there was a certain stain on one page. He taps on it with his index finger.

“Only one person in the department eats a peach jelly biscuit to work.”

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Magan concedes and admits to her wrongdoing.

“Okay! I read the project!”

Asher smirks a little about his small victory.

“Well? What do you think?”

He asked Magan. Magan just shook her head at Asher.

“I don't think that it'll work.”

“How so?”Asher asks Magan curious about her input.

“I'm not going to give in that easily! Just read it and we'll talk it over at dinner at the usual place.”

Asher looks at Magan with a certain look. He knows better than to assume which “usual place” she is talking about. There were many places that she called “usual place”.

“What?”

“You have a lot of ‘the usual places’.”

Magan shook her head in denial.

“No, I don't.”

Asher starts to count the places with his fingers while looking dead at Magan, proving his point.

“You have Luigi's, Burger Palace, La Cabana, Sweet Tooth, and Mama

Mia!”

Magan taps her index finger on her chin.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about the others. I meant Luigi's.”

Asher nods and says.

“Okay, I'll meet you there at 8:00pm.”

Magan frowns at Asher and gives him a certain look. That look she gives him when she wasn’t happy with the choice that he had chosen.

“8:00pm?”

Asher took back to what he said and says,

“I meant 7:00pm.”

Magan smiles with satisfaction at Asher. She liked this time much more than what was originally said.

“That's much better. See you then, cowboy!”

Magan exits the office. Asher sticks his head out of the door. His face was red with embarrassment.

“Don't call me, cowboy!”

All the workers look at Asher. Asher looks back at them. The females giggle and whisper to each other as Magan hushes them playfully. Asher barks at the other workers.

“What the hell you looking at!? Get back to work!”

All the workers get back to work, and Asher shuts his door hard. The door slams shut as he walks back to his desk and sits down. He starts looking through the project.

“’Project REAPER’, huh? Why would it be called that? Is it some kinda new weapon we‘re developing?”

Asher gets a sinking feeling about this project. It’s almost as if his gut is warning him about something.

“Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be bad?”

He spots many errors in the project but nothing that he thinks Magan would notice as a problem until he spots it.

“Ah, there it is! That is a major formula error. I'm surprised that the engineer didn't catch this in the blue print!”

Asher goes through the project again and spots multiple formula problems, and he writes notes on a separate piece of paper. He frowns at the papers in front of him as he continues to look over them.

“This project would destroy the reputation of the company if this was to be accepted.”

Zayner bursts through the door, scaring Asher in the process. Zayner was always the loud one. Always wanting to be the center of attention.

“Ashy-boy! I’m starving! Let’s eat!”

Asher looks at the clock to see what time it was. It was lunch time. Asher frowns at Zayner.

“Haven't you heard of knocking?”

Zayner exits the office and shuts the door. Asher was confused at Zayner’s actions and asks.

“What the hell are you do-“

Zayner knocks then opens the door almost respectfully. He sheepishly asks.

“Mr. Jacobson? May we go to lunch together? I’m famished and would like to eat.”

Zayner gives Asher his puppy eyes. Asher throws a pen at Zayner. Asher says in a stern voice.

“Don‘t. Do. That. Again.”

Zayner chuckled as Asher gathers his things, and they head towards the break room. Asher heats up his food as Zayner gets something from the cafeteria and joins Asher at a table.

“What are you doing here?”

“Don‘t act like you don’t know me.”

Asher shook his head at Zayner.

“After that little stunt you pulled earlier, I want to forget you.”

Zayner mocks being hurt by his best friend’s words.

“Hey now! If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have gotten your promotion."

Asher doesn’t believe the words that his friend was saying. He doubts that Zayner had anything to do with his promotion.

“Yeah, I find that hard to believe.”

Zayner gave his best impression of Naruto.

“You better believe it! Anyways, I need to know what you think about the new project? It’s waiting to be approved.”

Asher cocks an eyebrow at Zayner. He asked him.

“What project will that be?”

Zayner gives Asher a cheeky smile. He was proud to say.

“The project that I will be working on!”

“That doesn't answer my question. What project you are going to be working on?”

Zayner realized that he didn’t tell Asher the project that he would be a part of. He quickly answers him.

“Oh! It's the "REAPER" project.”

Asher says to Zayner.

“Ah, that project.”

Zayner’s eyes almost sparkled knowing that his friend heard about the project.

“So, you have heard about it!”

Asher nodded at Zayner.

“Yeah, I have. I was put in charge of approving it or not.”

Zayner starts to get more and more excited. He was almost vibrating.

“Well, what do you think!?”

Asher just shook his head at Zayner before telling him.

“You know I can't talk to you about it.”

Zayner pouts a little. He tries to probe his friend.

“Come on, man! Just a nibble.”

Asher gave Zayner a stern look. He knew better than to give in to what Zayner wanted.

“If I gave you a nibble of what I think, you would just want more. You always love to pick my brain of things like this.”

Zayner switched tactics and tried to praise Asher. He wanted to know what Asher thought so badly.

“Cuz your brain is a masterpiece! The way you process things is amazing! I'm surprised you're not VP of the company yet!”

Asher’s eye twitched a little. He knew where this was going.

“There you go again with that VP bullshit”

“Well, if I was to see Dr. Hart, I would tell him myself!”

Asher looked over the shoulder of Zayner and smirked.

“Well, here's your chance to tell him.”

Zayner’s eyes widened a little when Asher said that.

“Wait, what?”

Zayner looks just outside the break room to see Calypso Hart walking down the hallway with his top men surrounding him. Calypso was an older man in his midforties. He wasn’t as tall as Asher, but his confidence almost makes him taller. He was the owner of the company and looked like it as well. He has dark brown hair and had patches of white hair. He had steel-colored eyes that almost seemed like he’s hiding something sinister behind those eyes. Zayner just watches them walk by. He turns back to Asher waving him off.

“I'll tell him another day.”

Asher scolds Zayner yet again.

“That's what you said yesterday!”

Zayner shrugs at Asher in his carefree way.

“And I'm saying it again today. Dr. Hart has this vibe to him. Like there’s something dark in him.”

Asher looks at him in disbelief.

“Uh-huh. You’d make up any excuse not to talk to Dr. Hart.”

Zayner looks at his watch and taps on it. Zayner would do anything he can to get out of this conversation.

“Uh-oh! Time to get back to work!”

Asher took Zayner bait and looked at his watch not believing it was already time to get back to work.

“We still got ten...”

When Asher looked back up, he did not see Zayner anywhere. Asher does a facepalm and groans. He couldn’t believe he fell for that trick again.

“Every damn time!”

Asher just grabs his stuff and heads back into his office. He notices another project on his desk. He picks it up and reads the title with some curiosity.

“’BLACK ROSE’ What are we making here? Our very own superhero team or some messed up Power Rangers?”

Asher reads the project and notices the same formula error and new errors as well. Asher lets out a long sigh.

“Again with this stuff? Why would you call your next weapon BLACK ROSE? Sounds like something that Magan would’ve named it.”

He thinks for a moment about what Magan would have named the project. He shakes his head. He thinks that Magan would call it something worse than that.

“No, she would’ve called it TWILIGHT SPARKLE or something weird like that.”

He writes down his own notes and puts the project to the side. He looked at his watch to see that it was time to clock out and go home. He starts to count down.

“5… 4… 3… 2… 1…”

Zayner bursts through the door like he did earlier in the day.

“Hey Ashy-boy! Time to go ho-“

Zayner gets hit in the head with a balled-up piece of paper. Asher yells at Zayner.

“What did I say about that!?”

Asher gathers his things and his project notes. They exit his office. Asher locks his office door. Magan walks past him. She says in a seductive voice.

“Don't forget about Luigi's, cowboy!”

“Don't call me cowboy!”

Magan giggles and winks as she runs away. Asher just sighs. Zayner stares at Asher. Asher returns the stare.

“What?”

“When are the two of you ever going to just fuck and get it over with?

Asher just gives him a shit eating grin.

“Who says we haven’t?”

Zayner’s jaw dropped as Asher walked past him. Asher gets into the elevator. Asher pushes the button for the lobby,

“You better hurry up. I’m not going to stop the elevator for you. “

Zayner snaps back into reality.

“Shit!”

Zayner runs to the elevator and barely makes it. Zayner tries to catch his breath as they ride the elevator.

“You know…you can be a real dick sometimes…”

Asher gives him a smirk, acknowledging what was told to him.

“Can be yes… but only to you.”

“Thats not cool man!”

They exit the elevator. They go passed the same male coworker from earlier. Zayner scowls at Frank as he speaks.

“Have a good day Mr. Jacobson and Mr. Chow!”

Asher smiles at Frank warmly.

“You too, Mr. Ray.”

Zayner did not give Frank the same hospitality as Asher.

“Eat a dick, Frank.”

Asher quickly looks at Zayner.

“ZAYNER!”

“What!?”

They exit the building seeking the freedom they deserve for the day. Asher and Zayner start to walk towards Asher’s car. Asher looked over Zayner’s way.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten our conversation from earlier.”

Zayner just smiles at Asher acting coyly.

“What conversation?”

Asher gives Zayner a stern look as they get into his car. Zayner holds up his hands at Asher.

“What? I don't know what you’re talking about!”

“Well, allow me to jog your memory. You’re too much of a chicken to even say “hi” to Mr. Hart!”

Zayner was almost offended by his friend’s words. He exclaims.

“I am not!”

Asher challenges Zayner.

“Then prove it!”

Asher starts the car and drives off. Asher gives Zayner the side eye.

“I will! Tomorrow, I’ll speak to him on your behalf!”

Asher does not believe a single word his friend had to say.

“I’ll believe it when I see it!”

Asher drives up to Zayner's apartment and drops him off. Zayner turns around and yells at Asher.

“I EXPECT YOU TO BE HERE BY 6:00AM!”

Asher yells back at his friend knowing that Zayner would never get up that early or would even be ready by that time.

“You don’t even get up that early!”

“You do though!”

Zayner enters his apartment complex and shuts the door. Asher says under his breath.

“Asshole…”

Asher drives to his house and enters his house through the garage.