Vol. 2 – Chapter 68 - Dismissal
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The weather of Satisfy World has morphed alongside with the weather outside, or at least from Mathias's perspective who saw snow when exiting his apartment block in his way to his job. One would believe that the first days of December were constantly bound to show some surprise in the Eastern Europe region with the Siberian Cold reaching those parts of the world, but it's not a constant.
Mathias's attention in those times were shifted mostly on going to work waiting for his shift to end, later going to the gym to destress a bit before stopping to the Satisfy World which reached a successful state since its Live Release one month ago.
It was a frenzy that captured the imagination of all ages, from the young to the old, taking by storm the world with this successful release of the game. Even the developer's work was taken in account, gaining awards for the [The Game Award for the Most Anticipated Game of 2070] and [The Game Award for the Best Role-Playing Game of 2070] in only 1 month since its Live Release, S.A Group has gained under their belt a lot of awards and prestige.
Nevertheless, that news about how well the game was doing from a business perspective and financial one, were not of concern to Mathias who had his entire schedule filled to the brim, entering a state similar to a robot who knew had to work from point A to B, later go to C, and return to D.
Such was life at times, monotonous, but we always liked to try new things and make it entertaining, in this case it was Mathias who could take his worries about his financial situation, rent and utilities that gobbled up a big chunk of his salary.
Slowly he found that time passed too fast, and he couldn't enjoy to the best of his abilities the training and the new experiences he had on a daily basis inside Satisfy, from starting a business and managing all components that would bind the Workshop together. Managing the harsh winter of Titan, and doing some charitable acts bringing more orphans into the new building the Stonemasons were raising, to cover them from the cold.
Inside or outside, he was always engaged in something.
However, on the last days before his planned day to ask for his leave to return home for Christmas, in what seemed to be the start of a normal day, without any incidents or "bad luck" signs hitting him, he got summoned the moment he arrived by the executive member of the hotel that was tasked in keeping tabs on all Housekeeping personnel, a lady in her 50s which he would only meet once a week when she would account all the materials required or needed to be filled in for cleaning the hotel.
'This is weird. Usually, Lady Catrine would summon the entire Housekeeping department for a rundown on new events.'
Yet, before going to the meeting in her office, as he walked toward the locker room to change his clothes for work, he noticed Leonor sitting on a hotel bench holding her hands in a nervous way.
'What happened to her? I've never seen her so nervous. Did something bad happen in the hotel? Someone committed some crime or maybe a guy who committed suicide?'
Thinking that, he walked in her direction, and with a friendly greeting, she didn't even notice him, and when she turned her attention on him, she instantly reacted by quickly telling him in an apologetic way.
"I am sorry Matei."
"What's wrong Leonor? I feel a tense atmosphere in the hotel."
"The director board has changed. There's a Restructure of the personnel and I've been released from my executive role."
"What the? … Did they fire you or just simply demoted you?" asked Mathias while taking a seat close to her.
"Demoted to a senior-level accountant job. I am confused, shocked, and have no idea what I've done wrong to get demoted. They told me I was underperforming, that I was not filling the hours of work I was supposed to do. Hah, this is so stupid."
Mathias looked at her with shock as she told him that she was summoned for a meeting, and how it went, with the new directors being straight and cold with her even though it wasn't necessary. Afterward, she told him about the mail she received at the end of november that was notifying her about the possibility of a change in the hotel, which she took account of it, but never expecting that they would pick on her.
"You'll be fine, Leonor. It feels really unethical what they did, but what can you? Fight them in court for this and lose your entire job? At least you can bounce back and maybe climb the ladder and reach the CFO job and teach those arrogant bastards a lesson. Besides, I have this sensation that things will not be that nice for me too, so keep my spot warm so I can later cry, okay?"
His attempt at making her feel better worked out slightly, making her laugh while tearing up, and he only left to the meeting room, without even changing his clothes where he noticed the one in charge of the Housekeeping Department, and other members of the team, but not the entire department.
"Mister Dumitrescu, take a seat."
Moving to his seat, while glancing at his colleagues, and later at the Department Leader, he waited for her to say what she had to say, but instead of hearing something, the Lady in question handed the ones in the room a piece of paper.
[Matei Dumitrescu 19th December 2070
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Subject: Employment Termination Letter
Dear, Matei,
We are deeply saddened to inform you that your term of employment at WHW Hotel Groups has come to an immediate end. Due to your violation of our employee code of conduct. Section 3. a), we have no choice but to terminate your employment with us.
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We thank you for your service to the WHW Hotel Groups and we wish it didn't have to end this way.
Thank you
Daniela Caterine
Housekeeping Department Executive
WHW Hotel Groups.]
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Taking in the information from the latter, he glanced at the lady who handed him the letter, and with a chuckle, he packed the piece of paper calmly.
"My apologies Mister Dumitrescu, but your performance in the recent months was not on par with the norm of the WHW Group standards and because of this we reached this point."
"Should I cry now and be angry? Hah, no need. It is fine. Thank you for allowing me to work in this Hotel, and all the experiences I gained along this one year of working."
The other guys had different reactions, but they went out of the office relatively at the same time, and in the hallway, the others asked him with some curiosity.
"Matei, aren't you angry that they fired you? I mean I would expect them to fire me since I took a lot of leaves for various reasons, but you? You must have said something to that old bitch that it got stuck to her as herpes."
"Actually now that you mention, probably she heard me swearing at some drunk clients who wanted to fight me."
"Hahaha, well those were good times seeing you hold those rich fuckers to the ground with their heads on the ground. Or those naked perverts who tried hitting on the girls."
"Meh, can't say those were good times. Still, it feels a bit frustrating, but there is nothing I can do about it. I'll go to the gym, does any of you want to tag along?"
"Ohh that MMA gym you mentioned you were frequenting. Sure I'll tag along to hit some bags so I get my anger away."
Mathias with his backpack on his back returned to the hotel lobby where he saw Leonor and Vlad who had a sulking face, and immediately when he saw Mathias approach him, with a crazy type chuckle, he asked him.
"You too?"
"Me too, what?"
"Got fired, you dumbass."
"Yep. Why? You also got fired?"
"Good, now I can't feel bad that I got myself fired. Let's go drink something." suggested Vlad with a smile on his face, but Mathias rejected the offer, deciding to go to the gym early.
Leonor raised her gaze at Mathias and asked him with a voice that turned calmer since he saw her before going to the meeting room.
"Can I also join you?"
"I mean, don't you still have your job, Leonor?"
"I got a leave for today. Those bastards at least give me that."
"I see, then let's go."
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Exiting the hotel without even giving it another look, while his coworkers did some contemplating while walking off, but what followed next was one of the colleagues from the Housekeeping Department, with Vlad and Leonor joined him as he walked toward the gym.
Instead of moving toward the Metro Station, he continue on walking in the Old Town, where he approached closer to the main boulevard, and on a street that held a lot of Interwar Time buildings with some rundown while others rebuild containing shops of all sorts, in one rehabilitated building, was waiting Mathias MMA Gym.
"So this is where you have been going after work." commented Vlad, who stared at the gym building.
"Matei, don't we need equipment in order to train?" asked Leonor who was wearing her winter clothes, with a thick coat, along with a pair of stylish boots.
"We have spare equipment for ladies and men so don't worry and relax, no one will come to bite your head." replied Mathias in an easy-going way, as he got to the building entrance hitting the ground to take off the snow that built around his boots.
Entering inside this building, the other three were greeted by a warm temperature, and the sound of people hitting bags, and training in general, similar to a conventional gym, with the biggest difference being the close contact combat that might happen inside.
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Vlad and George, the coworker that got along well with Mathias, observed the lobby of the building that was rather empty, only seeing some guys walking toward another part of the building drenched in sweat. On another hand, Leonor followed Mathias closely, and from nowhere the voice of an elder man was picked up.
"Dumi, what's with you at this hour? Weren't you supposed to be at work? And those people?"
"Coach, guess what."
"What? Did you get your leave and got ready for a morning sweating and later get you time to prepare to go back to your hometown?"
"You aren't off by far, coach." joked Mathias, after greeting old Adrian, introducing him to Leonor and the other two guys that followed him.
Old Adrian who placed his eyes on Leonor was surprised to see that such a beauty was in this "man cave" he was leading, and to not creep her out, he simply greeted her casually, while the other two guys that got into his eyes, he observed them carefully.
Doing a handshake with George, the mid-twenties guy's face contracted a bit under the pressure this old man was placing on his hand, but then when he got to Vlad, he noticed that this guy had force in his hands.
"Boy, you are not bad. Are you working out or something?"
"Nah, sorry old man, I am too busy to work out."
The old man didn't follow up to check on Vlad, instead turned his attention back to Mathias, giving him some instructions before patting his shoulder and leaving off to his business.
"Follow me guys to the locker rooms. Clean your boots better before stepping inside so we leave the lobby clean. The main rule of the gym is to keep everything in order."
Vlad, who followed behind Mathias after doing another casual cleaning of his boots, commented while climbing some stairs that took to the upper floor of the building which housed the locker room.
"This feels more like a karate dojo, with those rules you mentioned Matei."
"It is good we keep to the rules set by the coach. In mixed martial arts besides the chaos that one is placed in while fighting, in that chaos, one needs the discipline to figure out his circumstances, and most important, following ones coach's instructions. The same is for other combat sports. If you can't even follow those simple rules, then let's say you will find it troublesome getting to the first session training."
"Sure, sure, but punching people in the face takes over all the rules. Like how that Great Boxer, Mike Tyson mentioned, "Once you punch someone in the face all their plans are useless."."
Mathias could only laugh as he reached the locker room, which was split for women and boys, and after going to another room that was more like a storage room for all the small equipment, he went and picked up three sets of training clothes to give to the new guests.
"There you go. Leonor, I picked something that might be closer to your size, but tell me if it doesn't fit you." said Mathias as he handed Leonor the set of training clothes that smelled of laundry softener, a pleasant smell at that, while for the boys he threw them some clothes, still cleaned up, but the difference in treatment was evident.
Inside the changing room, the boys didn't have any problems getting into the training clothes, getting the chance to meet some members of the gym who were changing too in their respective locks. Yet, Leonor, who was alone in the room, placed her purse down on the bench and looked at the training clothes.
"Am I doing this?"
Taking her clothes, revealing her white delicate skin, she took in her arms the specific bra that Mathias's set held, and looking at the size of the bra, and her own bosom, she breathed out in relief.
'Wait, how does he know the size of my chest?' thought Leonor for a bit, before she gave a small smile, finding it funny that a quiet guy like Mathias would be a low-key pervert to gauge the body of ladies.
Placing that garment, and the rest of the equipment and shoes that also fit her size like magic, she stared at the body-size mirror to check on her overall appearance. Touching her sensible parts, such as the belly, her butt, and arms, she sighed while saying.
"I got fat as of late. Being in the office all day long, and then playing the game, I need to be careful not to get fatter."
Yet what the boys thought was a completely different story, with two gym members who walked toward the locker room saw her exit the women's room, and once getting inside the men's locker room, they asked the guys inside, specifically Mathias.
"Matei, do you know the hot babe outside, waiting in the hallway? Don't tell me you brought your girlfriend to the gym?"
"Hah, didn't you guys say you got morning shifts at work, what are you doing here?"
"Haha, I got my medical leave approved, thanks to old Vinisan's Grace. While that old bastard might be an evil demon when training us, he is a damn sweetheart when it comes helping us out with those shady things."
Vlad and George were glazing at the two newcomers as if they heard alien words.
"Wait, wasn't it really hard to get medical leaves? Without your doctor's approval and all those intricate things, meticulous checks and other bullcrap? It only worked in the past for this scheme of getting early leave."
"Haha, friend, you don't know old Vinisan. The old man has connections to a lot of places, and if you show promise to him, he might help you once in a while with those things." said one of the guys, while the second one remarked like an old lady starting gossip.
"I heard his ex-wife is in the Health Ministry System, and that they are still on good terms after they parted ways. Obviously, those are just rumors, so don't rat me out to the old man, I still have to prepare for my professional debut."
"Whatever. Let's go guys, I'll show you around the gym, and be your trainer for today."
Moving out of the locker room, the guys were met by Leonor who was wearing the training clothes that put on spotlight her healthy and sexy curves.
"Don't look at me like that, I am still not that fat."
"Boss, are you kidding? You look nice."
"Exactly. Most girls would instantly get jealous."
"Okay, stop embarrassing Leonor, and get going." commented Mathias in a bossy way, taking his group to the lower floor where the boxing ring and the MMA octagonal ring was placed.
"How are the clothes, do they match the size?" asked Mathias as he walked beside Leonor in the hallway.
"Never worn such clothes. I don't know what to say, they are quite skin-tight, but I'll get used to them. I think."
"Nothing to worry about, you'll immediately gain confidence once you mess the punching bag."
The moment Mathias and his group got to the training room, where all sort of equipment was placed for the member's disposal, the guys like wolves who spotted a tender sheep reacted at Leonor's appearance. However, they calmed down when Mathias passed by, bringing his group to his specific corner where he wouldn't bother anyone.
The trainers and old Adrian were working on the professionals who were scheduled to fight on 24 December and who on frequent occasions would be inserted as a sparring partner, just so the old man could see him get beat up. Tragic, but the old man was a believer of sparring, regardless if you were an uncoordinated person, after one would get his boxing skills to a casual level, he would throw them to the wolves.
Vlad who got closer to the heavy bag gave a punch with a naked hand but Mathias stopped him from doing the punching unprotected.
"Not yet. We will first warm-up before doing any of the basic stuff."
"Got it. Then what now? Are you going to teach us your routine?" asked Vlad, curious to see what Mathias had in store for them, where in a similar state were George and Leonor.
Nodding, Mathias began starting showing them some easy exercises for warming up, that anyone regardless if it one was obese, one could do, and with each exercise, he would increase slowly the intensity of the warm-up. Showing by example, he was doing the exercises at the same time with his friends, just to motivate them, doing extra work while the three got the number of repetitions he had them do.
"Is this all the warm-up?" asked Vlad, who started getting impatient.
"A little bit more and then I will show you the basics."
Then he moved to do some stretching with them, nothing exaggerated, and around the end of the warm-up that was composed of skipping rope, Mathias had to teach Leonor how to skip the rope while Vlad taught George after getting it done from him.
"Leo, you never skipped the rope? Not even in your childhood?" asked Mathias in a friendly way, as he held her arms in the correct position for skipping ropes.
She turned a bit embarrassed while saying to him in a quiet tone.
"I really never did such things. Not even in the PE class in school. I played a bit of Volley but that's it."
"No need to stress yourself, you survived the first warm-up, skipping rope will be just a fun way to get your heart rate higher and wake the muscles that got numb from sitting in a desk chair for how long?"
"Two years."
Showing her by example, and later positioning her hands with the rope behind her, following next by showing her how he would skip the rope, the knee bending and small jumps on his toes, where his heel never touched the ground.
Leonor, who glanced at Mathias with her arms and feet positioned correctly, did the first jump with the rope that was executed correctly, making her feel a weird feeling.
'This isn't bad at all. I can probably do this all day.'
Thinking that, after 5 minutes, she was breathing rapidly, visibly sweating from the warm-up, tired, and when Mathias stopped her, and the guys, he asked her.
"It wasn't that hard, right?"
"Actually no, for some reason, I remember the time I spent in Satisfy." responded Leonor, where Vlad, gave the same response.
"Agility is a must for an assassin."
"What are you guys talking about?" inquired George, who had no idea what the three were talking about.
"Satisfy."
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Moving on from the warm-up, Mathias began showing them how to hold fighting stances, going with the basic orthodox and southpaw and unorthodox ones. Then expecting what he discovered, all three were right-handed like himself, and it was easy to explain to them the orthodox stance.
Explaining things to the boys was more natural, with them getting the stances instinctively, himself asking them to show them how they would fight on the streets and usually they would enter something akin to an orthodox stance, where he only had to adjust their feet and hands. However, in Leonor's case, she had no idea about fighting and boxing in general, and he had to spend more time with her, which usually would result in one of the two laughing either from a joke coming from Mathias, or some silly comment from Leonor.
"You really are patient with beginners." remarked Leonor, who at last got the whole idea of the stance after Mathias had to constantly hold her in place behind her back, and guide her.
"I hear that a lot, and I have no reason to get impatient at you or those two. Some get it faster, others lag behind, but in the end, everyone would reach the same point once you put work into it. Now go on, show me I didn't run my mouth for no reason. Throw the left-hand jab like I showed you."
"Like this?" inquired Leonor, as she did a slow jab with her left hand, beside Mathias who watched her carefully.
"That's it! Remember that movement."
Following that, he went to hold his hands for her to hit them, as if he was holding pads, and in a wholesome moment, he was encouraging Leonor to hit him faster, not even caring she might hit him in other parts of his body because of missing the target.
"This, I think is like swinging the sword in Satisfy. My mentor there taught me to swing and move my waist along the cuts."
"Ohh really? But the jab is more like a piercing attack. The swing in fighting is the Hook, just like this."
Saying that, he stopped holding the imaginary pads, at the same time he easily took his fighting stance which was so smooth that Leonor was surprised, and later she saw Mathias do some jabs, a combination of punches before throwing his fast hook that got accompanied by his exhaling sound."
'Wow, I never thought Mathias had this side to him. He always was quiet at work and even in the guild, he doesn't show much aggression in his words.' thought Leonor, who was with her own mind, while Mathias was doing some shadow boxing.
"Did you see it clearly? The difference of attacks when you compare them to sword attacks? Leo?"
Leonor was still in her mind, visibly not focused on what Mathias was doing, and what woke her was a pinch on her nose with Mathias taking her small nose between two fingers in a silly way.
"Ouch. Ahh, yes, I saw it."
"Really? Do you want me to check?"
"... No."
"Okay, I will not check it. Let me teach you how to wrap your hands so you could put the boxing gloves on. Hey guys, come here for a bit, stop messing around with that wanky shadow boxing."
"Dude, you are not fit to be a teacher, you only focus on one student, even being selective here."
"I see, then do you have a problem with that?" replied back Mathias at what remark Vlad did about him, which the latter saw Mathias give an evil smile, and slowly he found to regret messing with Mathias's business.
The session on the guys got harder, with him later in the session dropping them down with some leg kicks, even though they were holding the protective pads as he instructed them. On another hand, Leonor's session was so smooth and gentle, evident that he knew how to treat ladies, while with the guys he was similar to a psychopath from their perspective.
"DAMN, you fucker do you have bricks in your legs or something. You only say you are hitting with 60% power, but aren't you going full power? Also, teach me that move, I will implement it in Satisfy." said Vlad, who bounced back after Mathias dropped him, which made the latter surprised.
In such a way, time passed in the gym, with Mathias spending quality time with his friends, and also enjoying the process of teaching them the meager skills he gained from training in the gym.
However, the three guests, found first hand that Mathias's skills weren't meager as he liked to call them, because when old Adrian tagged in Mathias for the sparring session with the professionals, one couldn't even notice the difference from the Amateur Level student and the Professional.
"My gosh, is that Matei? Look at him move and fight that dude in the ring." commented George beside Vlad, who had the chance to discover another side of Mathias who he only kept in the gym.
Old Adrian walked toward the group of three after hearing their conversation, and with a wide smile, he asked them.
"How was your session today, young ones? Did you enjoy your coach's teachings or should I only put him to training and fighting?"
Vlad and George shrug their shoulders, even wishing to comment to put Mathias in more hellish training for the bumps they took on the floor, but Leonor was the one to respond faster, in a calm way.
"Even at work Mathias was hardworking, and seeing him now actually fighting, he must be working hard in the gym too, training himself and acquiring those skills from you sir."
"Hahaha, smart girl. Are you by chance his girlfriend? I never asked him this, or when you first stepped in the gym. Whenever I ask him about that, he would refuse to talk about it."
When Leonor heard that, she gave old Adrian an expression as if she didn't understand the question, but when she thought she immediately denied it, trying not to make it hard for Mathias, but in a way she also say some additional words that could be interpreted.
"No, no, we used to be colleagues. We are not in a relationship or something like that. We are just close friends."
'Or something like that? What I am even talking. Am I really that close with Matei?'
"I see. Then I will not get between you youngsters and ask you embarrassing things. Let's watch and see if he worked on the things, I told him to focus."