Episode 7 - Priorities

James stood in the lobby of the hotel, only to find the man and Rachel were in an elevator. He ran towards the elevator as fas t as his legs allowed him to go, but by the time he reached there, the doors had already shut. He watched the indicator take them to the thirteenth floor. James cursed under his breath. He had no idea what room number his wife was in as well, and considered going door to door on the thirteenth floor. But that could also be very risky, some people might call the cop on him. With much consideration, he decided to wait it out, catching them as soon as they stepped out. Hours passed by without any sign from them.James grew impatient and dialed Rachel’s phone. After a long time of the phone ringing, she picked it up. He demanded in an angry voice, “Where are you?”. “I am at an interview honey, why what's the issue? Do you need something? Are you okay? Is Benny okay?”

Seeing her lie like this made him even angrier. “Are you telling me the truth? Tell me where you are right now. I want to come see you”, he said through gritted teeth. “Honey, I am telling you the truth, okay? Stop acting so clingy oh my god, I said I’ll come see you at dinner right? Why don’t you wait for me until then?”, she said, lying and avoiding the question again. “Fine. Do as you please”, James replied coldly. “Alright. I gotta go now. Talk later.”, she said, hanging up the phone. James was furious. She had gotten away with it yet again. He let out a scream of frustration and hit his foot on the pavement, causing the people passing back to look at him.

“No, I must calm down”, he said, taking a deep breath. Pressing his back against the wall he sighed, with a new determination to catch them red handed. He was not gonna budge from that spot until his wife and that man emerged fro the building. No matter how long it took, he was gonna wait it out. Just then, his phone rang. It was the residential landline number, and he knew that the security guard was calling. “Hello, sir? This is the security of your residential complex.”, came the voice from the other end. “What do you want? This better be urgent, I am in the middle of something”, James said gruffly. “Well, sir, I was patrolling around the property and I found your son near your building. Poor child seems to be quite distressed. Shall I escort him back to your apartment?”, asked the guard. James’s heart sank. In his attempt to catch the wife, he had completely forgotten about his son, who was supposed to return from school at that time.

“No, no. I’m on my way to get him. Please wait with him right there. I’m coming in a few minutes”, he said hurriedly. To hell with Rachel, Benny was more important right now, James thought as he boarded his electric bike and peeled away from the parking lot. He sped home to find his little son, crying uncontrollably. “You’re here!”, said little Benny as his father approached the front gate of their building. James parked his bike, got down and rushed forwards to pick his son up in his arms. “Thank you. Thank you so much for keeping an eye on him. I had to leave but in the middle of my work, I completely forgot about my son. This won’t happen again.”, James said with a guilty voice. The guard responded, “Sir, leaving a child all alone is no joke. He could have gotten hurt. Please be careful next time”, he said sternly. “Absolutely. Thank you so much.”, James said as the security guard waved goodbye to both of them.

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“Daddy? I thought you were never coming back. I thought you were punishing me for telling you about Mommy.”, said little Benny as they boarded the lift. “What? No son I would never even dream of leaving you all alone. I’m so sorry bud, I was caught up in something else. I promise I will neer do this again. Forgive Daddy? Please”, James held his son close and rocked him slowly. “Yes Daddy.”, Benny said, hugging James back. Moving away, he asked with his eyes still full of tears, “Where is Mommy? I haven't seen her anywhere”

James, still flaring with rage, exclaimed, “You mother is gone!”. “What?”, Benny said as he stared at James, utterly confused. He couldn't really comprehend what his dad was trying to say. James, didnt want to explain it to him so he merely said, “She has gone to find some work. She wants to help Daddy with money so she has gone for a job interview.”, he lied. “Oh”, replied Benny. As soon as they reached the house, Benny rushed off to his room and fell fast asleep. “Lucky him. The little boy gets to sleep”, James thought as he rang his neighbor to watch over his son. He still had to go to work and deliver food orders. “Watch him for me Susan please.”, he said to her as he rushed off once again for his job.

His phone pinged with a notification from the delivery app. The order was to be delivered at the same hotel that his wife was in. He had to deliver some coffees from the local coffee shop. “Jackpot!”, he exclaimed as he went to collect the order from the outlet. Reaching the hotel, he found out that the order was supposed to be delivered at the corporate office on the twentieth floor. So he waited for the elevator to come to the ground level. “Sir?”, came a man’s voice from behind him. He turned around and immediately recognised who that was. “John, how great to see you!”, he said. John was a former employee at his tech company. “Hello Sir. I didn’t expect to see you here”, he said. John was a huge sweet talker, who had been one of the first to quit from his company, taking away a bunch of potential clients from him.

John stared at James, and his pitiful state. “I am sorry that you have to go through this”, he said with a fake sympathetic tone. “Oh no it’s okay, life happens to everyone right?”, James said, “So, where are you working right now?“. “Oh I work with StarTech now, as their product manager.”, he said proudly. StarTech had been a small company during the era of James’s Tech company, but now, it had reached the heights of fame and success. It was with millions. “I see. Congratulations to you big guy”, James said with a quiet smile. “Thank you sir. It’s a pity that I never got to work as a manager in your company, even though I begged you for the job. I am happy to be finally recognised for my talents now”, John said sarcastically.

The backhanded statement stung John as if someone had sprayed salt on his wounds. “Well, I’m glad that they do. But I didn’t know that Star Tech had such low standards for their employees”, he said glaring at James. Just then the elevator dinged, indiating that they had arrived at the twentieth floor.