Boys of Ice and Fire

The Secret Supper

Putting his phone in his pocket and standing up to stretch, Ethan craned his neck to sneak a peek, out of the corner of his eyes, at Ethan’s seat. He’s not there! This saves me so much trouble.

It is not clearly stated in the brochure or other files whether they can have supper during work, so Ethan’s heart was doing a kind of drum-roll when he started to walk from his seat to the lift. Though he pretended to be walking casually with his feet shuffling lazily on the floor, he felt like he was carrying a bomb in his hand, afraid that Shaun would, any minute, jump out from around a certain corner, with stretching claws and blood-dripping fangs, telling him that eating supper at work time was off-the-limits.

So Ethan heaved a sigh of relief when he walked out of the boundary of the work space for the Interactive Content Group. Along the aisle, Ethan scampered happily towards the part of building where the lift was located, but just as he was nearing the opening of the one-end aisle where his sleeping sofas were located, he heard a familiar voice.

He wanted to double back to his own seat, but he was too late. Shaun, who was sitting on the sofa having a meeting with some strangers, had already taken notice of Ethan. One leg folded under the other, Shaun raised his head and looked at Ethan, blank and baffled. Ethan, to give the impression he was doing nothing wrong, clenched his teeth to calm himself, kept his steps forward without taking the time to look directly at Shaun, walked past Shaun as if he was only a streetlamp.

Ethan was grateful the opening of the aisle was a narrow one. He was soon out of Shaun’s seeing range. Now he picked up speed, passing another work space, reached the lift hall, swiped his work card inside the lift, and met up with Zoe in the buffet shop.

“He is practically like a vulture,” panted Ethan, still scared by Shaun’s stare. “Does he have to look at me like that?”

Zoe was already half-way through his supper when Ethan sat down beside her, putting down a combination of foods set on a tray he had just taken from the counter.

“Ouch!” Ethan stood up straight as if electrified. “Can’t sit to eat today.”

“What is wrong, Teacher Lo?” Zoe was curious how someone had to stand to eat.

“Nothing, it’s just my medical condition. LDH. Have to take every chance to keep the body straight. Otherwise my leg gets numb and painful.”

Then Ethan continued his speech about how one should sit in the chair as little as possible so as to preserve good health. Zoe didn’t seem interested, given she was seven years younger than Ethan and had no such concerns, but she heard Ethan out, out of politeness.

“Does Shaun know I’m here eating?” This was what Zoe cared about the most for the moment.

“How does that concern him!?” Ethan still sounded outraged. “We are not a sweatshop! Does he want every one of us to starve to death working for him?”

“Well...” Zoe could not find a reason to retort. “I mean... it’s WORK...”

“Let me tell you what WORK is,” Ethan started his typical plausibly weird argument again. “If we don’t eat on time, we’ll get gastric ulcers. If our stomach breaks down, there is no way we can function properly at work. Now you tell me who is more committed to his work? A colleague who pays special attention to his eating habits, or someone who does not?”

“You have a point...” Zoe was speechless at Ethan’s eloquence.

“What the... “ Ethan looked electrified again. “God, the buffet here in this food court tastes so great!”

Zoe giggles.

“Now you know why I sneaked down to take a bite on the risk of being executed by Shaun Cheung.”

“So that’s how you label our leader?”

“Yah!” Zoe confirmed emphatically while munching on some chopped pork.

Ethan was a bit surprised. Given Shaun’s young age, Ethan always thought he was the flexible, new-generation sort of leader, bending rules and making his employees happy all the time. But Zoe’s reaction said quite the opposite.

As if she could Ethan’s mind, Zoe continued her long pent-up tirade against Shaun.

“Let me be clear.” Zoe put down her chopsticks, stopped eating, and focused all her energies on what she was about to say. “Shaun Cheung is a very strict, serious person. We have to keep this in mind, if we ever want to survive in this group.”

“Rule Learned,” said Ethan matter-of-factly. “Shaun is a strict person and we have to be careful.” But his tone was quite the opposite, as if Shaun was his father or brother, and would never punish him for even the most outrageous misdoing. But Zoe was oblivious of this undertone. She had no idea of the wildly unrealistic hallucinations Ethan had about Shaun.

“And I’m done! I’ll get back now! Bye-bye!”

Before Zoe knew it, Ethan had already finished his food on the tray. With a wave, Ethan turned and slunk back up to the third floor, where he hoped Shaun would not catch him sneaking around at work again.

“Bye-bye. You don’t have to wait for me. I eat as slowly as a wombat.” Zoe stared after Ethan with widened eyes, still nibbling on her food, not even half-finished.