L A T E N I G H T S E C R E T A R Y

13 - Patience is Key

Tyler is back at Erde with his colleagues who are celebrating his extended term. Tyler had the usual gel in his hair, eggshell colored shirt, brown striped tie, black slacks, comfortable work shoes, and his glasses of course.

"Tyler's term here has been extended to one year!" Somebody proclaimed and soon everyone began to huddle around Tyler and cheered as if it were the Fourth of July without the fireworks and patriotism.

"Everybody, I'm looking forward to working with you again!" Tyler said cheerily, but his eyes showed otherwise, luckily no one noticed with all the commotion going on.

"Truth is we had no idea if we'd make it without you!" A woman said.

"It's really reassuring to have you here again! Welcome back!" Another man said.

Tyler just smiled a polite smile and after everyone was ordered back to their posts everything became normal again in the work space. While he was getting some documents ready his thoughts wandered over to how this day was supposed to be the day he was back at Polverini Corp. Before he could delve anymore he stopped himself and remembered his promise to be patient and to wait for Jared. 'I know I have to be patient... But! It's already been an entire week since I last saw Jared! I practically begged him to just contact me at least for work! What the hell is his problem!? His intentions may have been for my health, but does he even think about the possibility of me being worried over him!?' After his silent tirade Tyler was thinking of calling Jared, but was interrupted when he heard a familiar voice call for him.

"Tyler." Tom said dressed in a plain dark blue colored shirt, aquamarine tie, black pants, coiffed hair, and glasses that were also similar to Tyler's.

Tyler turned around at the sound of his name and was surprised to see Tom right behind him.

"President Welling!" He said and stood up.

"How's you're health?"

"Fine, thank you. I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble."

"Guess, we were relying too much on your hard work."

"Something like that is-"

"There's no need for you to work alone. We're all doing our jobs here." Tom said with a smile and walked off.

"Yes, sir..." Tyler replied. 'I think I understand why all the employees adore him. He's reliable, considerate, and a good leader... He's the perfect boss.' After that thought came through suddenly he had a flashback of Jared and how instead of going to his meeting skipped it to have his meal. ' ...So why on earth do I have a boss like that...? He's always putting on airs and such...... Even if I know that's his way of showing concern...' He remembered when Jared helped him out and a blush colored his cheeks. 'I miss you.'

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Back home Tyler took out his laptop to check over Jared's schedule. "The schedule... it's completely blank..." He was beginning to panic and calmed himself enough to try the other sources on the computer and began to furiously type and click. When that didn't work he tried calling Jared's phone and was answered with, "The number you are trying to dial is not available or it may be out of range-". He clicked it shut before it finished and tried again, but was answered with the same monotone message. 'There has to be some kind of mistake...'

The next day back at Erde Tyler still hadn't given up on checking on Jared so he was still on the computer typing at a furious pace. He was dressed in a dark black long sleeve with matching black pants, but his hair and glasses were still as neat as ever. 'Did he delete his schedule by mistake? And his phone... maybe it just died on him...' He thought worriedly and was pulled out of his musings when he heard some talking down the hall. Walking over there he spotted Tom surrounded with his employees in some kind of heated discussion.

Tom was dressed in a gray tailored suit with a red tie, breaking his usually blue attire. Tyler being the polite and thoughtful employee that he was walked over to Tom and greeted him. "President, welcome back!"

"Thank you."

Looking around and seeing people muttering something that seemed very important queried, "Is something going on?" He asked and turned back his attention to Tom.

"The President's going to be a board member of Polverini Corp.!" A young man, whom he knew, named Hector spoke up.

Tom looked over at Hector and raised his eyebrow sporting a look of disbelief on his face. "That's not certain yet. Besides Director Polverini just resigned, which left an open spot on the board. That's all."

'What!?..... What the hell are you doing Jared!!?!' The realization struck Tyler like a brick, his eyes were wide open and everything around him was blocked away from his senses with what Tom said being the only thing that registered. "Ehm.... Director Polverini is...?" Tyler asked after regaining himself hoping he heard wrong.

"Yeah. You didn't know? A few days ago his resignation was accepted. It was very sudden, but seeing that his work was in order they let him go." Tom answered honestly not realizing what he was saying was affecting his secretary greatly.

'Jared... left Polverini Corp.? He.... left?...' Tyler was deep in his thoughts and didn't seem to say anything after what Tom said.

Tom waiting for a reply or anything from the other man and started to worry. When he looked closely waiting for any reaction from Tyler, he just realized that the smaller man was beginning to look pale. "Tyler? You alright? You look kinda pale..."

Tyler coming to reality once more just caught what Tom was saying but answered slowly. ".... Umm... Yes, I'm alright... just surprised... I guess... Anyway, Congratulations! I'm sure that when you join the board I'll have a lot more work to do."

Tom seeing right through the act said, "Don't push yourself. The director was your former superior, and you're worried about him, aren't you?"

'Jared....'

"No, I'm fine..." Tyler replied commending himself for not letting his voice shake and glad that no one noticed his hands shaking. 'Fine? Come on Tyler you know better than anybody that your far from that.... I can't believe Jared left...' Tyler walked back to his cubicle and gingerly sat himself down on his chair. He felt that everything in his life just magnificently crashed down like a large stack of house cards. Since then, Tyler has been calling the company and looking for any other kind of way for him to track Jared. Finally, he tried a dire attempt he was hoping he didn't really need to do because if he did it would be betraying his promise to Jared. Finding, the right house he knocked on the door and no one answered, but instead it opened to the entrance that was very much ingrained in his memory.

His heart began to beat wildly in his chest, and he practically ran to Jared's living room. The sight that met him stopped him in his tracks. Tyler's legs felt weak and he unceremoniously slumped down to the floor on his knees. The room was completely empty, no furniture, not even a speck of dust as if everything was erased. Even the usual sent of Jared's cologne and smoke was gone. "You didn't even leave any... of your belongings? Everything's gone... Everything............. Believe in me and wait... Why the hell should I!? You son of a b***h! Even if everything disappeared!? Even if you disappeared! Now there's nothing left to tie us together... There's nothing left..." Tyler said every word to no one in particular. Every time he said something his spirit just seemed to become even more crushed. Spotting his phone, in one last useless attempt at connecting back to Jared he called the same number and was again met with the answering machine's voice. His stubborn mind not willing to give up called Cliff, Jared's driver, and was graciously answered. "Cliff? It's me Tyler... I was wondering if you know anything about what's going on with Jared?"

"I'm sorry. I wish I knew anything, but I'm as clueless as you. I've got no idea as to where Mr. Jared is. All he told me was to wait and stand by for his instructions." Cliff replied looking at a tall shadow in the rear view mirror.

"I understand... Then if he contacts you, could you please tell him I tried to reach him?" Tyler asked hopefully and disconnected.

Cliff turned his head only a little but enough to indicate he was trying to communicate with his boss in the back seat with his eyes still on the road in front of him. "Are you alright with this?"

"Yes, it's fine." Jared replied with a smoke in hand. He looked out the car window and images of Tyler suddenly appeared where his reflection used to be.

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The next day, Tyler was at Jared's old office and saw that everything was covered in sheets showing even more proof of Jared's leaving. 'When I knew Jared was still here... I could still hope that everything would get fixed, and that I'd be by his side once again, but now.... Even if the two weeks pass. I won't get any news from him...' As those thoughts ran through his mind, he was just exiting the room and closing the door, when Tom spotted him.

"Tyler." Tom announced as he walked over to Tyler.

"Is the meeting already over? Excuse me, President."

"No, no it's alright." Tom replied and looked over to where Tyler was. "After all, you adored Director Polverini..."

"Eh? No.... I admired the Director as an employer, that was all." Tyler insisted, but the reply fell short when his cheeks were tainted with a deep red blush.

"Such a banal and hackneyed answer. But anyway. More importantly, I hope you cleared your schedule for tonight?" Tom questioned with a knowing smile.

"Yes...." Tyler replied a bit worried and curious as to what was happening tonight. Although, he already had an idea as to what it was.

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"Welcome to Erde!!" Everyone cheered as they clinked their glasses together. It was a belated welcoming party for Tyler and everyone showed up. Even Tyler, if reluctantly.

"The welcoming party is really taking off! But I feel as though we should be apologizing for the party?" Hector asked a silently sipping Tyler.

Tyler was dressed in the same clothes he wore in the morning except for the jacket. He had on a black long sleeved, v-neck that accentuated his physique perfectly. "Ah, please, I should be the one to apologize for causing so much trouble. Even though I've been in Erde for four months already...."

"But Tyler, when you first came here everyone was just so busy and occupied that we never really got a chance to really welcome you!" Hector replied enthusiastically a bright smile on his face.

'Actually, back then I wasn't really in the mood for a party...' Tyler thought wistfully, and was brought out of his reverie by another co-worker named Claire, who he knew had a slight crush on him until he told her of his preferences, and instead became close friends.

Claire had blond hair and brown eyes. She was a petite woman who if Jared ever met would probably think about having her for dinner, but because of the non-existing political pedigree would simply brush off.

"We're sorry we dragged you here from the main offices, where you worked so hard, Tyler. But we're really happy you're here!" She replied with a cheerful smile and every other person there had a similar expression on their faces as well. All directed to Tyler, of course. "For the last four months we felt like we were only helping you while you did all the work!"

Another man named Caleb cut in as well. He had short dark brown hair and was tan skinned that clearly showed his Latino blood. "But this time we're gonna show you that we can work just as hard now that we're officially working with you." He continued sharing a knowing smile with Claire.

"I'm so happy that now we can finally say our Tyler." Maura a dark skinned woman said, Tyler had given some documents to her when he tried to lose his job.

To that statement Tyler blushed a soft pink and looked down.

"And I'm also glad that now you say our company." Tom included causing Tyler to blush an even deeper color. "It feels like we're all in equal positions now."

'President... Everyone... That's right....' Tyler thought happily. "Thank you very much!" He replied honestly.

'Until now I was just thinking that I was working at Erde... I never really thought of myself as being part of them... All my attention was on how much faster I can get back to Polverini Corp. and being with Jared.'

"I hope you're going to make the secretarial office work as smoothly and flawlessly like it does now." Tom stated and shared a knowing smile with Tyler.

"Yes, sir. Together, with Everyone." Tyler smiled back.

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The day after the party everything went back to normal, but this time Tyler had a bit of a different mind set. 'The floor is still as solid as it ever was beneath my feet. I'll do my best for this place, until Jared comes for me. Because he told me to have patience...If he says wait then it damn well means wait. I'll wait for him even for an eternity!' Tyler thought fiercely with clear determination on his face.

'That's my Sweey Boy.'