To be titled ~ Part 1

Douglas looked up from his bed. He could see a vague shape etched on the ceiling - water seepage. "Damn! That's some paint money well spent." he cursed under his breath. It was a Wednesday and there was no sign of a clear sky. It had been raining for a week now in Tokyo.

Douglas had recently been shifted to the regional branch in Tokyo to clear up the bad air which had developed between the employees and management at Hendua Corporation. His entry into the conflict had been less of help, more of damage as his reasoning didn't make any sense to both parties. Partly because of his weakness in Japanese and partly because of their weakness in English. Nevertheless it had been a trying week for Douglas and he was anxious to fly out of Tokyo as early as possible.

Lazily, he got up to get ahead with the days activities. The dimly lit, badly upholstered studio apartment wasn't for an executive like him; but then again the company had been downsizing majorly; maybe I ought to be happy I got to stay and keep my job. 

The perks were few, the pay was average and the job hectic - A graying PR executive for a company on the brink of extinction. 

He chugged on his coffee, scalding his tongue as he rushed into the drizzle ridden street hoping to God that he'd find a taxi soon. He didn't want to end up in office all wet. The co-workers somehow found it very amusing. He always wondered how they got into office as dry as a bone.

Luckily, God seemed to listen to his prayer that day as a cab rushed to his rescue, landing him in front of his office in 15 minutes flat. He entered his modest office space, crossing his secretary: a Mrs Hitomi; settled on his chair looking around for any pending paperwork.

His secretary entered, "Sir, Mr Hitoshi was looking for you."

"Tell him I'll be with him in ten minutes."

She exited.

He sighed.

"Now, what in God's name does that guy want with me? I've caused him quite many an upsets and yet he comes back to me like a dog to a bone."

His eyes darted to a picture of his family. It always seemed to calm his down.

His wife Evelyn and his son James. They'd been separated on grounds of infidelity. It was a drunken night of confusion for Douglas. He'd just received his promotion and went out with his subordinates for what they'd called a drink or two. However the plan went for a toss and somehow, even to this day, he couldn't recall how he ended up in bed with his neighbour: Hilary.

Hungover as hell, he'd fumbled into his clothes without waking her up and extracted within himself a clean breasted confession of the incident to his wife, hoping for forgiveness; but as luck would have it, the confession ended up with him losing his wife and losing custody of his son too.

"Atleast they're in a better place." He sighed yet again, "With the alimony I'm paying." He sniggered at his own fate.

"Okay. Mr Hitoshi. Let's see what you got." said he, as he clambered out of his chair.

To be continued.