“Mr. Xiao, can you forward my revised schedule for today?” Xiao looked up from the endless sprawl of paperwork and spreadsheets glaring into his gray retinas as he looked towards his employer. 

“Of course, Mr. Addams, Would you also like the documents pertaining to the Fundraiser event that you were planning with Mrs. Addams?” Xiao asked as he had begun drafting an email forwarding his boss’ schedule. Mr. Addams nodded in agreement before moving inside his office. After that, he moved some of the papers out of the way to compile the documents pertaining to the Fundraiser event. 

He flipped through the papers and noticed the financial reports were missing from the accounting and finance departments. He glanced at the sticky note near the telephone where he wrote down all the numbers of the company’s different departments.

He pushed the numbers and cradled the telephone between his ear and shoulder. While he was being connected to the department, he started cleaning up the email inbox. He ignored the spam mails, scribbling a note to let the IT department prevent these emails from popping up.

As he was in the middle of typing a reply to someone looking to schedule a meeting when he was finally connected to Ms. Burningham, the head of the accounting and finance department. 

“Good afternoon Ms. Burningham. Chen Xiao speaking. I’m inquiring about the missing financial reports needed for the Fundraising event?”

“Ah, good afternoon Mr. Xiao. I had asked one of my staff to send it to your desk… did you not receive it?”

“Unfortunately not, I keep all files pertaining to certain events or of importance in separated safe containers. But the financial report wasn’t included in the pile.”

“I see. Forgive me, Mr. Chen, I'll have to ask my staff where the papers are.” The audio became muffled as it was set down on a surface, the only thing Chen could hear were papers flying and yelling in the background. Chen winced and said a prayer to the other employees and apologized to them inwardly.

A couple of minutes passed until Ms. Burningham picked up the phone again but this time with very distressing news. Apparently, the person who was supposed to type and send the reports had been missing for a while now. The local Chinese police said that only his suitcase was missing items that Mr. Zhou had.

Xiao sighed heavily, his fingers were already cramped from writing and typing down the entire day. He had been working overtime for the last couple of days trying to handle everything while Mr. Addams went back to America for his vacation and he couldn’t even rely on the departments to do their own jobs right?

‘Xiao calm down.’

He took a deep breath, already swallowing two pills to stave the migraine away as he talked to Ms. Burningham to sort out the situation. He stretched his arms and rolled his tense shoulders. Maybe when he finished half of his work, he’d reserve an appointment with a masseur. Specifically with that one guy whose hands were like magic, melting his stress like butter. It also helped that the guy was chiseled like a greek god. 

‘And maybe pay extra for the deluxe package. His wallet might weep but his body will thank him later.’

He dialed the shop ready to set up the massage appointment when hurried footsteps neared his desk, he plastered his customer service smile towards the new person and hoped that his eye bags weren’t visible. He didn’t have time to touch up in the bathroom but he didn’t expect anyone to come up nearing the end of most employees' shifts.

“Hello, how can I help you? Are you one of the guests that Mr. Addams was expecting?”

“Ah- no. I’m here regarding the financial report?”

‘Oh, God.’ Xiao thought this was probably going to end up being a more difficult scenario. Mr. Addams is not going to be happy.

“Ah, I’ve been looking for those, I’m assuming that they’ve been resolved?” Mr. Xiao said expectantly, judging from the employee’s crumbling demeanor and incapability to look him in the eye. Xiao had to assume the worst instead. “Unfortunately, the original documents weren’t saved in Mr. Zhou’s computer as he did most of it by hand or on his own laptop and he’s currently missing so…”

Xiao pursed his lips, smacking them, and stood up from his desk. He peeked at the mirror to straighten out tufts of grayish hair that were out of place and strode towards the elevator, uncaring if the employee was following. Xiao’s presence in the lower levels usually meant that there were problems and problems for the employees meant a drastic change that was either good or bad for them.

Still, it wasn’t like anyone was interested in getting in the way of Mr. Xiao, even for workplace gossip. Besides, the employee timidly trailing behind him would probably spill the details later in the gossip grapevine. 

Xiao stepped into the elevator, mood worsening and head slowly throbbing from the migraine. It was another problem he needed to fix but a trip to the pharmacy later was going to help with that. He probably also needed to throw away those dud pills. He held his hand to stop the elevator from closing until the employee got in. Said the employee muttering a quiet phrase of gratitude and down the elevator went.

4 floors down they reached the accounting and finance department offices. Mr. Xiao made a beeline towards Ms. Burningham’s office, however, pivoted to the left hearing the busy footsteps, and moved towards the crowded area.

“Ms. Burningham?” He called out, tired eyes scanning the crowd for the person in question. A woman clad in too much red of different shades came forward. ‘Keep unnecessary comments to yourself, Xiao. Just because she’s wearing almost every shade of Red available in the spectrum, doesn’t mean you can be rude about her...fashion style.’

“Mr. Xiao, hello, and apologies for the delay.” Ms. Burningham greeted her Mandarin heavily accented, as she did a shallow bow. He waved her apologies away, dismissing it. “It couldn’t be helped, Ms. Burningham. What happened to Mr. Zhuo is unfortunate but it is what it is.” 

“Luckily we still have our collated data on the market analysis from the local area and most of the information that is needed is scattered in the files somewhere.”

“Lucky us indeed,” Xiao said. He went closer to the scribbled writings on the whiteboard and took note of what they’d managed to retrieve in the short amount of time it took from him calling the head. “While I’m here, did you manage to sort out the problem with the marketing department in regard to the fundraiser?”

“Yes, Mr. Xiao. I had a meeting with Mr. Shui earlier before the issue we have right now.”

“Well, at least there’s some good news.”

“Indeed.”

They spent the rest of the early evening working on the financial report, Xiao staying to make sure that he could send everything to Mr. Addams by the end of the working day and for damage control. By the time they were finished what remained of the team joyfully yelled, tinged with exhaustion. Xiao had everything packed and safely sealed, ready to deliver to his boss. He couldn’t wait to eat store-bought ramen and sleep like the dead. Which for Xiao meant a 4-hour sleep and the rest spent going to work to avoid the traffic delay.

“Mr. Xiao!” A high-pitched voice called out. Xiao swiveled his head towards the voice and saw Jiao walking to him. Her raven locks curled delicately around her shoulder and bounced freely with each step she took.

“Yes?”

“A couple of co-workers and I are going out for drinks, would you like to join us?” She asked, giving a soft respectful smile. Xiao pondered on the offer for a few moments.

‘It’s not like I have anything to do back home except for eating cup ramen and watching Thai drama.’

“Sure, Ms. Jiao. I’ll have to make a short detour to get my things from my desk.”

“Ah, of course lǎo bǎn. We can wait in the lobby for you. The bar isn’t that far from here.”

Xiao shook his head, already holding his phone out toward her. “Why don’t we share phone numbers instead and I’ll catch up with you guys?” She put in her number and smiled at him as she walked towards the group. Xiao gave a quick, shallow bow towards them who returned the gesture and left to get his things.

Xiao guzzled down the last of the beer in his hands, setting the empty mug with the rest of the empty mugs from the drinks he previously drank. In his intoxication, he almost knocked down the glass mugs into the floor. He spent all his extra money on the massage appointment, he literally couldn’t afford to pay for broken glass. The group with him cheered as he drank the last of the beer mugs, winning the contest. Jiao giggled, her face flushed a vibrant pink. She shuffled closer to Xiao, her hand dangerously close to slipping into his pants.

“ 你真可爱，肖先生。” You’re so cute, Mr. Xiao.

Her words slurred reverting back to their mother tongue, Xiao tilted his head back, wincing at the bright lights, and instantly regretted his quick movement. He pushed her hand away gently. Ignoring her pout, the action was exaggerated by her inebriation.

He stood up, albeit clumsily, and unbuttoned his shirt as he stepped out of the street bar. He let out a sigh, sitting on the sidewalk, ignoring the judgemental looks from nearby pedestrians. He stared at the smog-filled sky, stars hidden by the pollution of mankind. The only source of light emanating from the high skyscrapers and the busy nightlife of an urban city. 

Perhaps when he grew old, he’d move back into his hometown. When he finally makes amends with his family. To be able to hear the sounds of nature and breathe the mountain air instead of construction work and cigarette smoke. But unfortunately, today was not that day. As soon as his inebriation became more tolerable, he decided to walk back into the bar. He stood up dusting his pants, his mind already shuddering at the thought of unimaginable filth that lay on the sidewalk, and started walking back inside, when a loud noise and bright light filled his vision. As his consciousness faded, the last thing he saw was a crowd of people and the faces of his coworkers gathered around him, their previously flushed faces were deathly pale.