The Mundane Journal Entries of an Ordinary Person

Season: Autumn

Weather: Hot

Day of the week: Thursday

Date: 21st March, 2024

Continuation of yesterday's events.

Inside, one greasy looking skinny man who used far too much hair wax looked languidly up from the cup of rusty coloured alcohol in the glass in his hands while his feet were up on the table. Beside him, a more respectable but very white skinned and flabby, chubby man with glasses sat in a more appropriate sitting position.

The assistant beside me took a very sharp and shallow, shaky breath, before repeating our greetings. I gave another little bow. The two men behind the table sat silently, looking the two of us up and down, not minding the stale silence following our greetings. As if it was their perogative to be rude.

"Haven't seen the two of you before. Got the short end of the stick?" the thin man with his feet on the table laughed after acknowledging our greetings with a nod but without replying so that I still didn't know what their names were. He was the one with the smoker's rasp. "I guess your colleagues who have met us will have told you what to expect. At least they sent us some dogs who are reasonable looking this time. Not as ugly as the last lot."

"Jane will be taking the notes during our meeting," the assistant said after a short pause, not wanting to reply to the other man's provocation. He gave me a sharp nod to sit down and helped me log into the laptop.

He and I shared a look and I tried to give him an encouraging smile. He patted my shoulder.

"Have you two gentlemen already ordered? Tonight's dinner is on us. Please feel free to order whatever you would like."

"Mm, I've ordered," said the pudgy and pasty man with glasses, crossing his legs. "Some menthol rub, lit candles and some hydraulic lubricant. Perfect for tonight's appetiser."

"I ordered us all some drinks," said the overly waxed thin man. There was a knock on the door. "Ah. Here they are."

A line of waiters brought in trays of already filled shot glasses, glasses of rainbow coloured cocktails, finger foods and the things that the pudgy man had requested. The waiters had blank expressions on their faces as if they were used to this kind of thing. Only one young waitress swept a sympathetic glance over me and my partner who had already turned pale and was shaking, but she followed the other wait staff out without daring to say a word.

The shaking assistant, my partner in panic, attempted to ignore the other party's flagrantly disrespectful behaviour and make some small talk, only to be silenced with a snort and the clicking of a tongue.

"Look, it's your corporation who is desperate to work with our syndicate, ok? Not the other way around. We can sign or not sign the contract and it won't make much of a difference to us," the chubby white man rolled his eyes, pushing his glasses back up his short, flat nose. "If you want us to sign, of course, you have to show us your sincerity."

"Sincerity," quavered my partner, gritting his teeth and doing his best to stand his ground - or rather in this case, sit his ground, when he looked like he wanted to bolt out the door, "requires both parties to meet seriously with mutual respect to work toward a common goal."

"You think we aren't being serious?" the thin man took his feet off the table and finally sat upright. He moved in a very slow and controlled way that screamed danger.

"And we are working toward a common goal," smiled the pudgy man in a disgusting manner, "the pursuit of the heights of fun and excitement." He looked between my partner and myself and then at his partner. "What do you think? Which one shall we try first?"

"The girl looks busy. Let her be for the time being. Let's take the one that's free," said the skinny man, putting down his glass and standing up. "Young man, why don't you join us for a drink and show us how serious your sincerity is?"

"Thank you, but..."

"Bruiser," interrupted the ugly fat man with his glasses and rolls of fat so thick that it causes his clothes to roll with him, "why don't you keep the young lady company? Let her sit more comfortably and make yourself comfortable while you're at it?"

The short door guard with the perpetual sneer strode over to where I was typing a record of every word and movement happening in the room. I don't know how he did it, but in one smooth movement, he had lifted me up to slide onto the seat beneath me, and placed me back onto his lap with a dangerous hand sliding up my thigh.

Just that one action already told me how strong the short door guard was and that I was in no way going to be able to fight. My attempts to get off his lap resulted in his arms wrapping around me like steel bars.

I couldn't scream. Couldn't move. I was that terrified.

"Why don't you keep typing?" the short man on whose lap I was sitting suggested in a low voice in my ear. It seemed he was bending down to speak to me, but how could that be if he was short? "If you and your partner don't irritate the chiefs, nothing will happen to you."

Turning my stiff neck, I realised that it was the short man's legs that were short. Not his torso. His torso was the size of a normal man and was even taller than mine.

I looked toward the assistant, my partner in this, only to see that he had already been pinned down by the other two men. The fat man had already opened the jar of mentholated ointment and had taken a finger scoop of it. I saw flailing limbs while both men held the crying and screaming assistant down. They weren't kind. They jabbed him in the abdomen to wind him and slapped him up the side of the head to daze him and make him stop shouting.

I think I might have been crying and shouting too, but burly arms like steel bars held me in place.

The assistant's eyes were rolling with fear.

"Keep fighting and make a fuss and your colleague will be punished for it."

With a whimper, he quietened down, but didn't stop fighting. Yet he didn't dare to resist too hard, because every time he did, the two men holding him down would make a sign to the short man on whose lap I was trapped on. The man would then slide his hands up my body, threatening to take the borrowed dress off me. He demanded that I keep typing while he teased and threatened me.

If I resisted and dared to fight back with tooth and claw, then the short man would grunt and the two men would make the assistant squeal with pain. Then I would freeze.

"What a good girl," murmured hot breath in my ears while I typed as if my life depended on it, because it kind of did.

Whenever the assistant saw me being threatened, he would surrender a little and grit his teeth. Our eyes remained locked, as if trying to give the other reassurance from across the room.

I had never been in a situation like this before and my mind was almost completely blank. As blank as a white sheet. My fingers could only keep typing what was being said and done in the room automatically. I don't even know how I did it.

The man beneath me seemed to be getting more and more excited. His hands crept where I didn't want his filthy hands to touch. His lips nibbled at my ears, lipped at my neck and kissed what parts of my face he could reach. He stroked himself down there, creating a tent in his trousers, and then after a quick glimpse at what he was doing, I began to type more errors into the records while he teased me further. More threateningly. Until I couldn't stand it anymore.

With a wail and sob, I kind of lost my head for a moment, not even hearing or seeing what was happening across the room. Until the assistant screamed with a sound that broke through my panic.

I swiped at the short tattooed man once more. It's not like I didn't stop fighting him. The assistant didn't stop either, but the assistant over there was getting it worse than me the more I struggled. They were playing with him hard, while he cried snot and mucous everywhere. I had snot and mucous all over my face too. I could hardly see what I was typing and was at risk of suffocating on my snot.

The short tattooed man licked my rolling tears with a smile.

The door opened with confidence, making everyone in the room freeze for a moment and a dark man with deep sunken eyes strode in, closing the door behind him. He would have been more handsome if his eyes weren't quite so deeply set under the shadow of his brows, such that he looked like he either had eye makeup on or had insomnia.

"Boss," all three men chorused while he took in what was happening in the room.

"Let the rabbits go. Their boss is almost here," the dark shadow man said in a mild tone. "I want to sign this contract with him and won't get the benefits I want if he isn't happy."

At that, the short little man did something to me. It felt like he had impaled me, making me cry out with pain at the dry, unwelcome intrusion. He paused and then began to continue jabbing.

I couldn't type anymore at that. I screamed and blindly fought him in order to break free while I heard a commotion on the other side of the room. My only thought now was to escape. Get away. Stop this pain, humiliation and torture.

"Stop," growled the dark shadow man, punching my captor in the jaw. "What are you doing? Trying to ruin my business?"

The short man looked back with a defiant glare.

"Your first time, little girl?" the tall dark man picked me up from the short man's lap and helped me tug my clothes back in place, but not without a jolting pat to my insulted area. "Don't be scared. Nothing's going to happen now. Hush. Here. Have a drink. It'll help you calm down."

He sat me on his lap and while I sobbed, he forced a drink down my throat that I choked on. The alcohol spilled down my chest and dress. The bit of alcohol that made it down my throat burned on its way down and burned in my stomach.

He sat down at the table with me on his lap. When I struggled, he let me go and passed me a handful of tissues instead. After blowing my nose and wiping my face, I reached for the laptop. After a moment's hesitation, he chuckled, bringing it back toward me so that I could keep typing. The room fell silent while he watched what I was typing.

"Stop. Let me have a look," he told me, taking over the laptop and scrolling back up to the beginning of the screen to read, pulling me back onto his lap. As he read, he chuckled, stroking my head and keeping me pinned between his arms. After a long moment, he sighed and turned my head to look at him. "Little girl, if you keep moving and shaking like this, you're not going to like what happens next. If you stir me up, you are going to have to take responsibility for what you started."

I turned into a frozen statue at that. Even I who could seldom read between the lines could understand that threat.

When he had finished reading, he sat me back down on the seat by myself.

"Continue," he told me, stroking my head. "I can see why you were brought here today now. Just do your work. Nobody will tease or trouble you anymore. As for you two," he glared at his two representatives, "get out. Go back and receive your punishment for ruining this good deal for me. You'll be fined six months salary as compensation for scaring our business associates. You," his death ray glare pinned the short door guard into a moment of petrification, "go and get waiters to come and clean this mess up. You are going to be fined a year's salary as compensation for touching and scaring the little girl."

"Sir," grunted the short man, obviously unhappy. He gave a snort and a rude finger, and then left the room.

The dark shadow man watched the assistant clean and neaten up his appearance while he neatened up my hair, ignoring how I flinched for his touch. He made me stand up to straighten my dress and used a handful of serviettes to dry off the alcohol stain.

"I'll compensate you for the dress," he told me.

"It's borrowed," the assistant told him in a shaky voice. "Company property."

"I'll compensate the company then," the dark shadow man shrugged nonchalantly. "Show me the contract and give me the spiel you've prepared."

The assistant coughed, wiped his face and took a few breaths before he started speaking.

By the time he finished talking, the waiters had removed all the previous trays of things, replacing them with proper food that the dark shadow man ate slowly while he finished reading.

"Whoever came up with this plan did a good job," the dark shadow man nodded with a small smile. "Your team has worked hard."

"Thank you."

Although taken back, the assistant wiped his face and eyes again, not forgetting to give thanks where thanks were due. He was amazing to be able to keep his presence of mind despite what had just happened.

"You probably could have run and left her behind earlier, but you didn't," the dark shadow man said to him. "Your other colleagues have not been so commendable. She too, could have run away and left you behind, but she didn't."

"Sir, she wouldn't have been able to run," interrupted the short door guard with a grunt. "I had the girl before she could think of making a move. If he had run, she would already have been ruined by now."

"But for her, he stayed. Like I said. Many of his other colleagues have not been able so loyal when their own safety is concerned," the dark shadow man shrugged. "Their loyalty to each other and their work is to be commended. This shows that the company did not choose wrongly and I was not wrong. It makes me happier to make the concessions I would otherwise be reluctant to give up."

There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," called the dark shadow man, in between chews. It looked like he hadn't eaten a meal the whole day. "Have you eaten?" he asked the people entering the room.

"Yes. Thank you. Sorry for troubling you."

There were greetings and handshakes when THE biggest boss of all entered the room with his special personal assistant. They sniffed, frowned and upon seeing me and the assistant with our tear stained, aggrieved faces, their frowns deepened even more.

"Before you say anything else," the dark shadow lord said, "or start making any accusations, go have a look at what your little recorder has written down there and see how I rescued your little white rabbits from the big bad wolves. Then if you're hungry, sit down and eat. I ordered enough for all of us. Both your employees have been harmed. This is my fault. Although I can't take my men to the police and give them justice that way, I will most certainly ensure those people are harshly punished and give both you and your people compensation for the wrongs they have suffered. I am even willing to concede the benefits you wanted and halve the costs on your part, taking a loss, but..."

The dark shadow lord didn't finish his sentence and continued eating while THE biggest boss of all and his special personal assistant took the laptop to read.

"Here, little girl. Eat something," the dark shadow lord put a plate of food and chopsticks in front of me.

I had no appetite. I had a burning stomachache and just wanted to get out of the stuffy room. My eyes were blurry and I felt dizzy.

Most people my age would have tried some sort of alcohol before and known roughly what their alcohol tolerance might be like. I had never tried and so didn't know that I was a lightweight until now. Or maybe because it had been fed hard liquor on an empty stomach.

THE biggest boss of all knelt besides my chair and gently turned my face toward him after he had finished reading.

"Jane. I'm sorry. I don't know why or how you ended up here, but I'm really, truly sorry. To both you and to Deaglan. I'm so very sorry I didn't come on time."

The special assistant was patting the crying assistant who had been my partner, while Deaglan hugged him and bawled into his chest, looking like a little brother who had finally seen his big brother after being bullied. At the same time, THE biggest boss of all held out his arms with a querying cock of his head to silently ask if I needed a hug too. I nodded and he enveloped me in his arms while I sobbed into his chest.

After a long time, THE biggest boss of all looked up at the dark shadow lord with cold eyes.

"But?" he prompted the dark shadow lord to finished the sentence he hadn't completed earlier.

"I want them. Both of them," the dark shadow lord gestures at me and the assistant who had been my partner and we hugged the people hugging us even harder. With a sort of desperate plea for help. "Especially the little recorder girl. Such loyalty is rare. I'll look after them well."

"No," said THE biggest boss of all after a short and very cold silence. "They are my employees. Not objects or toys to be bartered, sold or played with. Their loyalty is also to me and our company. I'll let them go if they want to go, but I don't think they will want to. Not after seeing what your people are like. If you refuse to give up the perpetrators who insulted them today, then there's nothing I can do to you, given your power. I can only wrong them by keeping silent about this matter and try to compensate them in other ways."

"I'll lend you Bruiser," the dark shadow lord offered, not at all phased by the refusal and rejection. "I know you've been wanting to borrow him for a while to train your men."

"Still no."

"Is there anything I can do to make you change your mind?"

"No. My employees are not for sale, exchange or barter."

"You're such an old stick in the mud," muttered the dark shadow lord, glowering at the short tattooed man as if this was all his fault. "Fine. What are your terms?"

I was getting more and more dizzy. My stomach was burning something awful. I couldn't keep my head up anymore.

The special assistant took the laptop to amend the contract. The only thing I could do was close my eyes and concentrate on breathing. Every now and then, someone would wipe the tears from my face, while they allowed me to lean against them and patted my shoulder. I was given water to sip and hiccupped.

"What's wrong with her?" asked a voice from a seemingly great distance.

"She's probably not feeling well. She was very ill just a month or two ago, going in and out of hospital. Today's fright and shock may be too much for her. Add to that, it smells like someone made her drink alcohol. She has a very sensitive stomach after years of being starved. The alcohol may be wreaking havoc with her body systems. I should take her to the hospital."

"No need. My doctor has a clinic just around the corner. He has everything and can do everything that might be needed there. There will be no questions asked either. Your man there could probably do with a check up as well. He's not looking well either."

"Jane, can you walk?"

I couldn't walk, let alone see straight.

Everything that happened after is a big heaping muddle.

All I know is that I woke up in a strange place, found my way out of that gigantic maze and came home. I can't sleep. I'm so tired. So sleepy. Feel so sick, but I can't sleep. Everytime I fall asleep, I'm trapped back in that room with that short tattooed man's hands on my body and him threatening to hurt me, waking me with a strangled scream.

I was so numb during the time it happened, but now, it's crashing over me in bigger and bigger waves, dashing me against a rocky shore, trying to break me to pieces.