Chapter 2: Welcome to the Porter Company
It was the next day, during the afternoon when Neban woke up with Theo in his arms.
When he went home, after his parents' house, last night, he told himself that he was going to the Porter Company the next day. Now, it is the next day, and he was too comfortable to get up. But, he needed to.
Plus, he had to ask his mother if she could watch Theo for a while. It would have been smarter to let his son stay at his parents' house, but he knew Theo would not have liked that.
As a hunter, he barely spent time with his son, so Theo wanted to get every minute he could, even if they mostly spent it with them sleeping.
He sat up, taking his son with him since Theo held onto his pajama shirt in a tight grip. Neban looked around his bed and then his nightstand, not remembering where he threw his phone last night. His eyes stopped on his dresser as he saw his phone resting on top of it.
He stood up, getting off his bed as he kept a hold on Theo. Grabbing his phone, he unlocked it, sending a text to his mother.
His mother replied that she was coming, and they could have spent the night if he was going to the company today. Neban blushed at that and set his phone down without replying. He felt dumb for not thinking about it.
"Papa?" His son said as he rubbed his head on his shoulder.
"Yes?"
"Hmm."
Neban waited for Theo to say something else, but the boy remained quiet after that. 'He must still be tired.' He thought as he walked out of his bedroom and to the living area. Setting his son on the couch, which took a while because Theo did not want to let go of him, he walked into the kitchen to look in the fridge for food.
He still had packaged pre-made food from his mother left.
He saw that he only had one pack left and barely any food in the fridge when he opened it. He could feed the last one to his son; Neban did not have to eat that much, anyway. He did need to go grocery shopping, especially since his son's birthday is coming up next week.
Sighing, he pulled out the pre-made food and put it in the microwave. When he pushed the button to warm it up, there was a knock at his door.
He made his way to his front door, opening it. His mother was on the other side, giving him a look that made Neban think back to when he was a child that kept skipping school on presentation days. "I apologize." He quickly said.
His mother sighed, "It is fine, but you could have thought this through. If you were going to the company today, you could have spent the night instead of us going back and forth."
"I apologize." Neban tried again. His mother's face softened like it always does with him; she could never stay mad at him. Neban wonders if this is what it is like to be a parent because he could never stay mad at Theo (although Theo is a good child).
His mother opened her mouth to say something, but the sound of the microwave going off interrupted her. She frowned when she heard it, "Are you microwaving one of my pre-made food packs?"
He nodded, causing her to pinch her nose. "There is only one left." He mentioned.
"I made those for you when you went to the dungeons so you would stop skipping meals, not use it like this. What happened to homemade food?"
"Not enough time. Theo doesn't mind it." He replied, not seeing the problem.
Rubbing her face, the mother only shook her head before asking, "Can I come in?"
Neban moved out the way, letting his mother walk into his house before shutting the door behind her. She walked into the living area, seeing Theo curled on the large couch. He looked adorable.
When Neban walked in after her, his mother took a seat on the smaller couch before talking. "It is already the afternoon, and your son is still sleeping. Maybe you should send him to daycare."
Frowning while he felt his stomach dropping at that, he shook his head, "He is fine with you."
"Son," His mother started, but he cut her off.
"I do not want to have this conversation." He walked into the kitchen to get the food. He did feel guilty for being rude to his mother, but Neban did not want to talk about sending his son to daycare.
They were okay with the way they are.
When he walked back into the room, he saw that his mother moved from her spot to sit next to Theo as she ran her hand through his hair. She turned towards him with one hand out, "I will take the food. Get ready to go to the company; I will be here."
Nodding, Neban handed her the food before walking into his bedroom to get ready.
He freshened himself up and put on a nice outfit (he wore an asymmetrical black jacket with black jeans). Then as he looked in his bathroom mirror, he wondered if he should wear a mask.
He decided not to because he was the only one known to wear a mask when it came to the hunters. So, it would be suspicious if he wore a mask to work as a porter. He still looked at himself, feeling that his face was too out in the open.
He did not mind going out with no mask, but he always wore his hoodie when he did. Neban did not hate his face, and people told him that he was handsome; he only hated the attention on him.
So, he stuck out his hand, using [Creation] to make himself a pair of glasses. When the glasses formed, he put them on his face, feeling better.
Now, onto his hair.
He had short reddish-brown hair with bangs that went a little past his eyes. Should he wear it back or keep it forward? He stared at himself, pushing his hair back. He did not like it.
'Keeping my bangs down it is.' He thought.
Once he finished, he walked out, seeing his mother and, now awake, son, who was eating the food he warmed up. When Theo saw him, he jumped off the couch and ran towards him.
Neban picked him up in the process and brought him close. Theo giggled at that. He kissed the boy on his forehead, "I will be back. I promise not to take long."
"You promise, promise?" Theo pouted, tightly gripping his shirt.
"I promise, promise."
Theo brightly smiles before loosening his grip, "Okay."
He brought Theo back to his mother, setting him down before he told her bye. Neban walked to his hanging keys that had been collecting dust in the corner. He was taking his car since he knew it would be dumb to appear at the company using [Shadow Travel]; he had to seem like an F-level.
Neban walked out of his house, unlocking his car door as he made his way into the driver's seat. He put the key in, starting the car as he sat there for a few seconds. It has been a while since he used his vehicle; Neban needed to situate himself before driving.
Once he felt comfortable, he took off, making his way to the Porter Company.
****
When he made it to the company, he parked the car while turning it off. He walked out, pocketing his keys as he closed the door.
He made his way towards the entrance of the company, pushing the door open. When he walked into the building, he did not look around because Neban did not care for decorations or how nice something looked; he only cared about how discreet the company could be.
Neban stopped at the front desk, causing the person to start their greeting. "Welcome, sir, what can I do fo-" the person stopped once they looked at him.
People told him that his aura was intimidating because his face was always in a deadpan expression, making it hard to figure out what he was thinking. Plus, even though his body was not muscular, he is 6'1. But then again, they would turn around and say he was still handsome to them.
People were weird.
"I am here to become a porter." He answered; his voice was deep.
The person blushed before clearing their throat as they turned back to the computer, typing some things down, "Take a seat, and someone will be right with you."
He nodded as he turned around, making his way to the chairs resting by a bare white wall. Weirdly enough, the white wall was the only one in the building as the rest of the walls were either glass or a light grey.
When Neban took his seat, he was ready to pull out his phone until he realized he left it on his dresser. In all honesty, he was lucky that he still had a phone; he lost them before due to not caring for them that much.
He was detached from many things; it is impressive that he got this far in society, even to the point of having a son. Sometimes, he felt like he was close to becoming a shut-in.
He sighed as he did not have anything to pass the time with; so, he stared at one of the glass walls. Neban noticed how the workers or other people in the building would stare at him. It made him wish he had a mask on because even if he could take people's stares, he hated being the center of attention.
After a few minutes of him mindlessly staring at the wall, he heard the person at the desk speak up. "Sir, a representative is ready to see you. Take the elevator to the third floor and enter room number four. Please do not go into any other area except the one I told you."
Neban stood up as he nodded at the person. He made his way to the elevator, pushing the button that went up. After a few seconds, the elevator dinged, opening up. He walked in, relieved that no one was in there.
He looked at the panel that had the numbers on them, pushing number three as the door started to close right after. There was no elevator music, which he enjoyed because SilverSoul had that, and it was torture.
The elevator was pretty fast as it felt like he was in there for only a second when the thing stopped, and the doors opened to the third floor. Neban walked out, looking for the door that said number four. When he found a black oak door with a vast gold number on it that said '4,' he knocked on it.
"Come in!" A deep voice, on the other side, shouted.
Neban opened the door, walking into the room as he closed it behind him. When he glanced forward, he saw a man who looked to be his mid-forties. The man had a short beard with short black hair that he smoothed back. He wore a navy blue suit with a white button-up shirt underneath; it looked pressed and tidy, with zero flaws.
The man had the air of someone strict and organized as his face was stern while his desk was tidy with everything in place. "Take a seat, please." The man said as Neban did not move from the door since he was taking in the man's appearance.
Neban made his way to the chair in front of the desk and sat down. Once he was seated, the man started speaking again. "My name is Xan Fordo; I will be the person to help you this evening. And hopefully your sponsor/representative in the later future. You are here to be a porter, correct?"
Neban nodded, not giving a word response, which he should have because Mr. Fordo looked like the type that only took verbal responses. But, luckily, the man did not say anything about it.
Mr. Fordo looked him up and down before narrowing his eyes, "Sir, you do know that only F-levels are allowed to be porters?"
Once Neban heard those words, he started to sweat, but it did not show on his face; he looked calm on the surface. 'Does he have [Absolute Sense]?' He thought.