The door of the hospital room busted open, revealing a pissed-off young man who seems to be in his mid-twenties. His angry glare was fixed on the man that was lying on the hospital bed in the patient’s gown. Surrounded by either side by two elderly man and a woman.
“How many times does this make it Zach!” said he as the door slid shut behind him. The golden rays that were falling on him through the window of the VIP suite, made his ash-brown hair glitter under its effect.
“Please help me beat some sense into this senseless boy, Leonard!” said the woman. The look of worry was spread all over her face as she threw side glances at her son, Zachary Mortenson – the man in the patient’s gown.
“Oh, you just say the word Mrs. Mortenson, and I’ll make sure to give him a good beating!” Leonard said, throwing a punch in the air at his best friend and business partner who was in the hospital for the 3rd time in one month.
“Alright, can you stop? You’re making my headache worse.” Zachary sighed as he ran a hand through his raven-black hair, pushing it out of his face. “It’s not that I ask to be here.”
“Well, your actions are showing us otherwise, Zach!” the older man said, Mr. Joseph Mortenson, Zachary’s father. “How many times do I’ve to tell you that taking care of everything on your own is only going to make your condition worse.”
Zachary sighed. He hated being lectured over and over about the same thing from those three, he has already gotten a handful of these lectures and scolding's. It wasn’t that he was ignorant of his own condition either, but…this is just how things are when you are considered the youngest CEO in Manhattan.
“There is nothing to be done now,” his mother sighed as she scanned her son from head to toe, taking in his not-so-sick look. “How are you taking care of this hot body that I gave you?!” she scoffed in disbelief.
*I don’t believe this* Zachary thought as he allowed his head to fall back and rest on the headboard that was lined with pillows. “Leo, can you be so kind as to see my parents home? It’s getting late.” He faked a sick smile.
“Forget it,” Mr. Joseph said waving his hand at his stubborn son. “We know the way, let’s go.” He grabbed his wife by the arm and led her out of the room in fury. Just seconds before they left Zachary’s mother mouthed to Leonard to take care of her son, he smiled warmly and walked her to the door.
“Hey! Can you at least pretend that you care!?” Leonard snapped at his old friend, grabbing a chair and sitting in reverse resting his chin on the chair’s back.
“I do care it’s just that this has gotten out of hand Leo,” Zachary stated. “And didn’t I tell you not to tell my parents! It’s just mal-nutrition and stress from work. They always make a big deal out of it.” His voice was deep and serious, though no emotion reached his cold stormy-colored eyes.
“Zach, it’s not normal that you go to the hospital every time you get stressed. This is the 3rd time in this month alone!” Leonard protested using his hand to support his point.
“I’ll find a way out of this,” Zachary said, though he wasn’t sure if this was only to silence his best friend or to seriously find a solution. He was getting sick of that nauseating feeling and himself hugging the floor every now and then…it wasn’t a sight to see.
“Though seriously,” Leonard said, getting all serious himself. “It has nothing to do with your – you know headaches?” he pointed to his head with his index finger. He knew how Zachary was suffering from continuous headaches that don’t seem to have a reason. Even Migraine at times.
Zachary sighed, turning his head to look outside the curtain wall that was on his right. Seeing the night sky come to life has always been one of his favorite scenes, though this time he wasn’t able to enjoy it as much. “No,” said he. “It’s the same as always. With the new game launching soon, I guess it got on my nerve.”
“This is the life of the owner of the biggest software company in Manhattan, eh?” Leonard chuckled, following his friend's gaze.
“Though seriously this time listen to me and get yourself a manager or a secretary, okay?” continued Leonard. “Who the hell doesn’t have on in the 21st century?”
Zachary glazed over at his friend in disinterest. But deep down in his head, he was actually starting to consider doing just that, after his friend has been asking him for the past months to do so.
“You know I might actually do just that,”
“Make sure it’s a sexy hot woman okay?”
Zachary smirked.
~~~~
“Jacqueline! It’s time to have breakfast!” a woman’s voice called out from the ground floor of the small house that lied just at the end of the upper east side of Manhattan. Where it was so quiet that you can hear a needle hit the floor from the neighboring house.
“I’m coming mother,” Jacqueline said, still dazed from sleep. She ran a hand through her copper-colored hair. She groaned as the hangover from the night before came crashing down on her. Just in the corner of her eyes she saw the cause of this suffering. “Hey Quinn,” she called her friend that was lying lifeless in deep sleep next to her. “Quinn, wake up! It’s time for breakfast.”
Quinn tossed and turned, finally half-opening her eyes, closing them again as she felt the same sick feeling as her friend. “Damn I’ll never drink again. I even slept over here,” she groaned as she brought her feet to the edge of the bed.
They somehow found themselves carrying each other’s weights as they found their way down the stairs and into the dining room where Jacqueline’s parent’s waited for them.
“Look’s like someone had a wild night,” Jacqueline’s father said, Mr. Frank as he turned over the newspaper in his hand. “Although I hope to see you tired from pulling an all-nighter at work rather than a hangover.” He mumbled under his breath, though it was loud enough for all to hear.
“It’s not my fault that there aren’t any suitable jobs anywhere,” Jacqueline mumbled back as she took a slice of toast from the plate, spreading a spoonful of jam over it.
“Frank! Stop it already!” Mrs. Cassandra said, Jacqueline’s mother. Coming to the rescue of her daughter. “You’ve seen how she looked hard for jobs!”
“That’s true Mr. Frank, I can vow on my life that this good-for-nothing friend is a hard worker,” Quinn finally said as she gained back some of her sense.
Jacqueline shared an amused gaze with her friend. Ignoring her parent’s small argument over her jobless life. “Give me that,” Jacqueline said as she snapped the newspaper from her father without notice. She jumped right to the advertising page, though she has been searching in the newspaper, social media, and even went out on the field to find some sort of a job fitting to a Manhattan’s college graduate, but there was none!
Until that moment her eye fell on that article, on the top right corner of the page…*Secretary wanted*.