webnovel

Haris

"You are discharged. Refrain from stocking poultries, processed foods and seafoods for a long time." Dr. Steven reminded Christian. Christian just nodded in response with a small smile written on his face. "Well, I'll leave you guys alone." Steven said, tapping Christian's shoulder before leaving the room. When Steven had already left, they decided to leave as well. While walking, Ezekiel could feel that Cristy is worried about her son's condition. He gave Cristy a reassuring smile to comfort her. Cristy stopped walking and looked at Christian "Are you sure that you are strong enough to work? You know that you can take a rest for a few days." She asked to confirm his condition. "Come on mom, I'm already a grown-up man. I can handle myself." He said with a cheerful smile on his face. Cristy felt relieved after hearing those words coming from her son. "Don't make me worried again." She said, as she hugs her son while chuckling. "Yes mom, you are making me embarassed." He said hugging his mother back. Ezekiel could hear their laughter. He was touched by the mother-and-son scenario. His lips formed a small smile because of the sweetness of the both. Christian saw him smile, so he instantly stood up straight. His mother gave him a confused look. "Look mom, Ezekiel is now mocking me." Christian complained. Ezekiel and Cristy look at each other, before bursting into laughter. "Wow."

"Are you sure you don't want me to accompany you to your unit?" Cristy asked. "Mom, I'm not a toddler anymore." He refused. "Fine, just call me when you arrived. I'm going to take a cab from here. Take care son." Cristy bid her farewell reminder to her son before parting ways. Christian waved to Cristy, as he walks at the opposite direction while Ezekiel is following him behind. Christian noticed that Ezekiel is following him. "You are not going to accompany me, aren't you?" He said without glancing at Ezekiel. "For your information. my way from here is the same as yours. And as your editor, I need to check your well-being after being sick, so you won't give me headaches." Ezekiel said in a teasing manner. Christian just let out a sigh of defeat.

When they reached Christian's building unit, Christian pressed the elevator button and looked at Ezekiel amused. "How long are you going to follow me?" He asked. Ezekiel flinched before responding to his inquiry. "Well, I needed to clarify some things." He explained. Christian on the other hand looked confused, but he decided to let him do what he wants. After a few minutes of silence in the elevator, they finally reach Christian's unit. Christian opened the door, then he went inside immediately. "So, what do you want to clarify?" Christian asked Ezekiel who is currently sitting on the sofa. "Well, Let me get to the point. Where did you get that Grammar Analyst thing?" Ezekiel asked directly. Christian, who is trying to unbutton his polo flinched. "I don't know if you will believe to my sentiments but, after that supposed to be incident, I woke up receiving a text from you saying that you hired a 'legendary' grammar analyst because you don't want to edit my nasty grammar." He explained while changing his clothes. Ezekiel seems surprised to what Christian had said, but he decided to stay silent and let Christian talk. "There's also this so called 'The Seasons of Novelists' which includes me, Isaiah, Chealsea and Vinz. Are they existing?" Christian finished changing and went to the living room where Ezekiel is sitting. "Well, they are our friends during college. But with regards to the so called, 'Seasons of Novelists', I don't think it is existing. I haven't heard any news about that." Ezekiel explained. The unit is filled with silence. None of them are talking about the current situation. Ezekiel thought that it is weird that Christian imagined random things. And as for Christian, he thought that he travelled from two different worlds. Minutes had passed and no one dared to talk. Christian, could not handle the piercing sound of silence between them so he decided to speak. "So, the name of the Grammar Analyst is something Haris? do you know him or her?" Christian asked to break the silence. "I know a lot of Grammar Analyst, but I never heard of an analyst named Haris." He replied, worried about what is happening. He may act like a cold stone, but he feared superficial events. "Are we haunted? Maybe we are a character in a horror story!" Ezekiel worriedly said. His instincts are telling him to check Christian's bedroom. He rushed towards the room and, it made Christian looked at him confused. To his surprise, the room was clean. "Did you clean this?" He asked. Christian immediately stood up and walked towards his room. "No?" He hesitated. Ezekiel was about to call for help but Christian stopped him. "Don't be a baby. Maybe someone cleaned this room. Come to think of it, my mom hired housekeepers to clean my unit every week because I'm not a tidy person." Christian explained. "Stop with your superficial imagination and go home. You need to take a rest to calm your weird imagination." He added to mock him. Ezekiel took a deep breath to calm himself.

They went back to the living room to talk about serious matters. "Well, let's forget about that random things and focus on your project. Can you made it in time?" Ezekiel genuinely asked. "As I said before, I already faced a lot of obstacles so there's nothing stopping me from reaching my goal. I assure you, I'll win." Christian said with full of confidence and enthusiasm. Ezekiel looked at him, amazed to what Christian had said. "Fine. I'll support you if you are that eager to win." He asserted.

After talking about the Novel Prize Awards; about how they will catch up their missed works for hours, Ezekiel decided to go home. "I'm going now. Don't push yourself too much." He gave a reminder to Christian before leaving. "Bye." Christian waved at Ezekiel. When he heard the door was closed already, he went to his room to start working on his project. He reached his laptop and placed it on his desk. Turning the laptopn on, it gave him a lot of memories. 'Damn, I really love writing.' He opened one of the folders that contains his works. He checked all the files and drafts to see his progress on his current project. "Wow, I still have a lot of things to work on." He chuckled nervously. He prepared a glass of water, a biscuit, and a pen and paper besides him. "Let's begin."

Fourty-five minutes had passed, and he had done nothing. The document is plain white, the paper is unwritten, but the water and biscuit is finished. Christian groaned because he could not seem to find the appropriate word for each sentence. Christian will type something but he will eventually delete it. For him, it won't work. It won't win a major prize. Also, He could not even express himself. He could not see himself in the draft. That made him decide to just discard them. So, he had no progress at all. "I need help." Christian mocked himself. He threw himself on the bed, reaching out his mobile phone. "I wonder how many e-mails and messages did I received." He chuckled. When he unlocked his phone, he was shocked. "One e-mail, and zero messages. Wow, no one loves me." He faked whine. He let out a sigh and opened his social media account. He decided to message his colleagues just to make sure that they are existing. Who knows, maybe Ezekiel is scaring him.

He searched for Isaiah's personal contact and luckily, he found it. 'Good thing you are existing.' He thought. "Hey Isaiah, how are you." He sent a message to Isaiah. He closed the message window and scroll through his social media feed. After scrolling for a while, he received a notification. "I'm busy. I'll talk to you later." Isaiah replied. Christian laughed to Isaiah's reply. "Cold as ever." He chuckled. "They are existing, no need to worry self." Christian talked to himself, as he continues to check his feed. He saw an article with regards to the Novel Prize Awards. "Oh, they released an article already." He mumbled.

He read the article and saw a lot of informations and guidelines about the contest. 'Oh this is for the future readers of our book.' He thought. He kept on scrolling until he saw the list of authors who are joining the awards. He saw a picture of himself with a name beneath the picture. "Wow, I looked handsome here." He praised himself. He tried to find his colleagues to see if they are joining. But to his surprise, he did not find any. Thus, he dialed Vinz' phone number. The phone kept ringing, but Vinz did not answer. 'Maybe he is busy at the moment.' He assumed. Christian dialed Chelsea's number instead. Fortunately, Chelsea answered the phone call. "Hello, I was just wondering if you join the upcoming Novel Prize Awards?" He greeted her with a question. "Hello Tan! I'm not joining this year." Chelsea cheerfully replied. "Am I the only one who is joining?" He asked. "I think so. Vinz told me that it's not his thing. With regards to Isaiah, writing depends on his mood." Chelsea explained. "May I ask why you are not joining?" The boy questioned the other person in the line. "I actually don't know the reason, but I think it's your year." She replied. "I'm sorry, I need to go now. I still have to wake up early tomorrow. I have a meeting with the sales department." She added. "Oh, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Goodluck tomorrow!" He cheered, as Chelsea hangs up the call. 'Well that's weird.' He thought, as he decided to check the other authors who are joining.

Christian saw a familiar name in the list of authors. "Wait, Joyce Haris. She's so familiar." He talked to himself. He just stared at the screen of his mobile phone before realizing who she was. "Joyce Haris." He felt that he knew who is Joyce Haris. He remembered the conversation he had with Ezekiel earlier. 'I know who she is.' Christian was startled when he realize something is going on.

"She's the daughter of the legendary Grammar Analyst." Christian said. He looked for more informations regarding to the author named Joyce Haris. To his surprise, Joyce Haris is not any simple kind of authors. She is a phenominal writer who had tons of major awards in her sleeves. "How come I did not know her?" He asked to himself unconsciously. "Silly me, I don't know any other authors who aren't working at Shugo Publishing. Besides, most authors are hiding behind their pseudonyms." He sighed. Christian felt weird that he is currently talking to himself, so he decided to turn off his mobile phone. Instead of making himself felt envious about Joyce Haris, he opted to take a rest. It is already been a long day for him. But one thing is for sure, Joyce Haris is not an easy opponent.

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