1 Two Faced

"George, get up, It's morning already!"

 While I was in the process of getting my beauty sleep, a not-so-pleasant voice assaulted my eardrums. I knew the identity of the perpetrator behind the destruction of my precious dream, in fact, I knew the person very well, a person whom I find very annoying. Well, that person is not my overly strict boss nor some rival in love, he is not my mortal enemy either. That person is my "DEAR" wife. 

"George, come on why are you not getting up? Don't you have to go to the office? I told you before not to work late at night, it will be bad for your health"

The only thing that can spoil my health is you, woman. I knew she was right but it could not stop me from complaining when someone ruined my comfy sleep. I got up while rubbing my eyes. When I opened my eyes, I was greeted with the sight of a lady in her early thirties. She had black long hair, brown eyes, and an above-average height. The most striking thing about her was her beautiful face with a mature aura. But after seeing her for so many years it did not elicit any awed reaction from me. On the contrary, I was only annoyed inwardly after seeing her face.

"Dear, don't you think you are getting late? You should have slept early last night. Don't do overtime lest it deteriorates your health. We are not short on money and we can make our ends meet pretty easily. Instead of caring about money, care more about yourself, Okay?"

Oh! Do you think I am such a hardworking person, woman? There was a reason for me to work at night.

"Hey! I know we are not short on money but you do so much for me, so I wanted to buy you a present as a sign of love, dear"

I said with a kind smile on my face that will put even the world's most renowned scammer to shame. No matter what I thought inwardly I always acted kindly towards her. Because I know maintaining a good image is very important. When I was a child, I found out that my brain was filled with mischievous and evil thoughts, no matter how much I tried I was never able to suppress them. So, I decided to work on my exterior image instead.

"Stop that, how can you say such cringy things with a straight face. Sigh! You are as hopeless as always"

While she said that with a stern look on her face, she could not hold back the small smile that crept onto her face. As I thought, she liked it. Even I had the urge to puke when I called her "Dear" with such a loving expression on my face. But for the sake of 'greater good,' I had to say these things. As the saying goes, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I just feel bad for my stomach for shouldering the burden of such nausea-inducing words.

"But you don't have to, I am happy as I am. So don't put your health at stake for me"

She said with a worried expression on her face. Seriously! It's not like I am going to buy you something pricey. I will just buy some cheap necklace for you, saying that 'it is sincerity that counts not the price'. Women are emotional creatures so one should deal with them that way. They are complex so don't try to understand them rationally, beat them in their own game. Instead of acting domineering and earning their ire, men should try to do some sugar coating instead.

"Hey, let me do at least this much. As a husband, this is the least I can do"

Upon hearing my sincere tone, which was not that sincere, she smiled sweetly and with watery eyes, said.

"Let's... stop talking about it, otherwise I will….. cry. Wash up and come downstairs. James has already gone to school"

She went out of the room in large strides, seemingly bashful about my words. It's been 8 years since we were married, how can she still be this bashful like a young girl? I sneered at her consistency and after washing up went downstairs. When I sat on the chair, of the dining table,  I was served tea by my blushing wife. But when I took a sip, my mood instantly turned sour. Dammit some wife you are, you still can't remember that I don't like surplus sugar in my tea? This woman's clumsiness is unrivaled in this world, that's why I find dealing with her annoying. I really had the urge to sprinkle all the tea on her stupid face. But I controlled my emotions by taking a deep breath. I looked at her with a mischievous smile on my face and spoke.

"My lord wife is so sweet, even a tea made by her became extra sweeter"

When she heard my words, she looked at me with an embarrassed expression. She got what I was trying to say.

"Sorry dear, I will be careful from now on, besides it's your fault for saying those words to me, I…..was thinking about them and so I ended up using an extra sugar cube"

She said the last sentence in a barely audible voice but I heard it loud and clear. This is just great! Now, It's also my fault that she wasn't putting her mind to work. While I was thinking like that, I looked at her with a loving gaze and spoke.

"Since it's my fault, this humble one will live the life of servitude to you milady. Even if it risks me getting diabetes"

"Hey! I told you I won't do that again. You are So hateful. Hmph! I am not talking to you anymore"

She pinched my waist and went to her room with a flustered expression on her face. That's a way to do things, even if I was condemning her, I did it in a sugarcoated way. She will most likely not do that again and will also not keep any hard feelings. But this was taxing, it would have been easier to just scold her outright, but It would have been bad in the long run. Right, I am doing this all for the sake of the 'greater good, so sacrificing some of my brain cells is really worth it. After having my breakfast and getting ready for the office, I went to my garage to get my car. I had to hurry because I had to pick up my colleague on the way.

When I reached my friend's house, I heard some noises. Apparently, a woman was getting the scold of her life.

"I told you many times to think twice before you do something. You misplaced a very important document because of your thoughtlessness. Make sure to never do that again, understand!!!"

"Sob* Sob* I am sorry. I will Sob* not do that again, promise"

Through the window a man with a handsome feature could be seen scolding a woman harshly, the man was in his early thirties with a mustache and silky black hair, the glasses on his face were giving him a scholarly aura. He had a toned body and an above-average height. Objectively speaking he was quite an attractive mature man but his looks were getting spoiled due to his face twisted in rage. He wanted to continue scolding the woman but when he saw my car parked outside, he stopped himself and looked at the woman. 

"Huh! I have to leave for work, so don't cause trouble in my absence"

"Yea…h, I will Sob* be careful sob*"

The door of the house opened and the man in his office uniform came out of the house.

"Good morning, brother George"

"Good morning, brother Derek"

"We are getting late so let's go"

"Yeah, we should hurry"

We got into the car and he sat in the passenger seat, while I started the engine.

"Vroom! Vroom! Vroom!"

The engine of the car roared and I skillfully drove the car through the narrow roads.

"I am sorry Brother George, I made you see something very unsightly first thing in the morning"

Derek said with a bitter smile on his face.

"Don't mind me. I know I don't have any right to say this, but brother I think you should go easy on your wife. Being too harsh won't be good for your relationship"

I said with a sincere expression on my face.

"Sigh! You are right, I overreacted a little, But I was doing this for her own good and I think she herself understands it. Oh! Because I was too worked up over the fact that she misplaced an important document, I even forgot to give her the gift that I bought for her last night"

He took out a decorated box from his pocket. From the looks of it, the content inside must be very expensive. He caressed it with a loving look on his face and spoke.

"Well, it's not too late. I will give it to her after returning from work and also apologize for reacting so intensely"

As you can see, unlike me Derek is genuinely in love with his wife, he is just bad at controlling his temper and always ends up scolding her instead. I have seen his wife being depressed because of that and this idiot thinks that she understands his love for her and why he scolds her. Seriously! if you are not going to show your love for her, how will she possibly know? Will she have a divine revelation?

"Great! Go for it and patch things up with her" Even when I was cursing this stupid being for his stupidity in my head, I still replied with an elated expression on my face.

"I will do just that. Thanks, George, talking with you helped me a lot, I am very lucky to have a sincere friend like you"

It took all of my willpower to not laugh out loud at his last sentence. Man, I can be many things but sincere. I just want to create a reliable friend image in front of you. That's why I am even bothering to waste some of my brain cells on you.

"You give me too much credit brother," I replied with a fake modesty.

"Don't be modest. I did not even thank you for helping me yesterday with work" He replied with a bright smile on his face.

"Hey! I was just returning the favor, you have helped me many times in the past" I replied with a calm smile.

"Oh! We reached the office so let's continue our talk during tea break, George"

"Okay"

After I parked my car in the parking spot, we entered the office building. After entering we were greeted by our colleagues. Since I was pretty popular due to the image that I maintained over the years, many colleagues especially came to greet me. It was not a pleasant situation, as I had to give everyone face by accepting their greetings one by one. But for the sake of my reputation, this bothersome task was a necessary evil.

"Hey, get back to your work. The government pays you for work, not for some trivial tasks like greetings" A thunderous voice saved me from this predicament. My savior was none other than my "dear" brother Derek. I completely forgot that I can use this guy as a meat shield to save my image while keeping these annoying bugs at bay. His words worked like a charm and everyone backed off with sour expressions on their faces.

"Brother Derek, will this be alright?  You should not lash out at others like that, a friendly atmosphere is necessary in every workplace" I said with a fake worry.

"Brother George don't worry about that, these guys were slacking off from work and I could not stand it, besides I don't want to be friends with guys like them if it gets in the way of my work"

Naïve! You are too good for your own good, do you think you own this office to care about working hours? It's your superior's job, not yours! And what's with you don't want to be friends with colleagues if it gets in the way of work? You would need their support if things went south. Even while I was mocking this stupid in my head, I kept a worried expression on my face and spoke.

"If you say so! Let's work then" We went to our respective desks to do our office work. After working for a couple of hours, a tea break came and I, along with Derek, went to the office cafeteria to enjoy tea. We took the table near the window and ordered two cups of tea.

"George, do you know many new recruits are inspired by you and want to be as diligent as you?" Derek said with a small smile on his face.

"Really? I did not know" I pretended to be very shocked when I said this. While inwardly I was sneering at him 'do you think I don't know? Inspiring them was my intention from the get-go'. 

"This is so like you, being oblivious to your own charms. I am really worried you might get deceived by some evil man due to your innocent personality. hehe!" He smirked at my goofy demeanor. On the other hand, I had a hard time containing my laughter after hearing his last sentence.

Me being tricked by some evil person? Who could be Eviler than me in this world? Even Satan had to bow down before my evil brain, not to mention some worldly mortal. I maintained my oblivious expressions and spoke in a blaming tone.

"Hey, stop making fun of me. I just care about my work, not the people around me"

"Okay I will stop, I was just messing with you. I know you are serious about your work, that's why I became friends with you" He said in a soothing tone while being oblivious to the fact that I was the one who made him think that way to become friends with him.

"Splash"

Just as we were talking, the waiter who was bringing us tea tripped and he accidentally spilled the tea on Derek's shirt. Derek got enraged at it and yelled.

"How can you be so clumsy? Were you born yesterday?!!!!" It's happening again, this guy loses his cool at times like these. Seeing his face marred with anger, I lamented in my heart 'what a waste of handsome countenance sigh!' Contrary to my average looks this guy is indeed handsome. If he can just control his expressions, he will become very popular among people but as a universal law, you can't have everything, I guess. The waiter almost pissed his pants after seeing such hideous expressions on Derek's face.

"Derek, stop it! You are scaring him" I stopped Derek from making a scene. Don't misunderstand me, I was not worried about Derek or that pathetic waiter I just did not want to attract unwanted attention. Rumors may fly around saying that Derek and I bullied a poor waiter and I can't have that.

"I am sorry! That shirt was a gift from my wife, so I overreacted a little" Derek snapped out of it and apologized to the poor waiter. 

"Ye….s! have a good d-d-day S-Sir. The waiter was still pretty much shaken by the whole incident so he hurriedly escaped the cafeteria.

"Let's skip tea, brother," I spoke to Derek with a bitter smile on my face.

"That's a good idea, let's go back to work.  Sigh!" We left the cafeteria and went to the main office. But what we saw upon reaching there caught both of us off guard. The superior along with our "dear" colleagues were standing near the door of the office and they were apparently talking with police officers, if it wasn't odd enough, my wife Jenny and Derek's wife Isabella were also there with them, they both had an anxious expression on their faces. When my stupi cough*I mean "dear" wife saw me, her expression brightened up and she hurriedly approached me. I was puzzled by the whole scenario so I asked her.

"What happened?"

"Dear, after you went to the office, I got a phone call from Isabella, saying that the police have raided their house and were asking some questions regarding Derek. She asked me for help, so I accompanied her to your office" I had a rough idea of what happened. I just hope things work out for me. While we were having such a conversation one of the police officers noticed us and asked.

"Who is Mr. Derek among you?"

"I am Sir," Derek answered politely.

"Unfortunately, Mr. Derek, you are under suspicion of corruption, so you have to come with us"

""What????"" Derek and his wife screamed at the same time. Everyone was puzzled apart from me and the superior, apparently, the superior has been briefed by the police.

"I can never do that Sir, there must be a misunderstanding," Derek said with a righteous face.

"We will find out if we do the proper investigation" The police chief spoke with a stern look.

"What are the charges on me Sir?" Derek asked with a desperate expression.

"The matter is about the unjust allocation of money. We have your signatures on the file. It was done yesterday"

"Yesterday? But I don't remember signing any allocation document yesterday" Derek spoke in a confused voice. On the other hand, my thoughts were different from his. How come they caught up so fast? Looks like this is the work of some whistleblower! Suddenly Derek looked at me with a lost expression and spoke.

"Brother George y-yesterday you-"

"Brother Derek there must be some misunderstanding here, let's think calmly, okay!" I cut him off before he could finish his sentence and spoke in a worried tone.

"Y-yeah! We should think t-things through" He spoke while taking a deep breath like he was trying his best to trust me. I was really amused by him. He still did not get it, did he? Even a child can understand by now that I was the one who betrayed him. It must be the fault of my 'sincere friend' image I guess, that is why he is still trying to believe in me. Huh! I can't see my brother like this! As his brother, it's my responsibility to enlighten him. I neared him with a worried expression and hugged him. I whispered the words that he least expected in his ear.

"Congratulations brother, you have been deceived by an evil man~" I said in a tone like I was enjoying it. Derek on the other hand shuddered at my words. As I was hugging him, I could feel his body trembling with disbelief. My words must have shocked the poor guy, the person whom he thought to be a sincere friend turned into a backstabber in a matter of seconds. I released him and spoke to him with the usual sincere tone but a callous smile on my face. No one could see my expressions from here, so I did not bother to change them.

"Everything will be fine brother" When he saw my malicious smile and sincere tone, he lost his reason and yelled.

"You demon, go to hell" He couldn't stand the disparity between my tone and expression and punched me with all his might. I saw the punch coming but did not evade it. It landed on my face and I fell to the ground while groaning. Don't misunderstand me, I did not let him punch me because I was feeling guilty or anything. I just wanted him to fall deeply into the pit with no means to return. And it worked as I could see the expressions of the crowd around me changing. Police officers and my colleagues looked puzzled by the whole turn of events. The most intense reaction was from my stupi cough* "dear" wife.

 My wife was looking at Derek with a murderous glare. She is usually very kind and sweet but she turns into an asura when someone touches her reverse scale. And I worked really hard to become her reverse scale, all the hard work is paying off now.

"Why did you attack my husband? Aren't you supposed to be his friend? It's not his fault that you got into trouble" My "dear" wife said with a voice laced with hate. She quickly approached me and helped me get up and asked me with a worried tone.

"Dear, you are not hurt, are you?" What a stupid question, anyone will be hurt after getting punched, right? It's common sense. Despite thinking that I gave my wife a reassuring smile and spoke.

"I am fine, I am more worried about Brother Derek. I think he has lost his mind" I said in a worried tone.

"You are still thinking about him, despite what he did to you? You are too kind, dear. But I don't hate that about you" Her eyes turned watery while saying that. On the other hand, I thought to myself 'apologies, but the thing you like about me does not exist.'

"Sister, stay away from this demon. He must be lying to you as well" Derek, after coming to himself, spoke. I had the urge to protest at the term he used to describe me. Demon? How can this person call me that? Doesn't he know that demons also have feelings? What if they got hurt because of his words? And what's with "must be lying" of course I am lying to her, you really are dense, bother.

"How can you say that? He is a good husband, a responsible father, and an ideal worker. How dare you call a person like him a demon!!???" My "dear" wife screamed at him like she was the one being called a demon.

"Honey! Derek is not in his right state of mind, so forgive him" I pretended to stop her from speaking but inwardly I was saying 'More! More! Praise me more you stupid thing. The brain cells that I sacrificed by acting in front of you were indeed worth it.' 

"Sister it was him who allocated the money unjustly!!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.

"B-brother, how can you say that? I never thought you would ever accuse me like this. Besides, how can I do something like that?" I said in a hoarse voice. I was making a face of a person whose whole world has crumbled. When my Colleagues saw my face, they felt bad for me and started to ridicule Derek.

"How can you accuse brother George; he is an ideal worker"

"Yeah, I never saw him slacking off from work nor did I see him doing something unjust"

The new recruits, who were inspired by me, spoke in my defense. When Derek saw things getting worse, he spoke hastily.

"Believe me he told me yesterday that he will lend me a hand in work. I gave him some of my files and I never knew he would do this"

"Brother, why will I help you when I barely have time to complete my task? Besides, the allocation file has your signature, not mine" He wanted to retort but no reply came to his mind. Yes, I made some shady dealings with some people who wanted to allocate money in their department. I did not want to risk my career, so I asked Derek that I would lend him a hand in his work, and I mixed up the allocation file among the files he gave me. He has absolute trust in me, so he did not bother to check the files that I gave him and he signed them without thinking much.

"Dear, you believe in me, right? George is lying" Derek called his wife, who did not even say a word throughout the whole ordeal. His wife looked at him with tears in her eyes and spoke.

"Why do you resort to corruption? Was the monthly pay not enough for you? I had a hunch before, but now I am certain, y-you were having an affair this whole time. That's why you needed money, and that's why you always yelled at me!!!!" She said with teary eyes. Women are scary even at a time like this, she was getting heartbroken at the possibility that he was having an affair, instead of saving him from the predicament he was in. Women have their own priorities, I guess. This idiot is at fault here for not showing his love for her and always yelling at her over some petty mistakes. Now she is thinking he is having an affair, instead of standing up for him.

"Hey! I love you. I never thought about having an affair" Derek said with a bewildered expression on his face. Bro, don't you think your timing of confession is the worst?

"Now you are saying this because you don't have anyone else to rely on? You are as cruel as always. sob*" See I told you it was the worst time. 

"Hey! I am not lying! I even bought a present for you last night" Derek put his hand in his pocket to take out the present, but alas! Fate had something else in store, his trump card magically disappeared.

"Hey! Where is the gift?!!!" Derek fiddled with his pockets but could not find any gift. His wife who was showing a hopeful expression, teared up after seeing her hopes getting shattered.

"Mr. Derek, evidence is against you, so you will have to come with us. If you want to prove anything, prove it in court. And please stop playing with the heart of your poor wife"

The police chief could not put up with this whole farce and ordered his men to take Derek into custody. Derek resisted and yelled but no one bothered to help him.

"George, you can go home now. It must have been a hard afternoon for you"

My Chubby superior spoke to me.

"Yes, dear, let's go home"

My stupid but reliable wife urged me.

"Yeah!"

We moved our way through the crowd. When we reached the parking lot, I stopped and looked at my wife with a loving gaze and spoke.

"I told you in the morning that I wanted to buy you a present, do you remember?"

"Yeah, what about it?" She asked softly.

"I bought one for you when I was going to the office"

I took out a decorated box from my pocket and handed it to her. When she saw the box, her complexion brightened.

"Open it!"

I said in a soft voice. When the box was opened and its content was revealed, we both got shocked. There was a golden bracelet in it with a diamond at its edges. Da*n It must have cost a fortune. That Derek must be saving money for quite some time and must be wanting to give a grand present to his wife, to show her his feelings. It's a pity that he won't have a chance now.

"Dear, it must be very expensive. Were you saving money for such a long time? But it's so precious. Can I really keep it?"

She said with a half elated and half reluctant expression on her face.

"Nothing is more precious to me than you, my dear," I said such a cringy line with a straight face. Upon hearing my reply, she giggled happily and threw herself in my arms. The possibility of me snatching the box from Derek's pocket never crossed her mind. Because in her eyes I can never do such an inhuman act, due to the speckless face that I show to her, the face that people care about the most, not considering the evil thoughts hidden beneath the stainless mask.

Now I have to find some new toy to play with, because the old one, Derek, is out of the picture. I am already missing Derek. He proved himself to be an entertaining plaything, I have to find his substitute quickly, to keep things interesting in my life. A cold glint passed through my eyes when I thought about my next possible dear friend (Target).

                    Dear Readers, which face is more important?