The first step.

Leonard was already on his desk, as usual, there were lots of empty desks on the first floor also, lots of workers hadn't arrived. Even, Mark, the newest worker, hadn't arrived too, wasn't he concerned about creating a good impression? Though Leonard had no work experience on his previous earth, after he got employed in this company, he made it a duty to always be here on time.

Although he had a reason for doing that, he wanted to create a good impression on the manager that not only he was hardworking, he was also punctual. As time passed, the empty desks started getting occupied little by little, and before Leonard knew it, they were all occupied...even the manager had arrived.

Today was the D-Day, Leonard was gonna ask the manager for his pay though he hadn't even worked up to three weeks in this company. He couldn't just stop thinking about it, he was sitting at his desk and his computer was on, but he wasn't working, he kept on thinking if the manager would agree to give him his salary.

Even Felix noticed that something was bothering Leonard, so he inquired of him,

"Man, is anything bothering you? Any prob?".

"No, no, it's nothing, I can handle it". Leonard responded.

"You know you can tell me".

"No, don't worry about it, it's nothing".

Felix uttered the word 'OK', then he focused on his work. He knew something was bothering Leonard, but he didn't know what it was, this wasn't the first time he was seeing him like that. Yeah, he was suspecting that something was going on between Leonard and Rita, not just the normal business, another type of business. But this wasn't the right time for him to be thinking about that, he was truly worried for Leonard, he just hoped whatever the problem was, it wasn't that big.

But what Felix didn't know was that the problem was really big, it was concerning life and death. And Leonard had five days to solve that problem, unless, he would die. And the problem wasn't something Leonard could reveal to Felix, if he does, there was a consequence for it. Felix didn't know a lot about Leonard, he didn't know that Leonard wasn't originally born on this earth, he transmigrated from Earth 1.

He didn't know that Leonard was on a quest, his life wasn't the normal life of an average guy...he'll have to be completing quests to live for as long as who knows. He didn't know that Leonard had gambling in him, yeah, he didn't know all these about Leonard. Leonard was still sitting on his desk and thinking, he told Felix that he's got no prob, it was something he could handle...but that doesn't seem like the case.

Well, he wouldn't sit on his desk thinking all day, he's got to work, and so he did. The computer was on, so he took out the other files that were handed to him this morning by the marketing department overseer and started working. Just in the middle of working, the manager came out of his office, sauntered to the employees, and stood in their midst. Then he said to them,

"Remember, I told you guys that I'll be discussing something with you all today in the meeting room. So, now, can we all meet in the meeting room?".

After making that statement, he sauntered away, definitely, he wants to go inform the workers on the last floor. All workers on the first floor started getting up from their desks little by little, and the ones that had stood up sauntered to the staircase and began dismounting it. Leonard sauntered to the staircase and began dismounting it also.

Just as he was about to reach the last floor, he heard Felix's voice behind him,

"I'm sure it's something concerning business, concerning construction".

Leonard glanced at him, and with a bit of confused facial expression, he inquired, "What are you talking about?".

"The meeting, I'm talking about what the manager wants to most likely discuss with us in the meeting room". Felix responded.

"Ohh! sorry for not understanding, you think so?".

"Yeah, like, what else would he wanna discuss with us about? I have been working in this company for some time now, and the manager has never called us to the meeting room to discuss something else with us that wasn't about business and construction. I just have the strong feeling that that's what he wanna discuss with us again".

"Well, there's no prob about that, this is a construction company anyway? We wouldn't be discussing movies in the meeting room?". Leonard uttered as he and Felix continued strolling until they arrived at the door of the meeting room, opened it, and entered.

Many workers were already sitting on chairs in the room when Leonard and Felix entered, some from the first floor and some from the last floor. The both of them found chairs to sit on in the meeting room, they sat close to each other. All the workers weren't present in the meeting room yet, so the manager would have to wait for the arrival of the remaining ones.

After waiting for about a minute, the workers in the room were complete, they had all arrived. Now, it was about time for the manager to start speaking,

"I called this meeting for something very important. This company is gonna be launching a big project soon, way bigger than the ones we are currently working on. And we'll be partnering with two important investors. These are the pictures of the investors".

The manager took a remote from the table close to him, using the remote, he put on the television behind him. Using the remote again, he searched for the pictures of the men and displayed them, the picture of their faces and half of their bodies were being shown on the TV currently. The pictures of the men were still showing on the TV screen when the manager continued speaking,

"These are the pictures of the men, the investors. As I said earlier, they are important investors and they are gonna be playing a very important role in the commencement and climax of our new big project. The project isn't gonna start soon though, at least, one of our current projects would have to be completed before it would start".

And the discussion went on, the manager explained to them what the project would be about, the type of building they were gonna work on. For them to get a clearer understanding, he showed them a picture of what the building would be like on the broad TV. The employees just sat there digesting the manager's explanation, they understood him.

Each department would have a part to play in the commencement of the project. But as for now, they were all free. After the manager was done explaining everything concerning the project, he said,

"Now that we've all come to an understanding, you guys can go now".

They all stood up from their chairs and began departing from the meeting room. Leonard and Felix also stood up and departed from the meeting room together. As they sauntered to the staircase, they discussed. Reaching the staircase, they mounted it and reached the first floor, then they both sauntered to their desks as some of the employees were already sitting on their desks.

*******

All the workers of the 'Q and R construction company' had eaten lunch already, and right now, they were all sitting on their desks working...like, what else would they be doing? It was about time for Leonard to go straight to the manager's office and ask him for his pay. But it wasn't that easy to do, he couldn't even bring himself to stand up from his desk, he just sat there thinking about how he would approach the manager.

'I have to do this, there's no time for this, the earlier the better'. Leonard thought to himself.

With that, he stood up from his desk and began sauntering towards the manager's office. Felix and some other workers stared at him as he sauntered towards the manager's office. They'll most likely be wondering, 'Where is he heading to?'. He reached the door of the manager's office, but to knock was even a problem for him, he stood there staring at the door for some seconds.

Then he finally mustered up courage and knocked on the door. He didn't need to knock for a second time before he heard the manager's voice resound from inside,

"Who is there?".

"It's me, Leonard". Leonard responded.

"Leonard? come in".

Leonard opened the door and stepped into the manager's office. Then the manager told him to sit, and so he did as he was now facing the manager directly. Then the manager inquired of him,

"Leonard, what brought you to my office?".

Leonard glanced at the manager and wanted to speak, but the sentence couldn't come out of his mouth. But he finally forced himself to speak,

"I wanna ask if I can collect my pay".