21 The Vain and the Clumsy Typer

Pan POV

This man is insistently full of hot air. Vain! I would potently believe that Nee is mistaken in choosing him since he doesn't look clever at all. I could sense him internally and conclusively. I could see a dark, foggy smoke that oozes from the bottom of his sub-conscious and it blurs his personality. I think they (the election committee) did not scrutinize him in the aspect of personality and behavior. He could strip half-naked inside, but sorry I am not interested. I am laser-focused here on my work and I just happen to click the period that ends the last sentence of the last paragraph. I stand up and I can feel sore in my back.

"Ouch!" I bend my back and I can hear the bones cracking in my spine. "Nee, Finish!" I surprise him while I aligning my back to the normal. It is tiring. Now I feel the numbness of my muscles.

"Oh, soooooo fast. THREE hours to type a ten-page paper." Nee said satirically.

"Aye...Aye." I answered half-heartedly.

"Please check it, and I'm not expecting a hundred of misspelled words and errors.... This time not for another three hours, OK?"

I grumbled. Nee wants to check it. My eyes are tired. I need some fresh air. I sit again after stretching my arms upwards and then check my typing.

As expected, Nee foretold it. I had a number of mistypes and I missed to encode three paragraphs on the fifth page. Oh my!!!! My carelessness would sometimes cause me to overlook some things like locking the door or even eating a meal. I remembered the watch again, to name the worst example of my carelessness.

Or should I say I lost it out of negligence? I can't confess it to Nee and to everyone. They'll skin me and debone me once they know I lost it.

After almost two hours...

"Finish!" my proudest word to get Nee's attention and not his. He did not bother me for that almost two hours. He resorted to using his cell phone and played a game. Nee glanced at his watch and...

"Two hours is wasted, Andreas!"

"Almost two hours, not two hours...." I helped myself to avoid being scolded.

"Do not worry, I checked it 100 times with 100 percent accuracy and.... pardon me for the slow work. You know I don't usually type on my computer."

The truth is that I just typed the chapter that I missed and run the 'review' to check any errors. I am tired of checking. I just checked it twice. After that, I went online using Nee's computer. I tried to find Tom's name, but I can't. I wanted to add him to our group chat with only two members.

"Besides," I continued "I had difficulty understanding the penmanship. This is the worst penmanship I have ever seen. Worse than mine. Now it's 'WORST' with 'T'. I didn't know you write this way, Nee." 😵

Instead of Nee nagging at me, I nag at him first.

Nee's eyebrow raised and so do his. They both showed sour faces...

"An...DreaS...Na...Po...Leon..." Nee cried my full name.

"What? It's true....Honesty is the best Policy! Do Professors write this way..." I waived the manuscripts in front of them so they could agree on how terrible Nee's handwriting.

"What did I tell you before you start typing?" he is holding his temper and anytime he's gonna explode. I don't understand what I did very dreadful.

I pondered to refresh my memory...

"As far as I can recall, you said... type this for me and save it on the flash drive...'' and I asked you about the next task after this, then you said I can do whatever I want..."

"That's all?"

"Then I started typing. That's all, I suppose..."

"And you put your headset on and played something then..." Nee recalled.

"You did not say anything after that, did you?... or..." I have the feeling that Nee is going to rant me with a reprimand.

"You didn't listen..." he is crossing his arm and showed a very authoritative look at me. Just like Mama...! 😨😨😨

"I haven't heard you talking after that..." I shrug.

"But you nodded which meant you heard it..."

"It's probably a head bang...you know I'm listening to music...It's a rock!" I lied.

"You really are my brother..."

"You should say that again...." I beamed at him.

"Nin, can you remind Pan what I said AGES ago?"

He smiled back to me. His expression displayed the fakest smile all men can make.

"Should I quote it in toto?"

"You can do it, then I give the permission rip his two big ears!"

"Seriously? That's evil!" I complained.

"Professor told you to ask me any questions. He said it crystal clear and you just nodded while you mumbled something in front of the monitor. And for your information, you are encoding a proposal for a paper which I will be doing soon..."

"Proposal as long as 10 pages? Proposals should be around three pages long!" I inserted.

"Let him finish first...Pan..."

"Professor personally told me to write it by hand and later to be encoded by an SA.... That...Is...My...Handwriting! Thanks for complimenting its readability!" His sarcasm made me realize it is never Nee's writing.

"I have to agree with Pan, Nin...It's really an encoder's nightmare...I am sorry." Nee noticed it too. I really admitted it was this guy's handwriting. Mama is keen when it comes to our handwriting. She said your handwriting tells something about the kind of person we are. When we were in grade school and in high school, she taught us to write in cursive and always in cursive. She said cursive writing is better. Nee and I write in cursive or in longhand but Nee writes better than I do. So when I saw the manuscripts earlier, I was really shocked seeing that the 'letters do not agree with what words to form'.

He smiles at us. I seem to wonder when he'll stop smiling!

Or was he born smiling and then he cannot make other emotions?

"I have to admit it is not readable often, plus the fact that I have to hurry writing for straight two and a half hours. I assume you do not have trouble reading my penmanship when you type it; otherwise, you would ask something to me or to Professor himself! I just thought you were ''ENJOYING the VIEW'' while you work on it." He quoted 'ENJOYING the VIEW'.

I don't know if he's talking about his penmanship or he is pointing out another thing. I mean this handwriting is never a 'VIEW'.

"Well, I side on Nin this time...Yeah...you could have asked me if anything is difficult to understand but you didn't. Therefore, I assume that nothing is confusing!" Nee is the most unsupportive brother this afternoon. I know I didn't listen to him but he could make his criticism milder and tender.

I sit like a rock in my chair. I cannot say a word. Cornered by two forces.

"I think I should tell you not to use gadgets when working here in the office. You become inattentive once you were possessed with the spirit of music you were listening to."

"That is not fair. Tom and I will surely protest on the rule." complaining is the best resort I can do.

"Tom can still respond to me even he's putting his headphones on. So as an exception, I allowed him to use it. He also asked my permission to use his phone while working in the office and I said yes on that matter provided that it wouldn't disturb others and the tasks here are the top priority, not some loud banging music." Nee explained. I nodded unwillingly while he is speaking.

"You're very straightforward to Nin when you remarked about his writing. I find it discourteous Andreas. You should act politely!... Manners!"

"But I thought it is your handwriting! And besides, you said bad about it... 'encoder's nightmare', remember?"

"I apologized for that... and the reason... Reason's denied...blablablablablablabla whatever! Apologize. It is good to be frank sometimes, but let's put it with good manners, not the meanest way..."

Nee is too pushy for me to apologize for my doing even though he also did the same.

I really thought it was Nee's writing... though I know it wasn't.

I'm also innocent here, OK?

"There is no need for him to apologize Professor. I should have written it plainly." He said like he owns the guilt in me.

"Pan is acting childishly all the time. He hasn't grown up maturely yet. You know our grandparents spoil him all the time. You can call him Andreas or Napoleon once he goes crazy and dumb. I should tell you he doesn't like it," my blabbermouthed brother could not stop talking about the things I don't like.

Nee can't stop his mouth which I don't like sometimes. I shouldn't argue at him more or else he will talk more about me. I stared at him. To complement his ideas, I sounded friendly and acted like I am the kindest person sitting inside the office.

"Yeah...Yeah..." I really like to dispute with Nee but I'll save it later at home. "Oh I am childish sometimes too, so I believe we can be good FRIENDS and eat Mac and CHEESE one of these days in the dining hall." He smiled roguishly.

Plastic!