They Would Have Been Dead

Beeeeeeeppp!!! Beep!!!

A shrill ringing can be heard near his ear. He almost fell off his chair when he was shocked awake. He remembered he was in the battlefield waiting for his death. His body should be hurting all over but now it's just his head aching because of the noise.

Still a little groggy from that bizarre dream, he tried to keep himself upright while feeling for his ringing phone with his eyes still closed.

"Cheng Yan!" another loud noise, this time from the desk in his right. "Will you please answer your phone? This is the only time we can sleep with all this overtime and now I can't even have that?!"

He squinted at his deskmate Ryan. Roland, oh yeah, Cheng Yan picked up his phone and walked off to the office pantry. While still rubbing his sleepy eyes, he pressed the answer button to stop the ringing.

He immediately regretted answering without getting his glasses first and checking who it was on the line. When he heard the hated voice of his snake of an ex-girlfriend, he really wanted to just hang up. "Why did it took so long for you to answer your phone?" Cara said loudly as if the person she's talking to was ten meters away. Pulling the phone a few inches away from his ear, he can still hear her question, "Are you trying to avoid me again? You know I still have to remind you of that money I lent you to buy your new laptop."

Cheng Yan sighed, "I thought you gave that to me since you were the one who broke my old laptop?"

"What's that excuse?! You were already planning to buy a new one anyway and I just lent you some so you can replace it earlier." Cara retorted, "Anyway, I need the money to pay the rent."

"Weren't you living in Timothy's house now?"

"Of course, but it's OUR house now so I have to give my share. Why do you have to ask so many questions? Who are you, my father?!"

'But weren't you living off of me when we were together?', thought Cheng Yan. 'I even let you take my room while I slept in the couch when I was just one of your 'followers'.'

He sighed again, "Ok, I''ll pass it to Timothy later." He ended the call after saying that.

Cheng Yan thought of his dream and sighed again.

___

Going back to his desk, Cheng Yan saw that Ryan had started working on their still unfinished project and then turned to glare at him, possibly because he was not able to get back to sleep again. Ryan should blame their team's 'top performer' for not taking up the full rent payment of his house and, in turn, Cheng Yan's ex was still bothering him. It wasn't like he was the only one not getting enough sleep these days.

'If I think about it', Cheng Yan pondered, 'these guys would have been dead if my dream was true.'

He sat down and started looking for his glasses when the main office's door opened and out came Anna, their Design Department head's secretary. Her long, salon-curled flaxen hair was down, framing her small face and brightening her pale blue eyes. She's wearing a white fitted blouse and black knee-length pencil skirt with click-clacking high heels. Cheng Yan couldn't think of how she still looked hot at this time when he and his co-workers looked like zombies their first overtime stay in the office.

Anna noticed him staring and turned to them with a serene face, "I'm going to get breakfast for me and boss. Do you guys want something?"

Ryan immediately answered, "Ms. Anna, I can accompany you. Four meals will be too much for you to carry." He started to stand when Veronica, the department intern, entered the office. She tried walking to the nearest desk with her bag slinged to her shoulder, a big paper bag held in her right hand and four coffees in a holder in her left. It looked like she'll drop the food or spill the coffee with her wobbling. Cheng Yan stood up to get the breakfast from her while Ryan gloomily got back on his seat.

Veronica smiled shyly at Cheng Yan. "U-um, team leader Gerald asked me if I could get the team's breakfast today since he's still finishing some blueprints and will have to go to one of the factories."

"You should have called us to help you carry these." Cheng Yan replied. Ryan mumbled not quietly that they would have been woken up earlier if she called and Veronica blushed with slightly teary eyes.

Cheng Yan glared at Ryan's back. Veronica may be the quiet girl type that you don't notice most of the time. But when you really looked at her, you can see that her long blond hair was silky and her eyes were stunning and expressive. It was just that she always keeps her hair tied up in a bun and her eyes were covered by very thick glasses.

Anna, meanwhile, started walking to the door and gave them a small smile. "So I'll just get the boss's and my breakfast. Great work, guys."

And Cheng Yan sighed again while helping Veronica put the meals in their teammates' desks. He looked longingly at the swinging office door thinking of what he would sacrifice to have that earlier dream come true.