This Feels More Like a Trial than Anything (Part 2)

Leslie recovered quickly and looked at me, "Is this true?"

Penny and I glanced at each other. I was unsure of how to proceed, but she looked at me with such fierce and clear eyes that seemed like she wanted me to back her version up.

"He said something about being interested in her," I said meekly.

"Did he talk about 'having his way'?" Alan asked, his eyes were intense.

"He said that he called dibs on her," I said.

There was a short silence as the room processed everything.

Alan murmured, "Well, speaking of immature…"

Edward cleared his throat, "I- I see."

He fixed the front of his suit, straightening the already straight tie.

"I guess that in light of this new information, which was not provided by the report, it seems that Mr Stoller's reaction was somewhat reasonable," Edward said as calmly as he could, though his voice quivered from embarrassment and what seemed like anger, "Still an overreaction and against our guild rules, but understandable."

"I believe that the only course left for us to do is to part ways with Mr Mannis," Leslie said. She shook her head as she seemed to cross something out on her notes, "We could make build connections with new sponsors WITHOUT somebody like him."

She looked at Edward, "That, and the successful A-tier Dungeon Clear means that we're not short on sponsorship opportunities."

"Okay," Edward nodded, "What do we do with Mr Stoller. His actions still went against guild rules, even if," he glanced at his daughter before looking at me, "His reaction was understandable."

"He was suspended from entering the guild for the last week, right?" Alan spoke, "Don't you think that's plenty enough?"

"Well, we usually put someone on probation if something like this happened normally—" Edward rebutted.

"It's not under normal circumstances though, is it?" Alan frowned at him, before looking at Leslie, "Wouldn't you agree, Leslie?"

"I agree," Leslie tapped her pen on the wood, "I vote that instead of the usual probation, we get Mr Stoller to seek help from a therapist to help prevent any further outbursts."

"That seems reasonable," Alan nodded, then he turned to me, "What do you think, Eric?"

Considering that Edward seemed to have something against me and was probably going to use this whole meeting as an opportunity to kick me out of the guild or worse, talking to a therapist was a whole lot better.

I looked back at Penny, and she shrugged. She sat back down now that she had calmed down a bit.

"I think that would be best," I said, "I'm ashamed that my first instinct was to act so rashly and without thought."

Alan and Leslie glanced over at Edward who was silent.

He cleared his throat and straightened up in his seat, "Then it's settled. We'll part ways with Mr Darren Mannis, and we'll organise a therapist for Mr Stoller to see on a weekly basis for anger management."

The board members seemed to unanimously nod in agreement and murmured happily amongst themselves.

"With that, I believe this procedure is over," Edward declared.

***

I could have gone home straight away, the whole ordeal was stressful, so I thought that a day off from working out was more than fair, but I decided to stay in the guild and waited for the board members to leave. I wanted to speak to Penny. I had to.

They had other matters to discuss and a couple of hours later, I saw board members start to go down the escalator into the lobby where I waited. Penny was among the last of them. I waved her over to me and we walked out of the guild building.

When I felt comfortable that nobody could eavesdrop on us, I turned to her, "What the hell happened in there, Penny?"

"I only repeated what the bastard told you," Penny said confidently, "It's not my fault he's had some unsavoury rumours circling around."

"I just don't know if revealing what he said was called for, you know?" I mumbled.

"Even though he started the whole thing?" Penny asked. She noticed the discomfort on my face. I never really liked confronting people, that's why putting Darren in a chokehold was so surprising even to me.

She grimaced, "Look, I know. But my Dad was trying to make an example out of you, and I couldn't just sit there and be silent knowing that it had a little bit to do with me."

"I appreciate that," I said, "But it's still rubbing me the wrong way."

Surprisingly, Penny simply shrugged, "What if I told you that I've heard things? Things about him that he's kept hidden?"

I stepped back, "What –what things?"

It was Penny's turn to look around to make sure no one was listening in on our conversation, "Ever since before he got famous, there have been rumours about him…and women."

"What?"

"Look, let's just leave it for now. Once word goes out that he's been dropped from the guild, I'm sure information will come forward." Penny patted my shoulder.

As she walked past me, I stayed still, as I tried to process what she just said.

"You had some lunch yet?" Penny asked innocently behind me.

"Penny, wait!" I spun around, "What are you saying?"

Penny sighed to herself, then walked back to me.

"Look," Penny started, "Like Leslie alluded to, we only accepted him into the guild because of his sponsorship connections due to him being a famous athlete and all."

"What was he famous for?" I asked, suddenly curious.

"Cycling," Penny said without skipping a beat, "Tour de France, Milan-San Remo. All the big ones."

"Oh…" I mumbled.

"Anyway, as per every famous person, there's always been rumours and all that around him and during the meeting after you left, I might have managed to find a couple of women who had spoken up about Darren's…tendencies to relentlessly pursue those that aren't interested. Even to the point of maybe, allegedly, possibly, take no for an answer," Penny explained quickly and quietly.

I was so shocked at what she was telling me that I could only listen in silence.

"So, when news comes out that he's been kicked out of the guild," Penny calmly explained, "And it will come out, let's just say that somebody managed to convince some of those ladies to come out and corroborate on an anonymous tip from within the guild that mentioned his…greasy attitude towards women."

She ended her explanation by shoving her hands in her pocket and shrugged, "Their previous claims were never taken seriously since he had a whole PR team behind him, but since the tip came from a source within Hero's Stand, I think people are going to take them more seriously."

"You're scaring me," I said.

"I may be a healer, but I know how to attack swiftly," She turned around and started to walk away again, "Come on, you're shouting lunch."

Dumbly, I followed her lead, "Remind me never to cross you."

She scoffed.

"How did you find out about the women so quickly?" I asked, "And got them to help you?"

"I can be quite persuasive."