Chapter 10

Chapter 10 — Interrupted Meeting

Liam can't keep his eyes from straying to his boss' office window, but this time for a completely different reason than before. He's not particularly looking at his boss per se, but waiting for some kind of reaction from him. Aaron changed into his suit and is now standing at his desk, looking through some files.

He does keep fidgeting, so maybe Liam's revenge is working but he can't be too sure. Liam sees him pick up the phone and he quickly looks away, and as expected his own phone rings a second later.

"Hello?"

"If you're done staring at me, can you print out the documents I've sent you and join me in the conference room for the meeting,"

Liam rolls his eyes, stifling a grin; if only he knew the reason he was looking at him now. He mutters an okay, before ending the call.

Aaron walks out of his office and past Liam's desk but not before knocking on his desk, signalling him to come along. There's a weird hobble in his steps and Liam has to keep himself from snickering behind him. He quickly prints whatever documents his boss needs and heads to the conference room — he doesn't want to miss a single thing that is going to unfold in that meeting.

Is Liam potentially damaging the meeting here and also risking his job here? Yes. Does Liam care about it? Yes, but mostly no; also, what's done is done. It's too late for him to do anything about it.

Edwin, their company's client, and whose meeting was cancelled the previous because of Aaron's apparent 'food poisoning', has rescheduled that meeting for today, and is already in the conference room by the time Liam is there.

Liam smiles at him in greeting before going to Aaron to pass him the printed documents. Aaron is seated at one end of the table, his hands fisted on the table, and breathing in and out slowly. Liam's smile does not leave his face.

"Hey, I got you your documents,"

"Mhmm," is all he says in return.

"Need anything else?" Liam's voice is way too chirpy even for himself.

But Aaron is too preoccupied to notice it and be suspicious about it. He just shakes his head no, but before Liam can leave, he stops him.

"Actually, can you stay and take notes for the meeting?" very discreetly, Aaron's hand goes to his pants, but when he notices Liam seeing his movements, he quickly places it back on the table.

Liam not wanting to torment the poor man any further, nods, "Yeah, sure,"

"Thanks,"

Liam's eyebrows rise an inch, surprised — did he just say thanks, and that too voluntarily? He rubs his mouth with the back of his hand, reminding himself to not break into a laughter. If only he could have been this sensible before... Liam clicks his tongue to himself, occupying on of the seats by the side of the room against the wall, bringing a notepad and a pen with him that he found in the room.

Liam settles in his seat, and waits for the meeting to begin. He tries very hard to not look at his boss lest he gives himself off. But it's difficult to do so when he can see him from the corner of his eyes, fidgeting in his seat every few seconds. Liam has to seal his lips tightly together to keep himself from laughing out loud, and keeps his head down, eyes trained down on the notepad on his lap.

The meeting starts and Edwin stands at the front, explaining something about the company's project and Liam knows he should be paying attention, jot down whatever's important but none of the words actually register in his head. His mind inadvertently goes back to his boss who has to be suffering by now and wonders how long he can stay in those itching-powder-infested pants.

And just as he thinks about it, Aaron abruptly stands up from his seat, muttering an apology before basically bolting out the door. This is the second meeting he's dashed out of; that certainly can't be a good look for him.

Liam purses his lips, reconsidering his actions — maybe he has taken it a little too far. But that is what the dickface does to him; he cannot be solely blamed here.

Edwin lets out an exhausted sigh and scratches at the bald spot at the back of his head, and turns to Liam with a questioning glance.

Yeah, he's definitely taken it too far. He distantly remembers Aaron discussing about this particular project and saying it's one of the biggest projects they've taken on.

Shit.

Liam grimaces at Edwin, apologising internally and praying to God or whatever mighty power that is listening in to help him out here. He definitely did not think any of this through and although Aaron has admittedly been lenient with him, Liam knows he can kiss goodbye to this temp job if this project is fucked up and Aaron comes to find out that they messed up with this big-shot client all because of Liam.

Liam's phone buzzes in his pocket and he quickly answers when he checks the caller id and sees that it's his boss.

"Hello?"

"I need you to come to my office right away,"

Liam doesn't even care how curt he sounds and the lack of politeness — he has no right to that now. He stands up, excuses himself from the conference room and quickly head towards his boss' office.

"Aaron?" he calls out once he reaches the room.

"In here," he hears a strangled voice coming out of the bathroom, and a little later the door creaks open, Aaron popping only his head out.

He is visibly in pain. His jaw is all clenched and there are beads of sweat lining his forehead, and trickling down the sides of his head.

"You need to come in here,"

Liam balks at that, unsure if he heard him right, "What?"

Aaron opens the bathroom door a little wider, "Just get in here — I need you to check something out for me,"

"What the– No! Definitely not," Liam exclaims, taking a step back, just about ready to leave.

Aaron cannot honestly be serious, can he?

"I really don't know what is going on. I've been feeling this... um, itchy and irritating sensation at my..." he drawls, and brings his eyes down, and nodding in signal.

"And so, you want me to look at your dick now?" Liam asks flat out, hoping it'll be at least a little less awkward, but no, it's only more awkward now.

His whole face feels as if it's on fire and he desperately hopes, no, wants to run away. Seriously, what the fuck was he even thinking when he decided on this stupid prank? He does not even want to think about the repercussions if and when Aaron finds out he is the real culprit here.

"My balls, more specifically," this certainly has to embarrassing for his boss too, but he mostly only looks desperate and freaked out right then, "They are burning and have swelled up to the size of like freaking baseballs. Shit, I feel like they're getting bigger," he groans, leaning and holding onto the door for support, "Fuck, please don't tell me they can explode and this is how I'm going to die,"

Any other instance, Liam would have doubled over in laughter but right then all he can do is just stand there frozen and not know what to do next. He is only snapped out of his alarmed state when his boss hisses at him.

"Liam!"

"Yeah," he blinks, and gives his head a little shake — he can dig himself a grave, and bury himself in it later. Now he's got to help clean up the mess he's created, "I can call a doctor for you. And the meeting... should I reschedule it again?"

"Oh, fuck," he hits his head on the door once, "Um, no. I'll call Chloe and take care of that. And yes, call me a doctor — you can find my personal doctor's number taped on my table. I cannot die like this,"

"Okay, yeah. I'll do that," he says, continuing his internal prayer to not let Aaron retain any actual physical harm — that is not at all what he was intending for here.

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Aaron's personal doctor arrives promptly, and heads directly to the office to inspect what is wrong with him — surely it can't take him long to figure out that it's an allergic reaction to something in his pants. And after that, it won't be long before Aaron puts two and two together and fires Liam.

Maybe Liam should just start packing already and admit his mistakes himself and quit, saving himself whatever dignity he can.

He sneaks out of the office as quietly as he can. There's something else he has to do first, hopefully without anyone knowing. But just as he thinks that, he runs into Jason — right into him actually, since Liam was in a hurry and didn't see him before him.

"Oh, woah. Hey," Jason quickly grabs him by his shoulder before Aaron falls down on his ass, "You good?"

"Shit, I'm sorry,"

"You okay?" Jason questions again, peering down at him although Liam refuses to meet his eye.

He gives him a nod, "I just have to go somewhere,"

"You okay otherwise?"

Another nod.

Liam really has to go. He doesn't want anyone else realising he is gone. But Jason doesn't move to the side or say anything; he keeps looking at him as if expecting to say something.

Liam doesn't mean to sound snappy, he really doesn't, but he does anyway when he says, "What?"

It takes a few seconds before he forms a respond, "Nothing. Uh, you just seem freaked out?"

Only then Liam looks up at him, surprised. He is freaked out, but he didn't think someone he's only known for a couple of days now could recognise that by just looking at him. Is he that transparent?

But still, he forces out a chuckle, "What? Pfft, no. I'm not. I just... have something urgent to do,"

"If you say so," he shrugs, putting both of his hands in his pockets.

He steps to the side, and Liam nods at him in parting before walking past him but he has only taken a few steps before he hears Jason call out to him from behind him.

"If you want, I can drive you wherever it is you need to go? Give you some time to calm down?"

He is surprised yet again by this man. Another thing he didn't quite expect and if he is being honest, that sounds something like he would really appreciate. But does he want to risk this nice man knowing his diabolical side.

Liam sucks in his bottom lip in thought.

Well, Jason hasn't exactly given him a reason yet to not trust him, so, he turns around and scratches the back of his head, and half shrugs.

"Actually, that would be cool. Yeah,"

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