A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Third Person POV

Man's alarm had not yet gone off but he was awakened by the ringtone that he had assigned to his beloved Ben.

Man smiled as he reached out for his phone on the lamp stand beside his bed. Man felt happy that he was the first thing on Ben's mind when Ben woke up in the morning.

"Yes, sweetheart," Man said in a sleepy but loving voice.

Man did not get a response right away.

"Ben?" Man prompted.

"Umm... umm..."

"What is it, Ben?" Man's heart plummeted. His instinct was telling him that Ben was about to give him some bad news.

"I won't be able to see you this weekend. I hope you haven't bought the tickets yet," Ben said in a hurry when he finally found his voice.

"No, I haven't bought the tickets yet, but tell me why you can't come over to see me this weekend," Man said, unable to keep the disappointment showing in his voice.

"Something has come up at work," Ben tried to explain.

"What happened? Does this something have to do with Bright?" Man was starting to feel upset now.

"No... yes... no..."

"Ben! What are you trying to tell me???" Man sat up in bed, anxiously glancing at his bedside clock. He had to start getting ready for work.

"This... this weekend... Bright has decided for the whole team to bring our work outside our office. We will be working overtime to catch our submission deadline. We... we will be working overtime this weekend.... at the... at the... nearby beach..."

"Bloody fuck, Ben!"

Ben winced and shrunk at the sound of Man's angry voice.

"I'm so tempted to fly back there and strangle Bright to death!" Man continued his rant.

"Please, please try to understand, it's nothing to do with P'Bright! It's all about work, nothing more than that!" Ben frantically tried to appease Man.

Man felt so disappointed.

"I will talk to you again later," said Man. "Right now I have to get ready to go to work."

Man ended the call, too upset to say goodbye or to hear anything else from Ben.

His assistant manager Tay immediately went to him as soon as he reached his office.

"Our House Supplies Department head has asked to quit," Tay announced without any preliminaries.

"Shit," Man muttered under his breath.

"Do you want me to put up an ad for his replacement?" Tay asked.

"Yes, do that," Man replied. "When is his last day of working for us?"

"Today will be his last day," Tay replied. "I have already instructed the Payroll head to prepare his last paycheck."

"Shit," Man muttered once more under his breath.

Tay was starting to walk away from Man's office when Man suddenly called him back.

"Wait!" said Man. "Don't put out an ad for his replacement yet! I might be able to persuade someone to come and work in his place."

Man's heart was beating fast as he placed a call to Ben.

He held his breath while he waited for Ben to take his call.

Crap, the phone just kept ringing on the other end and then he was directed to Ben's voice mail.

"Ben, please call me as soon as you get this message. It's urgent that you call me back, first chance you get." Man said when his phone indicated that he could leave a voice message.

"Am I thinking what you're thinking?" Tay asked from the doorway.

"He's not a blood relative so I'm not breaking any company rules," Man replied.