CONVERSATIONS

I went out of the bathroom still processing everything that happened. Bathroom encounters would always remain the one thing I hated. I was not even sure if I was hallucinating the entire thing with The Brandon Kelly acting like the nicest dude on earth. I never thought of him as someone who would work in a video streaming company. He was more of the type of person to be the one in the videos acting as a promoter of a certain service or product. Besides all of that just the way he acted so buddy buddy with me as if we were long-time friends. I had no memory of ever interacting with the guy outside of school activities. All of these things were just not adding up. My mind automatically places him in The XR category of our search. It was just odd for someone to act so close to me.

As I walked distracted I looked around the room to see if I could spot Miranda. It must have been the lightning or the mixture of white and black around the room but I did not find her. At the same time, Glenn was nowhere to be seen. He must have been with the other girl, Christina. I was by myself and now I had to talk to the other people in the room making another list of suspects.

I strained my back and tried my best to make the boss' business Cyrus take over. I had been to events a million times before and I knew how to at least keep a small conversation up. Even though I did not enjoy doing it. I decided the best way was to treat the entire situation as a networking event. An event where everyone was looking to benefit from the rest. They were no longer my ex-classmates they had became future business partners and assistants. With my head in the right place, I adjusted my tie and looked around the room to see if I could spot a familiar face in the room. Five years was enough for anyone to change their appearance slightly but it was definitely not enough to completely change.

After spending a minute scanning the room I managed to find five familiar faces and by familiar, I meant those who looked like they did not leave their rooms for hours on end just like me. It was easier than I thought it would be. I just had to look for people who had poor postures like slouching, they looked like they wanted to sit the entire time, they wore comfortable shoes that were easy to walk in or something like fancy crocs that made it easy to walk around with, and finally, anyone who wanted to escape the room. I choose all these factors based on how I looked in most situations when I am forced into a place I did not want to be at.

I decided to move to the person who was closest to me who was refilling their bottle with the water in the dispenser. We had the same skin tone but he was shorter than the average male height. Not as short as Miranda, to Miranda he would be a giant to her but short to the height of a short king.Around five-eight.His name was Walter. I could barely remember anything about him but I knew I could wing it once I started talking to him.

Grabbing a small tumbler I went over to the gray and black dispenser and put water in it. I was trying to be cool and slick and not too direct with my approach to him.

"Oh hey... Is that Walter?"I said, acting surprised.

"Yeah, I saw you eyeing me from back there Mayday.''He said, smiling in a way that made me feel like an utter idiot.

"Five years and I still can't be cool," I said, scratching my head in embarrassment.

"No, no riches in the world could ever make you cool. But how are you doing? Should I even ask when we see your face in the news everyday?"

"I have been chilled.You know taking care of Digicliff,hanging out with Glenn, nothing too extreme."

"You can literally buy everyone here a house and you would still have money to buy five islands with a whole waitstaff. What the hell do you mean that 'nothing too extreme.'"

I hated when the conversation was steered towards anything concerning my wealth. It felt weird to even try to talk about it since it could sound stuck up and entitled. Considering all of the money and achievements were accomplished from my pain it was hard to even talk about. I laughed nervously at his comment and thought of a way to steer the conversation away from myself.

"And you wonder how you have been?What was that thing you were working on for Lidar tasks."I asked without something better to say.

"Well once i figured the algorithim , i was stupid enough to post it on a forum to get other people's opinions.Then can you imagine it was stolen."

"Ohh that's terrible."I said, feeling my body already tired.

I have heard this story so many times before. The structure was simple. It went " oh my God i worked on something ,it worked out but then once i got it ,my idea was either stolen or someone beat them to the solution, but they got it but now they are working on the next big thing."

It was a simple plot told by many in the technology industry. In reality, it was their pride speaking that made them not admit that they could not figure out the code themselves and they never wanted outside help. Walter never wanted help. I knew that just from the way he carried himself. He would never admit failure even if we both knew it.

"Yeah so i have decided to design a new way to shop." he said, continuing with his sentence.

"New way to shop?"I asked intrigued with his new venture.

"Well i would tell you Cyrus but I have planned to pitch this idea to other companies and I feel like you would have skipped the line if i tell you here."

"That's cool I don't want to skip the long line of people waiting for the next big thing.have you started working on it or just the pitch?"

"Everything is in the works."He said lying. I could see it in his face, he was gambling on the pitches before he could start on the idea. That was a bad idea to pitch without trying to see if it would even work out. It was a rookie mistake. I could have advised him and told him that was he was doing would cost him but I knew he would just get defensive and that was the last thing I wanted that night.

"Is that all you have been doing since high school or have you done anything else? Did you go to university?"I asked, taking a sip of water.

"I do university online so that i can have the flexibility to do my own things and slowly build my empire."

"Oh an empire well i hope to be one of the people to witness the growth."I said holding my tumbler in awkwardness

It did not take long before I could tell that he was doing nothing in his life. He was crossed off my list of suspects. It was too clear. He was prideful, lazy and I could tell that he was doing little work in the projects he had set for himself. He lacked the drive to push himself into further distances in his career and potential. The lack of independent thinking and self-responsibility could not be suited for a mastermind hacker and prodigy like XR. Even if it was Walter I would not trust him with my life.

After a few minutes of exchanging empty words, I went on my way, looking at the room the people I had spotted previously had shifted from their initial location. It was dumb of me to even expect that they would all stay put in one place but it was not bad to hope. I had to search once again for people to talk to. Now I knew I had to mix it up so that the people who would be spying on me using the cameras in the room could not see a pattern. The Executive were thorough in their investigations and once they suspected me again they would even be tempted to lock me up and stage my death. I looked at the closest people near me. It was a group of about six people talking among themselves. I thought I would switch up the pattern to moving from the people who were closest to me.

I gulped and drank the water in the bottle once again to get some courage. I walked up to them and placed the fakest smile on my face and made an internal prayer that I would not make a fool of myself in front of time like what happened with Walter.

"Hey guys."I said breaking into their group.

"Mayday is that you.Hey."One of them said awkwardly.

"The Cyrus Mayday," Another said.

"You look good," Another said.

It was hard talking to one person that I knew fairly well but now I was in a group of people with who I didn't even remember going to the same school with and then I had to talk to all of them at once. I knew that they would throw so many questions the way that I might have not been able to deal with them in the best way. I did not think through my decision deep enough.

"Hope you guys are enjoying yourselves."I said nervously.

"Yeah we are great, the champagne is amazing, where did you get it?"The other asked.

I looked at her and I was clueless as her.

"Oh that i am not really that well versed in alcoholic beverages but i can always ask the caterers where they got it from"

"Oh and how did they make the vegetarian pigs in a blanket.They were to die for."

I looked at them once again clueless about what they were asking me. I should have talked to the catering service before the event.it made me look like a rich douche who did not even take the time to research about the food being served at his own party.

"Well...….i will have to ask them that question also."I said, wanting to run away from the conversation.

"Oh, that will be nice. The food is to die for."One of them said trying to feel the empty space of

Silence.

"Okay well, hope you continue to enjoy it. I will make sure to pass the message about the food to the caterers. I know they will be pleased to hear that their hands were able to produce delectable products.''I said walking away.

I was an idiot even walking up to a group of people who I never knew. Being a host was too much work for my introverted self. I scanned the room once again to see if I could see someone else who I could approach. Sadly they moved once again. The room was constantly moving. It felt like every second someone was moving from their initial place. They were shifting inside the large room as if they were gas particles hitting one another and then spreading to all the sides of the room and within seconds it happened once again. It was making my mind tired. That with the added bonus of stress and expectations.

The room started spinning and I was spinning with it. I took water once again so that I could push my body to talk to more and more people. I was not at my best and I never felt so bad before being in a large area filled with people. As I stood there spinning I decided to go talk to people around and just confirm if they were doing well.

After ten minutes a bunch of random people how they were I was exhausted I looked around the room for somewhere to sit. I sat down to see if the room would stop spinning and I could get my head in the game. I walked over to one of the chairs exhausted and sat down. I took another big gulp of water and I lowered my head and the room went black.