New Man

VIP ward, ICU, Linken Hospital.

The door to the ward opened as a lady in white walked into the room which had a plain white wall. The lady in white was a nurse who was doing her routine checkup in the VIP section.

The nurse went over to the bedside of the patient, a young elite in a coma for the past three days, and proceeded with the checkup. She had a file and pen in hand as she started.

Firstly, she looked at the IV inserted into the man's body through his hand, holding it to confirm if the fluid needed a refill. Seeing it didn't, she tilted her head to look at the electrocardiogram for any changes on the waves which detects his inner system before scribbling some notes on the file.

Fine with the results, she went to the air conditioning system to change the filter before she began heading out of the room. She was just a feet away from stepping out of the room when a beeping sound halted her steps.

Turning back as the beeping sound continued, she went over to check the cause of the sound when she realized it was coming from the electrocardiogram. As she stared at it, she could see that the waves which labeled his heart and pulse were moving to a decline all of a sudden.

She was startled. The man was fine awhile ago but now, there was a possibility he could die at any moment. In a rush, she went out of the ward to alert the doctor before things go out of hand.

.....

``It's just as expected. But thankfully, we didn't make that move first.``

Ryan typed the content and sent the message to the individual he was chatting with in the chat box on his smartphone.

Looking up, he went straight to the counter to get what he came here for. He was the only buyer presently left in the café which was located near the company as six others had gone before him.

"I'll be having one each of black coffee, espresso, cappuccino and macchiato," He told the lady behind the counter as he ordered four different flavors of coffee.

As the lady left to get his order, a chime came out of the phone in his hand. He brought up the phone to his chest level, pressing the power button to then reveal a message notification atop the lakeshore wallpaper screen.

Tapping on the notification, the chat box menu came out and he proceeded to read the message.

``Where you at now?``

It was from Matthew, again. Using both hands to handle the phone, he typed a reply to him.

``Café, down the road. Will be up in a bit.``

"Here you go, mister." the lady behind the counter announced soon as she brought the filled styrofoam cups in a beverage carrier. Taking out a couple of notes from his pocket, he settled the bill and grabbed the carrier carefully from the counter with his right hand before strolling out of the building.

A burst of cold air rushed to his body as he stepped out. But luckily, he was in thick clothing. The weather had simply changed overnight and this was probably due to the fact that it was the beginning of the last month of the year.

He got into his car parked in front of the café building and drove up to the company just up the road.

.....

"Woah, woah, woah! What have we got here?" Matthew let out on seeing Ryan approaching the heads section. What got his attention was the beverage carrier he had in hand, harboring four cups of coffee.

Setting the carrier on his personal desk, Ryan replied, "What does it look like?"

"You actually got four cups of coffee... are you gonna have them all?" Matthew asked.

Ryan sighed. Here goes the questioner!

"No. I got them the four of us," He told Matthew.

"Four of us? You mean, with Cole?" Matthew looked totally surprised.

"Yeah... with Cole,"

Eyeing him up and down, Matthew felt there was something wrong with him. Why the hell would he wake up one morning and decide to go through the stress of getting all four of them cups of coffee?

"Did you bump your head into something this morning?" Matthew didn't hide his curiosity as he spoke.

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I literally don't understand why you'll just wake up on a bright cold day and decide that you're going to get cups of coffee for your colleagues... including Cole!?" Matthew made sure to keep his voice as low as possible but he just couldn't help but let out his mind. Luckily enough, Cole wasn't around at the moment to hear Matthew talking about him.

"It's a new month, Matthew."

"So?"

"I'm trying to be a new man," He casually stated.

"That is no tangible excuse, Ry."

"Do you want a cup or not?"

Immediately, like a switch, Matthew went from a serious expression to a playful one. "Oh my, is that Espresso I smell from there?"

"Yeah, it's that one over there," Ryan pointed to the cup at the rear.

"I'll have to save it for later. Just finished a cup some few minutes ago," Matthew said while grabbing the cup filled with espresso by the sleeve. "Hey Meg, Ryan got us coffee."

Megan, not bothered about their buildup conversation, showed face to Matthew who held up a a styrofoam cup of coffee in her direction, shaking it to indicate what he was saying.

"Is there anything he's celebrating?" she asked.

"Nope, I literally think he bumped his head into something." Matthew pointed a finger to his head as he spoke.

Megan revealed a sly smile. "How much bumping do you think could result into this?"

"Hmmm," Matthew thought for a second. "I would say... a massive amount."

"I'm still here if you guys might have forgotten. Why does it seem like I'm not existing in this place anymore?" Ryan blurted out from behind.

Matthew turned to face him while grinning widely, "Oh, so you're still here? Thought you'd gone out for a sec,"

"I'm not buying that sarcasm of yours, Matthew." Ryan sternly replied. "Besides, it's just coffee. What's the big fuss about it?"

"If it's something you do often, we wouldn't think of it as something out of the ordinary," Megan was the one to reply.

He ignored her comment and instead asked. "Cappuccino, Megan?" Taking out a cup from the carrier, he handed it to Matthew who in turn passed it to her.

"Thanks," Megan said.

He eventually went to sit down as his legs began to hurt. "Which organization took the first action?" He asked while handling the cup of black coffee by the sleeve.

"Siro News," Matthew replied. "Happened about late last night."

"And the public's reactions?"

"As predicted, they didn't take it lightly. Told you on text already," Matthew told him.

He took a sip out of the warm liquid. "What about the other media organizations that took it down as well... what reactions did they receive?"

"The same," Matthew hit his finger on the desk. "And it's crazy to see... Online, most people are even thinking of boycotting the taking down of the news. That would definitely be a huge blow for the organizations involved,"

"These reactions were expected to be triggered from the initials. You know they never get to hear anything about the Rubens. So getting this particular one and allowing it to be taken from them isn't something they would take lightly at all..."

"Just the way of the Borderians." Matthew chipped in.

"We just have to make sure we take advantage of the situation. I'm going to discuss with the managing director and the news director to ensure we don't take down the news just yet. At least to save face," He took another sip from the cup after speaking.

"You think they'll come to an agreement with that?" Megan had to ask after listening in.

"Unless they have a better tactic of sorting out the issue, I don't see why they shouldn't come to an agreement," He calmly stated. "The only problem I know I might have is Brent,"

"You both have never seemed to agree on the same thing." Matthew stated.

"I know," He said as he stood up. "You guys, get on with your work. I have to meet with them now to maintain the issue at hand. And when Cole gets back, kindly give him the last cup of coffee."

He had just begun moving forward when Matthew stopped him to ask a question.

"And what should I tell Cole if he asks for the reason you got the beverage for him?"

He didn't reply instantly as he thought for some seconds. As he was backing Matthew already, he tilted his head so that only the side of his eyes could be seen. While he gave a reply, a smirk escaped his lips at the same time.

"Tell him I'm now a new man."