Episode 17

Good morning," the tanned man greeted everyone he passed by on the street.

He had a headache from not sleeping well and a sore neck. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept peacefully and undisturbed.

He ignored the stares from everyone because many people knew and had read the newspapers. The only one who had no idea what was going on or why he was being stared at was Maiston. He took the elevator and noticed two girls staring and whispering. He began to wonder if he had something on his face, so as soon as he got out of the elevator, he headed straight for the bathroom.

Looking at himself in the mirror, he saw everything was fine, but he encountered some guys who also gave him dirty looks.

He walked out and blinked several times because everything felt odd. He started to think he might look like an alien or had magically woken up in an alternate universe. His mind raced with possibilities until he arrived at his office.

"Hello, Rouse," he greeted his secretary. "How's everything been around here? Did Jim do his tasks?"

He waited for an answer while checking documents to see that everything was in order.

"Yes, boss, everything's in order, and Boss Jim completed all his tasks."

"I'm glad. Anything new I should know? There was a pending call from China, has it been made or not yet?" he asked, giving her a brief glance. She too looked strange, just like everyone else, but she tried to hide it a little more. "I hope not, so I can handle it instead of Jim."

"No, boss, no call has been made yet, boss."

"Perfect, then let me know immediately when they call. Any messages or anything?"

"No, boss."

He looked at her strangely because he had never heard her use "boss" so many times. He decided to go in, half-expecting to find someone dead, but everything was in perfect condition, so he couldn't understand why everyone was behaving so oddly.

He saw magazines and newspapers on his desk and thought it was time to find out what was going on in the world.

His hand was about to pick up a magazine when he heard:

"Maiston!"

He jumped and looked towards the door to see Jim.

"There's an emergency!"

"What? What happened?"

"Someone fell down the stairs. Go check it out quickly, you're the boss, damn it!"

He nodded and ran to see how serious the accident was. In those seconds, Jim grabbed the magazines and newspapers to throw them away. They were old, but Maiston wasn't supposed to see them, and he followed him out.

The tanned man looked around, trying to find where the accident occurred. He went down more than two flights of stairs without finding anyone injured and realized it had been a cruel joke, one of many that Jim played on him. He calmly walked back upstairs to find Jim leaning against the wall, smiling.

"Very funny."

"I just wanted to see if you were in shape, man."

"Aha. I need to go; I have things to do. I need you to check some documents quickly."

"Of course, Supreme Boss," Jim joked as he followed him in.

They entered the office and Jim received the documents, nodding as Maiston explained what needed to be done. He saw Maiston looking better than a few weeks ago and felt relieved that the vacation had helped a bit.

"By the way, the magazines that were here?"

"What would I know, I'm leaving."

He watched Jim leave and looked around because he wanted to see those magazines. He knew they were there and that he was about to take them before Jim called him. He stood up, searching the room, thinking they must have fallen when he noticed there was nothing.

He sighed exasperatingly because he was starting to get angry again. He decided to take the remote control to turn on the television. After much pressing, he realized it wouldn't turn on. He examined the remote to see if someone had removed the batteries, but everything was in place. He approached the television to check it out. He tried to turn it on by pressing its buttons, but nothing worked. He started to think there was no electricity but then discarded the idea seeing that the office lights were on.

He moved his hands behind the set and found a cable that had been cut.

"Who the hell cut the cable of the television?"

He walked ready to ask Rouse what had happened and that's when he saw something poking out from the trash can. From a distance, he noticed they were the magazines he had wanted to see a while ago.

He reached out to grab them, seeing them all wrinkled. He didn't recall ever tossing them there, but the strangeness of the entire situation gave him chills. He opened the magazine to see the reported news. It contained articles about celebrities, famous foods, statistics on global obesity, and poverty. Then, he got to the section about the most powerful celebrities of the past year where Prince was mentioned again.

The information was brief and insignificant, so he continued until he came across more images of himself. He found it strange that he was featured in two different sections.

He read on calmly, his eyes widening with each word.

"Hey, Maiston…"

Jim fell silent when he saw what Maiston was reading and simply closed his eyes; he had planned to tell him later that afternoon when they'd be sitting comfortably. He had threatened almost everyone in the company to prevent them from saying anything inappropriate, but now it was clear that none of that had been worthwhile.

Maiston kept reading, seeing the words:

Pregnancy.

Baby.

Marriage.

And photos that had been taken of him at some point.

"I suggest you take this calmly," Jim offered, coming to his side. "It's probably Photoshop."

Photoshop was often used in many images, and the paparazzi always exploited it for their own benefit. He saw Prince stepping out with something covered in his arms, then again with something in his arms, and he noticed it was a girl.

His eyes took in the entire scene, and the photos were clear enough for him to see plainly what the girl had on her neck.

"T-the mark. She has… a mark."

"A mark? What mark?" Jim asked, looking at the photo.

Then, the tanned man pointed it out, and that's when Jim saw it.

"Oh, damn, she has your birthmark. Well, then it's not Photoshop."

Jim kept staring at the photo, unable to take his eyes off it. Maiston didn't know what to think or do. He felt his breath failing him, his legs growing weak.

"I think I'm going to faint."

"Just don't pass out on me…"

He did not manage to catch Maiston as he collapsed to the floor like a dropped sack of potatoes.

"Rouse! Rouse!"

"What happened?!" Rouse asked in alarm, seeing him on the floor.

"He fainted, do you have any alcohol nearby?"

"Yes."

"Hurry up, woman."

She rushed out and returned almost instantly, handing him a bottle of alcohol and some cotton, which he dampened and waved under Maiston's nose a couple of times.

Maiston groaned from the pain in his head from the impact and slowly opened his eyes. Everything was blurry, and Jim's words kept echoing in his ears. Only Jim and Rouse were there, but he saw six people looking down at him.

"Don't get up yet; you hit your head. Are you okay? If you feel too bad, I'll call a doctor. You're too old for shocks like this."

"Did he see the news?" Rouse asked.

"Yeah, he saw it, and he saw that he shares the same birthmark."

"Oh, then he can't deny it. Birthmarks don't lie. My dad had an affair with a woman, and they had a baby. He tried to deny it, but the baby had his birthmark, so he didn't have many options but to admit the truth."

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