Today was another wasted day. Mimi had never met a more troublesome client than the old man who had squandered her precious hours. He was the same annoying man who kept offering her snacks he had somehow stolen from his wife when she had offered them to her.
Ghostwriting was an exhausting job.
It had already been a month, and all she had to show for her work was 25 pages of raw material. Writing an autobiography for someone else was not new to her, and she was proud of her writing speed, but this chummy, weird, and sneaky old man was just not cooperating. However, the pay was good, so she continued to endure the suffering.
"Mr. Mariamman, can we please get back to work for the sake of the lightmaker himself?"
"Oh! Why, of course! But first, try these quintessence cookies that Rashvi made. They're heavenly with this 7th-grade tea, hmmmm."
Rashvi, his equally weird wife, was the epitome of motherhood. In all her years of life, Mimi's own mother had never pampered her as much as this strange and gorgeous woman had done in a month. Halfway through the month, Mimi realized that this couple did not care much about her writing job but rather wanted her company. Strangely, she couldn't disagree, as she felt good being with them. However, it was a job, and her father had drilled professionalism into her, so she wouldn't take advantage of this beautiful couple.
Galvier Mariamman was a tech company genius who had revolutionized display technology and built an empire after suffering from an accident that had left him with a permanent leg injury and a company on the brink of bankruptcy. His story was one of awe-inspiring material that could be told only if this fat old man would stay still for a moment and give her the necessary details to make it into a book that would reach millions of people.
"Are you seriously eating quintessence cookies that Mom specifically told you not to eat?"
A voice came from behind Mimi, though she would have recognized him without turning her head. Relariel Mariamman was the current head of media & relations at Mariamman Corporation, a handsome young man and the son of Galvier Mariamman.
"What can a few cookies do that the lightmaker has yet to do with me?"
He said it in laughter, a line that held a sad confrontation with reality. Mr. Mariamman was not well. Years of excess drinking as a youth had finally resurfaced, asking for his once owed debts. Mr. Mariamman had stomach cancer and liver failure. As if that wasn't enough, type 2 diabetes had also been given to him as an extra token of gratitude by the lightmaker. Too many complicated words just to describe an old man with amusing eyes and grinning smiles.
Relariel, or Rey, showed signs of pain and discomfort on his perfectly chiseled face. Obviously, his father's dying humor was not among his favorite features. He walked into the room, previously a bedroom for Galvier and his wife, now eerily similar to a hospital room. Mimi felt some awkwardness or butterflies in her stomach as Rey sat beside her in one of the overlaid cushioned chairs for visitors around Galvier's bed.
"You do know that you also have diabetes, right?"
Rey said, snatching the remaining cookies from his father.
"Yes, I remember, with you two hellbent on reminding me about it every morning. Oh, of course, I remember."
"We wouldn't have to if you wouldn't keep insisting on eating other people's snacks every morning!"
"Seriously, Rey, would it really be that bad to die from eating sweets rather than withering away bit by bit through cancer?"
Mimi's heart twisted with pain when she saw the darkened expression on Rey's perfectly shaped face. She felt even more miserable when, as someone whose job is to play with all the words in the world, she couldn't come up with a single one to win the argument.
"Enough with this emotional drama. People who have accepted death do not steal cookies to eat,"
Rashvi broke the awkwardness with her perfectly timed entrance. Sometimes it felt like Rashvi's sole purpose in existing was to be some kind of perfect balance for Mr. Mariamman's dark, self-pity-laden humor.
Today was special, though. It was the day Mr. Mariamman was officially resigning from the position of CEO of Mariam Corporation. Mariam Corporation was a family business, and the position of chairman was often reserved for the one with the largest shareholder or their representative. By officially resigning from the position, Mr. Mariamman had declared that he would also divide the assets of the family business according to his will. This would leave Relariel Mariamman as at least a 30% shareholder of Mariam Corporation from Mariamman's 58% ownership of the company. News and media were going crazy over Relariel being a potential youngest CEO in the history of a multinational mega-corporation with an annual turnaround of 100 billion dollars.
"And you, Rey. Aren't you getting late for the office?" Rashvi also settled beside me, handing Mr. Mariamman some kind of cure-all drink that she made with a mixer.
"Yes, I was just going. Miss Mimi, I can drop you off on the way. I don't think you will get anything from him today." Relariel was always nice like that.
"Yes, Mimi, I need to call my lawyer and finalize some stuff before the press release." Mr. Mariamman said after drinking whatever green liquid Rashvi had given him.
"Okay then. I will come back tomorrow, and please make some time for me, Mr. Mariamman, will you? If you want your book."
"Oh my! Of course, anything for you, Miss Mimi."
We walked out of the room together. Rey was wearing a blue business suit, the man looked dashing no matter what he wore.
"I think he was making fun of me with that last thing he said, right?" I asked him since it was too much for me to bear a silent walk beside a walking model.
"Haha, I don't think so. Though I'm not sure. He has a tendency to not take things seriously."
We were just passing the main corridor when we heard Rashvi following us. I just realized how slowly we were walking. Why was that? I wondered. Rashvi caught up to us with a plate in hand in a second.
"Here, dear, don't forget things now. I think I should also give you my special drink. You look pale nowadays too."
Oh, my notes. How could I forget my notes? Seriously, my brain just turns into mush when I'm around him.
Mimi thanked her hurriedly, and they started walking together. When they arrived at the main door, a white SUV was parked right outside the door. A man wearing casual jeans and a white shirt was opening the door and getting something from the back seat.
The man in the white shirt turned around with a little doll-like girl in hand who had pure silver-white hair and a round plump face. She looked like she had some foreign blood in her.Mimi heard a loud sound as something hit the floor beside her. She turned to see what was going on and she just froze. Relariel and Rashvi both had stone-faced expressions, as if they had just witnessed something unbelievable. Rey's expression changed from surprise to hate ? and Mimi wasn't sure what to make of it. Rashvi looked like she couldn't believe her eyes.
Mimi looked back at the man in the white shirt. He didn't seem familiar to her, but his features felt eerily familiar, as if she knew him but couldn't remember.
"Salvier..." Rashvi whispered in an almost inaudible voice.
Salvier? Ahh! Then it hit her. His features were familiar because he looked like a slightly older Rey.
Salvier Mariamman, the eldest son of the Mariamman family, was standing right in the middle of the driveway with a little girl in his hand, looking at the house with melancholy eyes.
Salvier Mariamman, who had been dead for the past 15 years.