The Essence Of The Darkness
Episode 94: Conflict

"The working hours have not yet begun. And Elana's my lover, so she has a privilege here." Akram uttered coldly, narrowing his eyes in a ready-to-attack manner.

But Xavier was not provoked, the man turned his gaze toward Elana and smiled gently at the woman.

"To this day you will study with Elios, your desk is also near Elios. I have asked Elios for help in sharing his knowledge with you. As my assistant, you'll learn to set my schedule and...."

“What schedule do you have? Don't you just lock yourself up in your house everyday and meet no one? The genius Mr. Xavier usually just sits behind the computer every day and doesn't move at all. You think I don't know your activities? With such activities, what needs to be organized in your schedule?” Akram interjected with a real mocking attitude, taking the opportunity to attack Xavier decisively.

Xavier still kept smiling, even so his gaze sharpened slightly as he stared at Akram.

“I just sit behind the computer every day, but I can make millions of dollars every time without bothering,” with the deliberate attitude Xavier winks towards Elana. “Maybe you could consider me to be your partner, Lana. I can be with you at any time and I'm not going anywhere, we can spend our precious beautiful time every time. I'll be there when you open your eyes in the morning, and I'll keep you company at night when you close your eyes to go to sleep. Unlike if you decide together with Akram,” Xavier cast a look of disdain to Akram. “He's a busy guy and he's a workaholic, he'll wake up in the morning and arrive at work even before his employees arrive, all day he would be busy by business meetings and meetings here and there. Even at night there is still a formal dinner to be attended. The time available to you is few and you should divide yourself by your work..”.

“I can reduce my working hours if it's for Elana,” Akram hugs her on Elana's arm, hugging her in a possessive manner. “Stop interrupting my future wife, Xavier!” attack Akram with anger.

Xavier tilted his head and frowned. Her sharp eyes watched Elana closely.

“Your wife's candidate? Did Lana agree to that? Or again it was a one-sided decision you made by suppressing his freedom of speech?” cynical taunts.

Akram's expression darkened upon Xavier's guess that was right on target. Indeed, although Akram gives Elana the opportunity to study her feelings for a month, whatever Elana answers, it will not change what she has arranged for the woman. In a month, he'll marry Elana. And all Akram needs to do is make sure that this woman will fall in love with him and be willing to marry him voluntarily within this three-month period.

Can it be called the coercion of one-sided will? Not really, is it? Akram has been kind enough to give Elana a month to fall in love with him. It was a generosity that he would not give to another woman.

In that case, why did Xavier's words stab him so? It was as if Akram had returned to being the forger who trapped Elana into his trap and held her there without willing to let go?

As Akram was about to open his mouth to refute Xavier's words, suddenly the clanking of lifts rang out behind them, making all of them turn their heads together toward the source of the sound.

The eyes of the three people were immediately fixated on Elios who had just stepped out of the elevator. Elios' once calm steps immediately faltered when he found himself being stared at by three humans who looked tense as if he had been contradicted.

Elios exhaled a short breath and kept his face expressionless. Meanwhile, deep in his heart he was grimacing bloody.

With Xavier's presence, coupled with Elana's involvement here, would the peaceful atmosphere of his office every day turn into a battlefield at any moment?

Elana herself, who saw the presence of Elios immediately realized that this was the way out of the fight situation of the two brothers who seemed to be never ending. He immediately breaks away from Akram and moves to greet Elios at his workplace.

“Elios.. from now on we will be colleagues. Please help her, I'll learn a lot from you,” Elana just stopped her steps when she was already in front of Elios, her head nodded respectfully, showing her sincerity and determination to learn properly.

Again, Elios appears to raise both palms forward, as if to protect himself from Elana. The man slightly shook his head, while the corner of his eyes glanced carefully towards the two monstrous brothers who looked watching.

“Ti... No need to be too formal Elana, no need to wear 'me' and 'you' with me. And also, from now on call me Elios, because we are colleagues who will learn a lot together,” said Elios quickly, trying to neutralize the situation.

Akram squinted his eyes slowly, but eventually exhaled as well.

“There's still work to do and I don't have time to chat casually with you,” rudely Akram spoke to Xavier, then stepped past the man to head straight to his room.

When he reached the doorway, Akram suddenly stopped his steps and looked back. “After you have finished teaching Elana, bring the file I requested into my room,” Akram pronounces the command to Elios, then turns his eyes to Xavier. “And you're Xavier. You've spent so much of your personal money overhauling your workspace overnight. I don't think you're just gonna use it to sleep, are you? If a genius Xavier Night turns out not to be able to contribute to this company, it is appropriate that you just go home while covering your face with shame,” his sneer cynically.

Afterwards, without waiting for a reaction from the interlocutor, Akram stepped inside his room and half slammed the door shut there.

Xavier shrugged as he rolled his eyeballs in a deliberate silly manner, he then threw a smile at Elios and Elana before speaking in a relaxed seductive tone.

“Well, you know what to do. Learn from Elios, Lana. We will discuss the next more complex work. For now, I will sleep in my room as expected by our boss,” he said calmly, then stepped in an elegant manner stepping into his own room, and closing the door, he said, just like Akram did.

***

***

It was almost lunchtime and Elana spent time with Elios. A lot of what he learned from Elios from just a few hours together, about the system of making an effective schedule, how to archive files on a hardcopy or digital basis, he said, and also the most interesting is to learn about computer systems from special software that is made to make it easier for assistants and secretaries to organize their boss schedules.

Miraculously, the schedule settings system is connected online and can be connected directly to the phone. Elios has helped install the system on his phone, and now he can do settings, editing to recording both from his phone and through the office laptop that has been provided for him.

With the program, Elana can not only make schedule settings digitally and also do digital mail filing as well, he can also do other things that turned out to be also done by a personal assistant such as preparing reports, preparing meeting agendas, preparing speeches/declarations of leaders, etc, make an overview of various news and essays contained in newspapers, brochures, magazines and various other media, which have to do with the interests of the office or company, even correcting various printed materials, etc, for example: invitations, forms, brochures and lists conceptualized by the company.

During this time, Elana always thought that the task of a personal assistant was only to answer the phone and arrange the schedule of her superiors and take care of archival matters and correspondence, as well, it turns out that the work of assistants and private secretaries is more complex than that. You could say that everything related to their boss, must be handled effectively by the secretary.

For now, as Akram said earlier this morning, Xavier's schedule is empty to jump without contents. The man also said that he would only sleep all day.

Really it? Elana herself did not know the answer. Until noon this day, the two doors in front of them did not open at all and no one dared to disturb the two monstrous people who were in a separate room next to each other in there.

Elios glanced at his watch, then looked at Elana awkwardly.

“I think it's time for lunch. You want to eat..?” elios' voice came to a halt when the door of the room where Akram was located opened suddenly and the figure appeared in the doorway.

“Elios order the usual food,” with his characteristic arrogant style, Akram signals his hand towards Elana, telling her to come closer. “You had lunch with me,” he said commanding like a shitty boss.

“Bring your bag. We had lunch outside,” said Xavier calmly, then stepped towards the elevator without waiting for an answer from Elana.

For a moment Elana and Elios were both glued together. Elana is confused and Elios is frozen with the phone in his hand.

However, it didn't take long for Elana to realize the situation, after all, Xavier was her direct boss, so whatever Xavier ordered, she had to follow him.

“It's break time. You can't take Elana out all you want.”

It was Akram who broke the awkward silence between them, making Xavier who had stepped towards the elevator instantly stop himself. The man turned around and showed me the phone he had been carrying.

“Lana will have lunch with me while finishing work,” Xavier shows the phone in her hand towards Akram. “I just made a lunch appointment with an external auditor who handled this company for many years. There's a strange peculiarity that I found in your company's financial statements. So thin that even the best auditors won't notice it. Only a meticulous person like me could,” Xavier looked so confident, looking up his chin haughtily. “If you don't believe me, I can contact them and they will talk to you directly. In any case, in that business meeting, I needed my assistant to accompany me,”

Xavier's words left Akram stunned. And before Akram could speak anything, it was Elan who made up his mind for everything. He knew that he had to stop the spark of infighting that could turn into this prolonged war.

Quickly Elana packed her bag, carried what needed to be carried then stood facing Akram.

“I…. I'll go,” said Elana apologizing to Akram. He nodded his head to say goodbye to Akram and Elios before turning over and following Xavier into the elevator.

Akram's eyes darkened as he stared at the tightly shut elevator door. Both of his hands clenched as if holding back a very intense emotion. He thought putting Elana as Xavier's assistant was the best decision for now. He thought he could hold everything back, as long as Elana was closer to him in this company building.

But now, not only did he have to endure the longing of his lonely nights without Elana, he also had to lose Elana at work because Xavier stole it?

“Master Akram, how about your lunch order?” Elios spoke softly and was afraid. He still holds the phone in his hand while with all his courage he tries to distract Akram from the elevator which has certainly moved down.

“No need.” Akram growled his answer, then turned around angrily and slammed the door of his study hard.

***

***

"Meeting with the auditor…. Held where?” Elana who was in the elevator alone with Xavier finally defeated her fear and won her curiosity by asking.

Xavier was silent and gave no clues about their meeting, but Elana had learned a little earlier that before their boss had a business meeting, he should have arranged a restaurant reservation, preparation of materials and even making appointments with business associates.

How could he miss all that? Should he be called an assistant then?

Xavier. The man as usual looked unusually relaxed, leaning against the elevator wall and raising next to his eyebrows watching Elana.

“Why do you want to know?” slowly tanyanya.

Elana cleared her throat nervously, then clapped her bag awkwardly.

“I don't bring anything here. Shouldn't there be materials to be prepared and various other things?” sahut Elana is not sure.

Xavier chuckles. “No need, all already saved here. You will feel surprised when you find out how everything I have absorbed will stick in my head and not easily escape until a long time,” Xavier touches his head in a joking manner. “In addition to having above average IQ, I also have photographic memory,” said with a bitter tone.

The word photographic memory sounds familiar to Elana. Because Elana had seen about the photographic memory of it in a movie she had seen. Human memory is usually limited and the human brain adapts to its capabilities. To overcome the limited capacity of the brain, the brain will sort out the most important memories. New memories will be displayed, old memories will be stored in the form of faint memories, some discarded, some sorted out to be issued later in times of need. That's why sometimes we don't remember one song for ten years, but when suddenly the song is played, we still memorize the lyrics and can sing it.

However, unlike humans who have these capabilities, such humans can remember clearly anything even if only a glance and it sticks clearly without any vague possibility at all. You could say the memory is attached and plastered clearly since humans have the ability to remember maybe at the age of about two years. He could read one tome just by turning each page and reading the lightning and ending up with the ability to memorize every broken he said. He can memorize every event clearly and even memorize every minute of the incident in detail without being missed.

It was a very wonderful gift. Why does Xavier even look sad to have it?

As if he could read what Elana thought, Xavier straightened his back, then tilted his head slightly before speaking.

“Having a very strong memory is indeed a gift. But, the terrible thing is that you cannot forget all the events, even the most terrible and terrible events,” continued slowly while squinting as if to endure pain.

Elana immediately remembered the terrible story that befell Xavier and the shadow that as a human, Xavier could not forget it and instead remembered clearly every story felt so terrible and sad. Elana's expression turned sad as she looked at Xavier carefully.

“Ma...forgive me..” he said slowly fearing hurting.

Unexpectedly, Xavier even laughed, the man moved slowly closer to Elana and patted her as if calming.

“Hey, don't feel guilty. What's inside my head is weird and I'm used to it. Even though there is something bad about my condition, there are still advantages that I can take. Akram himself said it, right? I just sit around and money comes to me young. Thanks to my brain,” just as Xavier finished his sentence, the elevator door opened, and the man immediately stepped out followed by Elana.

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