This is a work of fiction
Story is original
Materials taken off the net
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What do you do when you realise an inconvenient truth ?
That your wife is the only reason you get to keep your job.
To make things worse, you are made to choose and to sit through a step by step presentation of what your wife did.
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This piece offers some choices for the reader. You can decide which presentation you want to sit through and open the respective file to finish the 2nd half of the story.
There are multiple paths, but they all lead to the same ending.
Knowing that your wife’s body is the reason you made it through the financial crisis
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My wife is the most amazing woman ever and everyday when I wake up beside her, I ask myself the same question.
What did I ever do to deserve her ?
I love my wife.
I really do.
She is the world to me.
Felicia is my soulmate, my best friend and most importantly, the woman that I married. I know she loves me for who I am, for the simple man inside me.
When I got to know Felicia as colleagues, we hit it off right away.
I admit it was her looks at first attracted me to her.
Felicia’s curvy body and sexy legs gave me an erection every time I look at her but other than secretly lusting for her at a distance, I did nothing else.
Why is that so ?
That’s because of how inferior I feel I am compared to Felicia.
She joined the company as a junior executive while I’m just a nobody technician.
She’s better educated, she looks so good, she’s classy in her behaviour, it immediately puts her at a level above me. She speaks English so well while I had to struggle to communicate with my broken Singlish with my superiors.
I was secretly thankful that we work in different departments, so that when we past each other along the corridor, she will not know how incompetent I am.
I am an incompetent man, I’m very simple minded. I don’t know how to say things that my superiors like to hear. What made it worst was I just kept top myself and do my own work whereas my fellow colleagues were all street smart enough to choose tasks that were more visible to the management.
It leapfrogged them to promotions and wage increase while I remained where I was for almost 3 years.
I know people secretly called me the company loser.
I don’t blame them. Sometimes I too think I am a loser as well.
It’s as if I’m contented just living my life out quietly, earning a 2k wage that increases by $20 a year.
My life changed for the better on the 2nd year of Felicia joining the company. She was transferred to my department and she could tell right away who the genuine workers were.
She knew I had the most experience while some were just trying to muddle their way through the company. Felicia placed more emphasis on me and gave me more responsibilities.
More visible ones that is.
What made her so good was that she managed to play everyone perfectly. In a good way I mean.
She balanced it all out. Not only did she lay the path for me to get promoted, she handled superiors well. Felicia is the darling of the company.
Everyone liked her. With the way she looks, there’s no lack of indecent proposals from more senior managements, especially the Caucasians.
Regional bosses would fly in just to have a chat with Felicia, offers of overseas positions would soon follow but Felicia would turn them down. She knew.
She knew the offers are not to be taken at surface value.
There are additional terms and conditions attached to it. Some of the prettier staff have taken up the offer. Many of them comfortably set for life.
Just need to spread your legs for a year or two, come back to Singapore and you’re set for a senior management position. Not to forget the money and bonus.
It was around this period that Felicia and I hooked up.
She’s tired of having to play the office politics game everyday at work and there’s nothing more she looked forward to than to have a simple meal with me after work.
I loved everything about Felicia.
The way she looked, the way she dressed. The way she carried herself.
I’m always in simple jeans and a polo T but not Felicia. She wore dresses and heels that would give men an erection in a heartbeat.
There is so much attention on her and for come weird magical reasons, Felicia love me. The affection she showed, the way she looks at me. There’s no way of lying about that.
When news of Felicia and I getting together spread, people were dumbfounded. No one believed for a moment. Not even our CEO.
By the time we announced our low-key engagement, Felicia was already an assistant regional manager making 3 times my pay.
I got promoted twice ever since I got closer to Felicia and even then, my pay barely touched 2.8k. I’m only a simpleton with a barely recognised diploma from a dubious school run out of a makeshift school.
I know where I stand. 6 years at the company and I manage to get the 2.8k pay, I’m already very happy and contended.
Felicia and I got married. We did not hold a big banquet, just a low-key buffet with close friends. We did what all couples did in Singapore, we got a flat in the suburbs.
Everyday after work, we would cook a simple meal, and cuddle up in front of the TV catching HongKong serial dramas.
We have no plans for kids or to start a family. We’re just happy with life the way it is for us.
Work, travel twice a year. Doing whatever we wanted to do.
Then our lives came crumbling down in 2008. When the great financial crisis hit, everything went south.
Retrenchments were on the table and rumours abound that many of us will not make it through the year.
Word is my entire department is going to be let go and the work outsourced to another company.
Felicia tried her best to work something out for me, but it was no use.
The decision came at the highest level. All 32 of us in my department are to be let go. I stared blankly at the letter that came from HR.
All the years I’ve given the company and it comes down to this.
Some of my colleagues cried.
Not only my department is affected, everyone is. Felicia had to take a 20% pay cut, and 40% of her team were asked to leave.
It was a terrible period for everyone.
When I met my wife at the carpark for a chat after I cleared my locker, she cried, hugging onto me at a corner of the empty carpark.
Felicia : I’m sorry… I’m sorry….
James : It’s ok… it’s ok….i’m lucky enough to be able to stay in this job for so long…
We were discussing plans, our housing loans, how much savings we have. We are ok. We have always been thrifty with our finances but with one half of the couple without a job, it’s bound to rattle some nerves.
Felicia and I agreed to talk in detail after work and we parted ways. I headed for the exit with a recyclable bag while my wife started walking back to the lobby.
I could hear the piercing scream of her phone ringing and the sound of her sweet voice answering the call echoed out in the carpark.
Felicia : really ? …. Yes… yes please…. Thank god… please… thank you so much…. Thank you… thank you…. Thank you…. I really owe you a meal on this Ethan…..thank you… ok…alright… I’ll see you in Hong Kong next week… cheers…
I could hear that chirp in my wife’s voice as she started running towards me in her high heels.
She looked visibly relaxed and there was no hiding the happiness in her face.
James : what happened ? … what is going on…
My wife hugged me and she told me she got me another position in the company.
It’s a low position but she pulled some strings. I’ll be attached to a administrative support team. Pay isn’t great but at 2.2k, it’s not bad.
Felicia : you can start tomorrow…. I think you know some of the people there…. Auntie Dolly….. Mike…
James : Yes.. yes.. I know them…. Wow… how… how did you…
Felicia : called in a few favours… but all is good… hahaha…
We embraced in the carpark for a few more seconds and agreed to have a nice meal to celebrate.
Things like this really shows what it means to be connected.
You have the necessary networks and strings to pull.
This is why they say working in general, it’s never about how well you do your work, it’s who you know.
Over the next couple of months, more news of the economy hitting shit bottom started to flow in and a few of my friends have also lost their job.
I was truly lucky.
Job security is something I cannot take for granted.
I like my new role in the new department. My colleagues are nice and there is no office politics at play. We are all simple folks. The department deal with the administrative aspects of the management including booking of air tickets and accommodation for their travel needs.
The requests come in through the system, we will get the documents sorted out with the appointed tour agency for the tickets and the rooms. Simple stuff.
There is also the more mundane stuff that involves sorting mail for each department, but all is good.
I enjoy my work and working at the same company as my wife also meant I get to see her every now and then for lunch or to take the same train home.
It was when I chanced upon a weird email on my colleagues’ computer one day when I realised something might be off.
That colleague is Ethan. A senior associate in the office and if you remembered, he was the one I heard my wife talking to on the day I was retrenched.
I was in his office changing the toner for his personal printer during lunch break. I came back from lunch earlier that day because I ate alone. My colleagues have their own plans and Felicia needed to go for a meeting off site in the morning.
Since I saw a request for the toner to be changed at Ethan’s printer, I took one from the storeroom and got right to it.
His terminal is on the screen saver mode and while reaching for a tissue on his desk, I accidentally hit his mouse.
I froze.
I could feel a lump in my throat as I stared at the screen.
The wallpaper that Ethan was using is a picture of someone I know.
It’s my wife.
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Main story leading up to choice path ( 6000 word )
Choice of 4 different presentation by Ethan on what your wife did ( 1500 – 2500 words EA )
You will get
1) Zip folder containing 5 PDF files. Main PDF + 4 short paths.