Three cups of coffee later, we head out for the underworld – or rather, University Labs, where the battle of the day was to take place. Rence was already at the lobby when we arrived. He nodded at us when our eyes met.
"Good morning. Is Louie not here yet?" he asked me.
"I was about to ask you the same question," I replied, checking my wrist watch.
"That's a first," he frowned. "He used to brag about always coming 10 minutes early every time we meet up. It's almost seven AM."
"Well, I guess he has a reason to stay up late now," I said with a snort.
"He has just arrived," said Aahmes, facing the front hall.
"Sorry, I'm late!" Louie gasped for breath as he walked briskly towards us. "I overslept."
"Hmph. Are you sure all you did was sleep?" I mocked him.
"Well, if you really need to know," he frowned at me, "I had to drop Josh off at his school before coming here and..."
"So, you overslept with your boyfriend whom you just dropped off to school," I said with a smirk. "What exactly were you two doing last night?"
Louie glared at me before simply looking away.
"Anyway, where is this meeting supposed to take place?" he changed the subject.
"Before anything else..." I led the two to the front desk.
"Good morning, Prof. Antonio, are your companions both alphas?" asked the receptionist, "They would need to take the suppressant if they are."
"I can vouch for them," I replied. "They have been taking suppressants that I have prescribed myself."
"I'll take your word for it then," the receptionist said with a smile while handing over two visitor's ID cards.
We took the elevator going to the East Tower.
"Thanks," Rence smiled at me as soon as the door closed.
"Think nothing of it."
I noticed my Habibi staring at us with his not-so-blank-anymore expression.
"You see, Dr. Abdel, Eric formulated a personalized pill for my brother Lin and I," explained Rence who noticed his gaze as well. "As you well know, in our line of work as a lawyer, our image is part of our job. That's why there are hardly any omegas in the courthouse, unless they are in the plaintiff side or the witness stand."
"Then, the prescription the professor mentioned...?"
"It's a suppressant that can keep an omega calm even while working with dominant alphas," he said with a wink. "It can even dampen the effects of an estrus cycle. Thanks to that, no one's found out about my secret yet. It's a shame, though," he added, "that the ingredients are so rare that he couldn't mass produce the medicine."
Aahmes' head swiveled to my direction.
I guess he already figured out what that 'rare ingredient' is.
"How about you, Louie?" he asked my bro-in-law.
"This one's a different case," I answered before he did, "this idiot's not allowed to drink any more suppressants since he's been snacking on his pills like peanuts. Any more pills would give him an overdose."
"Is this the floor?" Louie asked as the elevator came to a halt. He didn't even bother to snap back at me.
Well, he did finish a 300 pill bottle in less than three months, just to calm himself while he's hanging out with Blondie boy.
"This way, please."
Aahmes led the way to the conference room where we found the Grinch. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed the two lawyers trailing behind me.
"Prof. Antonio, it is always a pleasure to have you with us," he grinned at me. "May I ask who your companions are?"
As if he didn't know who my idiot bro-in-law is.
"Good morning," Louie stepped forward. "I am Atty. Louie del Mirasol, and this is my colleague, Atty. Florence Derejedo, we came here as Prof. Eric Antonio's legal advisers."
"I see, but I don't understand what you are here for."
"We heard that your company have plans of selling the professor's Secondary Gender Testing kits to a certain military personnel who plans to use it in an unethical manner," said Rence. "Our client does not agree to this. We are here to discuss it with you."
The Grinch faced me and grinned even more.
"Is that so?" he asked. "Then by all means, do join us, I would be glad to help you out with this complaint."
I headed to the end of the long conference table where they placed extra seats for Louie and Rence. The Grinch sat right beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"I see we were thinking the same thing," said he. "I also think that it would be unethical to use the SGT kits to separate alphas from omegas in orphanages. In fact, I was about to raise the issue in today's meeting."
"It's good that we're on the same boat, then," I replied. I even brought my lawyers to back me up. We both know how tenacious that bas... that person can be."
"Exactly. It's a good thing that he won't be joining us this day." The Grinch chuckled when I gave a big sigh of relief. "We can just send him a memo. Besides, we, as a company, have the right to refuse them. Now, all we need to do is to convince the others to accept your choice."
He tapped my shoulder twice before standing up and heading for his place at the other end of the conference table. The others came in just then.
"Prof. Antonio!" Dr. Hilario looked surprised as he entered with Dr. Perez. "It's good to see you actually join the meeting!"
I simply smiled at him, leaned back comfortably in my chair, and faced the LCD screen in the front.
"If everyone is here, we can start the meeting in 2 minutes," Gadxilla called from the front.
I can relax now. I have two lawyers to speak for me, the Grinch on my side, and my Habibi right beside me.
What could possibly go wrong?
"There you go. All your troubles are over now," said Louie as we left the conference room. "Now I don't owe you anything."
"Got it. Thanks to you two, the devil can no longer use my project for its evil schemes!"
"Whatever, man," Rence chuckled. "Just what do you have against Gen. de Leon?"
"Shh! Don't even mention that name! The devil has sharp ears, you know."
Rence laughed even more.
"Well, what ever it is, just make sure you don't do anything stupid against the military," he added. "Anyway, I still have some work to finish in Dad's law firm, so I better be on my way."
"Haa, same here," Louie said with a sigh. "I might have to work overtime with this new case I'm handling."
"We'll be see you then, say hi to Lin for me."
"Shall we head up stairs, professor?" asked my beloved as soon as the two left us.
"Of course, Habibi! You have no idea how much I missed my lab. The two of us had been separated long enough!" I laughed at my own words. "Now, habibi, no need to be jealous, you know I only have one true love!"
"I am not," he simply replied. "It is good to see you in high spirits."
"You got that right! I'd like to see the look on that bastard's face when he finds out that we refuse to sell him any SGT kits!"
I was so happy that I laughed out loud, gaining some unwanted attention from the folks by the elevators.
I don't care about anything though.
In fact, I wanted the world to see how happy I was for my small victory!
"I can't believe I've been gone for a week," I said as we headed for our floor. "How are things going in the lab?"
"Nothing much has changed, professor. Our interns have passed their dissertations. Pedro and Pilar have already viewed their initial drafts. Their works are pilled up on your table, waiting for your approval.
"That's fine, since Pedro and Pilar have already read through them, what could possibly go wrong?"
We got out of the elevator and entered our floor.
"Welcome back Prof. Eric!" My minions greeted me warmly. They even made a small banner with my name on it and stuck in on the wall with surgical tape. There were pink hearts all over it.
"Sir Eric, we've placed the kids' thesis on you table, all edited and assorted as per your instructions!" said Pedro.
"We've also placed the documents regarding SGT kit production beside it," said Pilar, "and this is the list of the items we need to re-stock for the lab."
"Okay, hand them to Aahmes," I replied on my way to my workstation.
"Sir, this is the list of the children who manifested recently," Pilar handed me another list. "We have just gone past the 30% mark!"
"Ah, more good news!" I faced the interns who had followed us from the entrance.
"Okay then, since I'm in a good mood, why don't you order some pizza for everyone?"
"Woo-hooo! Thank you professor!" they cheered.
They thanked me several more times until I entered my workstation with my Habibi. I stared at the piles of documents and paperwork that were waiting for me. I could hardly see a desk anymore.
But that's fine!
"Habibi, we should celebrate this day!" I said with a big grin on my face. "Where would you like to go? We could eat out in some fancy restaurant, or buy you a new suit, or go to the movies. Just name it!"
"Joshua Sefiro's school."
"Ha?" my grin disappeared.
"We need to talk to his friend Rome, remember?"
"Oh, c'mon, Habibi, don't ruin my mood! Can't we just have some fun? Just the two of us? We can go meet Blondie's friend some other time!"
"No. We need to meet them today. I already gave my word."
"Haaaay..." I sat on my swivel chair and lost sight of Aahmes due to the mountain of paperwork. "Okay, but we're going on a date right after. I feel like eating 1bulalo today."
"Okay, professor, I promise we won't take too long."
Okay, back to my happy mode!
Pizza's on the way, and I've scored a bulalo date with my beloved!
This really is the best day ever!
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1Bulalo – a rich broth of beef shanks and bone marrow slow cooked for hours until the flavors melt into the clear golden soup