Conceptions

*Author’s Note : Dear all, welcome to my first original fiction story. I have had no prior experience to this except for dabbles in a couple of fanfictions thus I hope you’ll forgive me should the writing be rather bland or poor. However, I’m open to all forms of criticisms, constructive feedback or better yet, compliments if there are any. *snickers*

Should the feedback for this story be less than satisfactory, I may choose to leave this as a one-shot instead and mark it as complete. Therefore, please review away and I’m thoroughly looking forward to your feedback.

Please also feel free to email or MSN me should you have any feedback you would prefer to directly share.

Once again thank you and I hope you will enjoy this first chapter that I have to offer.

Onward!!!*


Chapter 1

Sera Lee let out a suppressed yawn. She was trapped in yet another boring meeting with her counterparts from a consulting firm and an obnoxious client that seemed to have endless demands unsupported by valid business objectives. She was trying her best to listen to the CEO’s lecture on Marketing 101, a subject he touched on every Monday morning. “We must get our ‘P’ for Product right for the other 3 Ps of marketing to work. But if we don’t get the Product right, then we’ll have to put more efforts into the Promotion, Placement and Price aspects,” the CEO boomed proudly as if he had derived the theory himself. Sera stopped from rolling her eyes in a sarcastic response but couldn’t help frowning at the fake expressions of interest on her peers’ faces. Giving up her defiance and not wanting to lose out on brownie points, she made her own pretentious effort and carelessly noted some pointers onto her work-in-progress sheet.

As he continued to drone on like a broken record, Sera wondered by what means this man had managed to make his way to the top. Initially, she would look forward to these meetings, in hopes of learning the secrets to becoming a master of her own career path. But as the weeks turned into months, she gradually lost hope as she simply couldn’t see any side of him that would resemble even a spark of brilliance. To make matters worse, the company had failed to launch any of their services for the past year, which meant that if things didn’t change soon it would only be a matter of time before all would be over for the CEO, its hundred employees and the innocent bystanders in the form of the company’s shareholders.

As the meeting proceeded, Sera decided to amuse herself by letting her mind wander a little. *Damn, the number of trees we kill and we’re supposed to be a green friendly company. This is stupid,* she thought as she observed the number of charts, reports and presentations that had been printed in multiples of 10 for each individual’s reference. She recalled the CEO’s insistence on using laptops to support their so-called ‘green effort’ and how that effort had been crushed when the irresponsible man turned up during the next meeting without bringing one of his own devices. Needless to say, this and most of his actions left his subordinates a rather confused bunch. She sighed inwardly as she started predicting how long it would be before the company had to bundle up.

Being seduced by boredom, she let her eyes explore her surroundings freely. The confined space of the cold conference room and the musty smell from the damp old carpeting was serving to dull her mood even further, pushing her dangerously near the edge of a breakdown. She was deeply frustrated with her absurd client and the way the company had been battling with their consultants on the ‘how tos’ and ‘4Ps’ of product marketing with no end in sight. Sera wondered why she was complied to attend these pointless discussions that led to little or no progress at all and rarely required any input from her as a public relations consultant. All the talk about buntings, posters, mailers and premiums; nothing spoken made sense to her at this point. What she needed was to procure solid facts on the company’s product attributes to write her press release and then leave a meeting that was considered a complete waste of her precious time. But instead, she was being forced week after week to sit in on meets which progressed almost as quickly as watching stone statues corrode. Feeling the stress build up, she clenched onto her pen tightly as she realized that she had been waiting over a year for the company to finalize exactly what it was that they were supposed to be selling, which Sera thought was utterly ridiculous.

Unable to bear the absurdity any longer she called in her mind, “Takeshi…”. He appeared behind her chair and leaned in, nuzzling his face into Sera’s silky-straight, long black hair. Breathing in deeply he whispered, “Hello love. You’re tense again, poor thing.” Sera indulged and let her friend massage her shoulders gently. She felt relieved instantly as each of her tightly knotted muscles begun to relax, comforted by the tall handsome man behind her. She chuckled inwardly relishing in the fact that Takeshi could only be seen by her and what a sight he was. Luscious locks of midnight hair framed a flawless face that carried a gentle but devilish smile along high cheek bones and a strong jaw line. A well built but not too bulky physique clad in an expensive Armani suit and a touch of charm completed Sera’s prince that was her imaginary lover and confidant.

*Takeshi, these fucks are pissing me off, again,* she spoke to him.

“I know love. As usual, your impatient self is causing you to have yet another meltdown.” Takeshi remarked jokingly.

*Hey, you’re supposed to be on my side. Getting a little rebellious, are we?*

“Well, it is a fact that you have little patience. I don’t deny that you’re brilliant but aren’t you being a little cocky at times?”

*I’m not cocky. It’s just that, these people annoy me with their irrationality.*

“Sigh, you’re just too smart for your own good.” Takeshi let his hands slide below the shoulders to caress the exposed skin around her stiff shirt collar. Sera flushed slightly at the contact and the close proximity of that meddlesome finger near her supple breasts. Suddenly realizing that she was in no position to be roused further she told herself that it was enough and dismissed her imagination. “As you wish,” said Takeshi and he disappeared from the room. Sera returned to focus on the meeting and breathed a sigh of relief when it had finally come to an end after 3 grueling hours. She packed her things and bid her farewells before rushing out of her client’s office and making her way to her car. Safely in the confines of her own private space she let Takeshi appear in the passenger’s seat beside her and smiled at him before turning the keys to the ignition of her old Toyota and starting the drive back to the office.

With the ingenuity found in the form of a hand’s free kit and no one to hear her under soundproof conditions, her car was the only place that she could speak openly to Takeshi without looking like she had lost her marbles. She wasted no time in doing so and began lamenting about her current state.

“Ugh, I hate having to go back into work. I wish I could just have some kind of big money fall right into my lap and then I can travel around the world freely with you beside me,” she said in a dreamy state whilst driving haphazardly.

“I hate to say it but you should be more careful on the road.” Takeshi voiced in concern.

Sera lifted an eyebrow in response to her imagination’s little lecture, “You’re starting to complain more for some weird reason.”

“Well, although I am a part of you I do represent some of your more stable qualities.”

“I wouldn’t call any part of me stable when I’m actually talking to myself.” Sera giggled.

“That’s true. It’s remarkable that you can hold an interesting argument with yourself.”

“That’s why I made you isn’t it? So that I wouldn’t feel so weird having a split personality within me.”

“I would call this a more schizophrenic symptom than split personality.”

“Nah, it’s a split personality. If I was schizo I wouldn’t be able to recognize that you’re not real.”

“I guess you’re right since you’re the expert shrink huh?” Sera pursed her lips in irritation with her other self’s sarcastic reply. She stayed silent for a while, concentrating on some turns along the way before returning her attention to Takeshi once more.

“Takeshi?”

“Hmm?”

“You think I’ll ever meet someone as perfect as you and fall madly in love with him?”

“Nope and do you know why? It’s because there’s no such thing as perfect in this world. I thought you would’ve dated enough men to get that by now.”

“Well obviously I haven’t. Anyway, I don’t see why I need more people when I have you.”

“Sera, love, what’s the fun of a one-woman-show?” Takeshi concluded with an obvious implication.

“Oh I can’t believe you said that.” Sera felt ashamed. She had not been physically intimate with anyone for over 3 years now. The memory of her past relationship which grew violent still haunted her and burned in her mind as a searing deep wound. She wondered why she had brought that painful past up for discussion when she had been trying her best to erase that painful past. In a sudden awakening, her mind filled with saddened thoughts about the state she was in, the life she had led and the misery of life’s monotony that was to come.

“I’m sorry…. I really am.” Takeshi spoke as he placed a hand on her lap and patted it gently.

“Forgive me….” He whispered softly. Sera appreciated the gesture, the comfort it brought her and the slight arousal along with it.

Suddenly, to her shock and horror she realized that the contact had felt undeniably real. She looked down at her lap and saw that Takeshi’s fair-skinned hand was casually resting there in its actual bodily state. She lifted her head to face the passenger’s seat and her eyes widened in alarm. Takeshi’s handsome form remained seated where she imagined him to be but he was visually complete compared to the usual smoky appearance in her mind.

“What?” Takeshi asked concerned. Sera became dumbfounded with Takeshi having spoken beyond her imaginative concoction.

“Oh… my… God! I’ve gone insane, really.”

Totally distracted, Sera failed to notice a car breaking in front of her and slammed right into the vehicle’s rear-end which made her bump her head hard against the steering wheel causing her to let out a surprised yelp with the excruciatingly painful knock. Momentarily disoriented and feeling the aftermath from the gradually swelling spot on her forehead, she raised a hand to massage the affected area whilst turning to check if Takeshi was still there. He wasn’t. A startling knock to the car window jolted her from her confusion only to be faced with an angry woman dressed in loud print demanding payment for her damaged car.

Sera sighed heavily and mentally kicked herself for having been completely absorbed by her fantasies. Getting out of the car, she apologized frantically before giving both cars a quick check-up. Luckily, the crash had been considerably light resulting in fixable dents. Not wanting to inflate the ordeal, she quickly exchanged details with the woman before returning to her car. Taking in a deep breath she tried to calm herself further and just for assurance, looked to her left but Takeshi was nowhere to be found. She felt relieved and disappointed at the same time but she decided against conjuring him up again for fear of loosing complete control over her imaginative capacities. Shifting her gear, she stared her engine and continued towards her office hurriedly.

It was past lunch by the time Sera had returned to her workplace, which she referred to as ‘the rat dungeon’. But she skipped her meal having lost her appetite and chose instead to lock herself at her desk behind the incredulous mounds of unread documents. She buried her head into her delicate hands and supported the weight with her elbows on her desk. Breathing in deep slow even breaths, she tried her best to calm her tampered mind whilst she decided on whether it was time she made that overdue appointment with her therapist.

“Are you alright?”

“Huh!” She let out a small gasp as she lifted her face to see who had called her.

“Sorry if I startled you,” the man with a pleasant disposition answered her.

“No worries Bryan, I was just a little surprised. Just came back from a taxing meeting with the same screwy clients and was a little tired out by it.” Sera spoke sweetly and her smile masked any worry she had harbored from the earlier incident.

“Better not stress it. You’ll get used to it after a while.”

Sera continued smiling at her co-worker but at the back of her mind she was wondering just how long “awhile” meant. She had been working in a client service setting for over 3 years now and it just seemed as if there was no end to the messiness involved.

She sighed, “Sorry to brush you off, but I have to get back to work now Bryan.”

“Oh, sorry, I’ll leave you to it then but if you ever need someone to talk to about things….”

“I’ll know where to look.” Sera replied, an award winning smile plastered on her elegant features.

With that Bryan sauntered off. Sera watched as her colleague’s slightly plump anatomy bounced away and she thought to herself, if she could only forget about the looks she’d be able to date a guy as nice as he was. Unfortunately, Takeshi was the only person, or more appropriately, thing that could set her heart ablaze, listen to all her troubles and make her empty shell feel whole. The sudden thought of him brought back memories of Takeshi manifesting in her car. But she steadied herself, pushed the images aside, bundled her hair into a lose bun and prepared to drown herself in her workload, hoping that she would soon forget about the disturbing incident. She also prayed that she wouldn’t have to seek out a therapist for help. After all, everything was purely a conception, was it not?

TBC

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