The Exception Pt. 00: Prologue

It's easy to tell the world what's wrong with it when you're without fault. It's also easy to be disliked for it.

The red man disappeared and the green man lit up.

Had one been looking from a distance, they'd think that the boys were brothers as they crossed the street. The way their steps were perfectly in sync right down to the bounce, both with hands in pockets, all done without the need to look at each other.

"Kay, tell me something."

"Yup?"

"You think there's anything wrong with me?" It's a question that had been plaguing his mind ever since that fateful day. He hadn't been too keen on knowing the answer though. His own denial was at fault there.

Kyle must have rolled his eyes right then. Even without looking, he just knew he did. "That's your self-conscious asking mate."

"And it would still like to know."

The therapist pulled a hand out of the warm confines of his pocket, drawing a wallet along with it. "You know, we haven't gone out in a while," he said flipping through the notes inside it, "and I got about thirty bucks here."

Connor gave his friend a sceptical eye. "Off topic much."

"No I think it's very on topic," he answered almost too quickly, very sure of himself as they stepped back onto the sidewalk. "Allow me to get a little anal here. Your self-worth was weighed with her as the SI unit. You always saw yourself through her eyes. Now that she's gone, you don't really know what the benchmark is. Correct?"

Connor grimaced and looked for the best way to avoid the question. "What's your point?"

"You need a new measuring stick. One that can reassure your sense of self-awareness as a man as well as your right of self-centeredness."

"I'm not feeling emasculated okay."

"But you have been aggrieved." They walked past the entrance to the chef's place. Connor was about to point that out when Kyle continued. "Look, just forget everything I just said for now and concentrate on having a good time. You'll know what I'm talking about in the morning."

**********

The blaring of an alarm was the first thing to greet him that Wednesday. So there were just two issues with that. The first being that of the ringing. A phone wasn't cable of making a sound on that high a decibel so it had to be real.

The second? He didn't own an alarm clock. Neither did the chef and if there's anything he remembered, it was not sleeping at home the previous night so it was definitely not Ivy's. No Ivy chucked hers out the window ages ago anyway.

He foolishly opened his eyes and was brutally assaulted by the morning sun shining brightly through an open window.

Immediately he shut his eyelids to slits and attempted to sit up from the bed he was currently in.

The thump of footsteps against floorboards were heard getting louder then suddenly, that incessant deafening shrill went dead.

"Sorry. This stupid thing is the reason most guys never call back."

His eyes snapped open.

'Holy sh...'

Before he even looked in the voices' direction, he first lifted the covers to eye level.

"Yeah, it happened," she answered before he could do the math.

The comforter came down slowly. A girl stood at the foot of the bed buttoning up her shirt, her legs still bare.

"I don't suppose you're sex legal." Something told him smarter things could have been said right then. She looked like a younger version of a Barbie doll though. Much younger. A fresh red hickey on the right of her neck confirmed her words.

She giggled as she threw a ten dollar note on the bed from her chest pocket. "You already asked that. I'm surprised you don't do this more often." What the blazes had he told her? Where was he anyways?

It was a brightly lit up, white themed room with a polished wooden floor. A study desk sat in the corner with a barrage of books stacked on it. A few ways to its right hung a wall mounted television set tuned to a music channel, yet the volume was on mute. Probably in consideration for those sleeping at the time.

Ignoring him she sauntered off to what appeared to be the bathroom, giving him a much appreciated view of her rump before the door blocked his vision.

Connor immediately jumped out of bed with new found adrenalin. This never happened. Ever.

For one, he was absolutely sure he'd remember screwing a babe that scored that high on the hotness ladder. Secondly...

'Where the fuck are my clothes?'

Normally the first rule of waking up with someone you don't know is to find out who the hell they are. She was in the bathroom so rummaging through the medicine cabinet for prescriptions wasn't an option.

Alternatively he could search through discarded junk mail or magazine subscriptions. If he was feeling downright rude, he could just go through her wallet sitting on the headboard.

'Or you could perhaps ask her.'

Sleeping with someone and forgetting the ordeal itself was normal, but most girls drew the line at forgetting their names.

This was a first for him. Partially thanks to the fact that he had not been getting laid a lot lately. Scratch that. He hadn't been getting any at all.

Which is why this came as a bombshell. He hadn't been too keen on getting involved with anyone else for the last couple of months. In fact, any activity he had in common with his ex was on his black list.

This included clubbing, eating out, renting movies, renting video games or conversations with new people that lasted more than thirty seconds.

As one would expect, his social life went on an endless downward spiral but it worked for him. This bubble he'd enclosed himself in was his security. There were no strings, no emotional obligations, no expectations and most importantly, no hurt. He didn't have to care about anyone but himself.

'What a breach of protocol. Kay if you got anything, anything at all to do with this...'

With that last thought he paused and gave himself a mental slap before twirling around and falling to the bed. Yesterday night's conversation was called to mind. Of course he'd have a hand in it.

'You'll know what I'm talking about in the morning he said. Yeah I don't recall shit.'

A lofty smile found its way onto his features. "I don't suppose the name 'Kyle' means anything to you?" he called out.

The door cracked open and a head emerged with a toothbrush sticking out of her mouth. "Nope. Though if I'm to take a guess I'd say he's the one that tapped your ass on your way out." Her head vanished from sight but the door remained open.

'He's gotta stop doing that.'

"Seen my boxers? They may or may not have a purple dinosaur printed on them."

"Where you left them china. On the sofa with the rest of your clothes. Rather manly by the way."

He currently owned a splitting headache, every sound made seemed to be conveyed through earphones and he remembered nothing of the previous night besides bottles, music and... a dog? Yet he still felt better than he had on any other morning of the year.

He raised his legs and dropped them, using the shift in weight to propel him back onto his feet and made his way to the living room, naked as a pinkie.

It wasn't hard to find. Her place was small but well decorated and neat. He took his time to appreciate the scent of femininity other than that he'd become so accustomed to.

It was mixed with that of ready pancakes. The doll had actually gone through the effort to fold his clothing.

The familiar vibrating of his cell phone found its way to his ears as he approached. Naturally he picked it up and answered without looking at the name tag.

"Well?!" The privilege of saying hello wasn't even offered.

"Yeah, I don't remember much," he replied honestly. He wasn't entirely convinced it wasn't better that way though.

"Yeah me neither but if you did everything right she should owe you ten bucks."

Connor blinked at that remembering the note back in the room. "What for?"

"You made a bet that you could give her a multiple or something like that."

There was a pause on his end of the line. "What?"

Kyle laughed. "I swear. I got most of the conversation on record actually. Fucking hilarious. Get your belongings and get to work pronto. I got your change of clothes with me."

The line went dead without goodbyes either. His hand lowered the phone and he regarded it like it was the crazy one.

'I don't even know how to give a multiple.'

His rolled down the notification bar to reveal a couple of missed calls. Four from Ivy and another from an unknown number. Right now, he was not about that life. After yesterday, all his mind wanted to do was forget she even existed. A sharp contrast to when his relationship first fell to pieces.

Back then he tried to save it in every way he could think of. Gifts, lunches, anything that meant wasting time together.

None of it was entertained though. She soon made it apparent verbally and by behaviour she wanted very little to absolutely nothing to do with him.

Then the sex started. She left little tell-tale signs at first. The traces they left in the air, the wet patch on the couch he'd since thrown out. Then it started happening in earnest while he was around.

She at least used to make the effort to muffle her screams. Then she stopped trying entirely and could be heard being slammed against the thin wall dividing his room to the shared bathroom, often knocking down the hung up picture frames or trophies shelved on his side.

At that point there was nothing more he would have loved than to take the door apart, rip the asshole's dick off and feed it to them both without salt. The same amount of time in an electric chair would have been by far less torture than to know it was happening under his roof.

He just settled for headphones though. And when those weren't loud enough, he hung over at Kyle's or his sister's place. This had become a very regular practice as of late.

It really did have to stop. But he wasn't in the mood to deal with her today. Nothing was going to crap on his day. Least of all her.

When Connor turned around to change, the last thing expected was the twenty centimetre tall Chihuahua sitting in front of him and vigorously wagging its tail. He crouched down for a better view.

"So I remember you and not the earth shattering hump. Ladies and gentlemen I present to you another wonder of the human mind... Freaking unjustified."

A hand went to scratch it behind the ears in which it delighted in. "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

His eyes went to follow her around the corner and into the kitchen. She was fully dressed in uniform. Her skirt rode a little short on the thighs.

Provided she was wearing the same thing last night then he just lived out a top fantasy he'd never get to remember. "Oh come on, he seems friendly." He scratched harder and its leg went crazy. "You wouldn't harm a fly would you?"

She giggled. "It's begging. Right now your cock over there looks a lot like the sausages I give her in the mornings." She called out. "Good luck getting it back. It'd be such a waste too. You don't get them like that anymore." His hand froze. "Now could you please put some clothes on? I got shit to do today, and I can't do it if I'm still here playing with that."

'The mouth on her...'

After getting clothed, five pancakes and a tap on a butt cheek later, he was springing over to the nearest subway, ten dollars richer. No sir, nothing could rain on this parade today.

The vibrations in his pocket started again. Once again he answered it without looking. If it was his ex, he could easily just cut.

"Yello?"

"Good day Sir. Am I speaking to Connor Forrest?" He spoke with an Asian accent. Japanese or something.

"Bingo. Who's this?"

"My name is Sinned Okajima and I'm calling from Amalgam Enterprises concerning an outstanding account you have with us."

That caught his attention. His feet stopped dead in the middle of the zebra crossing. He hadn't even heard of the name before. "And by outstanding you mean I owe you money."

"Indeed." he affirmed. "Is it possible you come in sometime and we discuss a resolution in person?"

A car horn blared at him, unceremoniously jerking him out of his shock. He tread over to the other side. "Um... Yeah. Sure... Sure. So where exactly are you?" Last he checked, the only debt he had was the student loan and paying that back was already breaking his bank enough. Where then was this coming from?

"On Knight and First. Just ask to talk to me, give them your name and you'll be escorted up." He spoke fluently and so sure of himself. Right now he was the exact opposite, still scouring his memory for any link between the names and a past event.

"Okay, which offices though?"

The man laughed softly, "Our building takes up the entire block, sir. It should be very difficult to miss."

'What the..? Am I being pranked or something?'

First Street was smack dab in the middle of the high rollers business district. It was Wall Street equivalent really, and one didn't just pitch up there without a sound purpose. He couldn't be any more certain they had made a mistake.

It was just going to be a quick in out meeting. They'd settle the misunderstanding and he'd be home free to carry on with the rest of his life "Alright. I think I can make it there this morning."

"Very well Mr. Forrest. I look forward to seeing you soon." The line went dead and for the second time that morning, Connor was left staring at his phone. A feeling of dread touched his whole being. Something was clearly wrong with his life and he didn't know what.

**********

"Okay that's blooming huge!" he exclaimed stepping out of the car and shutting the door.

The dark haired woman by the other door shook her head in amusement. She had a corporate look about her. The kind that bordered on the classy side rather than professionally rigid. "You really don't follow current affairs much do you?" she teased locking the doors. "Amalgam is basically the second largest private investment group on this side of planet earth.

"I believe it broke off from its HQ in Japan just five years ago using a loophole in the franchise's terms of operation. Funny enough, only a year after that did, their new chairman, the one who facilitated the separation in the first place, end up in a coma or something."

They started making their way to the building's front double doors. Or more accurately; those giant glass gates only made out to look like doors. He took a spin around. The place had its own miniature park running around the block and they had to walk about a hundred meters just to touch the front steps.

The construction itself was only about twenty or so floors high, but it made up for that in width. Sinned wasn't joking. It was all blue tinted glass windows from the ground up. Not a single brick or metal frame in sight. Since it was still early on, the sun still hung low on the other side allowing them to see all those busy people going about their work in the offices.

"They probably wanted to make an example out of him. Not many western countries have the best of relations with Japan after all," He replied, still in marvel of the place. "It makes international corporate law a fairly easy thing for any franchise to skirt around with all the contradictions it has with domestic clauses. Take indigenisation for example."

She gave him a surprised smile. "I'm impressed. Then again you were always pegged for the smartest of us all so I suppose I shouldn't be. Partially why I'm mortified to hear you have no idea who these people are."

Connor gave the man passing a curt nod and he bowed in return. Lots of Asian folk here. "You were the straight 'A' student Emma."

"Some good that's done me..." She muttered under her breath. "I always imagined myself doing something a little bigger than crunching numbers."

"What? Woman, you're in one of the largest accounting firms in the city. Don't play it down."

His older sister nudged him thankfully in the ribs just before they jogged up the stairs. So why would a billion dollar investment firm be so concerned about a bit of chump change that he might owe to them?

They walked into the massive foyer area where suits were entering and leaving. Emma would have fit in quite nicely with them. There was the UN seal parked on the reception wall as well as that of the EU, African Union and even that of the SADC.

'Talk about humanitarian.'

"Right... So how much do you owe these people again?"

He looked at Emma and shrugged his shoulders. They looked alike. Both had high cheekbones, barely tameable brown hair, almond shaped eyes, and the same straight nose. Facial features were well curved to give them both that mainstream look.

Connor bet if she never trimmed her eyebrows then those would look exactly the same too.

She was feminine in every sense though so he stood a good foot taller than her.

Besides that last difference, he felt she took away his sense of individuality. "I didn't ask. I'm thinking it's an error on their part. I mean really. Wouldn't someone remember coming to a place like this?" It was stated with conviction but the auditor still had a look of apprehension plastered on her.

They finally reached the guest counter and his sister spoke for him. "Hello. We're looking for a Mr. Sinned Okajima."

The receptionist looked like your traditional geisha and dressed like one too. From the bun held together by oversized hair pins to the floral kimono wrapped around her and tied in by an oversized bow. "I trust you have an appointment."

"Not with a timestamp, but he's expecting us all the same. Lookup Mr. C. Forrest."

The lady raised her head for the first time with interest and then confusion. "Oh."

She pushed the power button on her screen and said something in a foreign language to the attendant next to her. "Wait here please." She disappeared through a sliding wooden door behind her engraved in symbols and traditional art.

A minute later the same woman, scared the bejesus out of them when she popped up at their rear. They followed her through a large glass hallway into an open courtyard. It was a hexagon in shape full of green trees, lawn, vines and fern plants. Among them were benches and tables that people of the same ethnicity populated. It was actually more of a tropical greenhouse rather than a park.

Above were walkways connecting opposite ends of the building. They headed for the transparent elevators located in the centre. One of which propelled them all the way to the top. From the landing, they were led in silence down an unused walkway onto a balcony. There the geisha got down on her knees then sat on her heels with her side to the glass. Three sharp taps ensured.

"Are we still in America?"

"I don't... know."

The wall slid to the side to reveal a man standing up from his desk. It was almost bare save for a laptop, what seemed to be a diary, spectacles and a pencil.

"Kindly enter," she instructed. They obeyed. Emma seemed to have much more of her composure about her as she went straight to shake his hand and exchange pleasantries.

'Freaking corporate stiffs always making the rest of us look like idiots in situations like this.'

The office was squiggly clean from the floor to ceiling. Everything sparkled making him feel dirty, even after a fifteen minute shower at work and fairly decent formal clothing.

Besides the curved metal table and white chairs, there was only a file cabinet. Nothing else. All his equipment could fit in a janitor's closet so why all the space?

"... And this lad here is my brother. Connor." His head turned to face the man at the mention of his name. If he was to guess, he'd say early to mid-forties. He owned the Asian corporate look like an otaku owned Halo.