"Dr. Abdel! Is it true?! Did we really get the 1 billion peso grant?!" Pedro asked when I entered the laboratory.
"Oh, did it finally get through?"
"Yes! Everyone's talking about it!" said Pilar. "We plan to ask Sir Eric to buy a new, Automated Blood Culture system," said Pilar, "there's only one on the whole floor, and it's always in use! Better yet, if we could buy two more!"
"Actually, we would be needing at least six for our upcoming project," I told them.
"Also, our gene testing equipment are all outdated models, there are better equipment available in the market now-a-days!" said Pedro.
"We will get rid of the old ones and find a supplier as soon as possible," I agreed.
"Habibi!!!"
I heard Prof. Antonio calling for me.
"Oh, it looks like Sir Eric is already hungry," said one of the interns, "sorry for stopping you..."
"It is okay, please send me a list of all the equipment we need, I will go through them later."
I went to Prof. Antonio's makeshift rest room and found him slumped, face down, on the couch with his long feet dangling at the end.
"Sinigang na hipon sa miso, [stewed shrimp in sour miso soup] as you ordered."
I placed his dinner on his desk and took his chipped cup to make him some coffee. He doesn't seem to want to drink anything else.
"Habibi, shell the shrimps for me, my hands are tired from typing reports all day, my fingers might get sore..."
I sigh.
Well, at least he is actually typing things down and not simply locking everything up in his head while he stares at the photo of his niece all day.
It seems the professor has photographic memory, and he keeps everything in a memory palace, a treasure trove of knowledge hidden inside his mind. It is like a library where you can stock and retrieve all your thoughts and memories, and since it is in his head, it is impenetrable and impossible to access.
Ahh... if only I could crack open his skull and read his thoughts like a book...
But he's more useful to me alive.
"Habibi, hurry up, I'm hungry!"
He seems to have opened up to me after the meeting last week, if only for a bit. He started teasing me more as well. I think it is his way of showing his fondness on others, like the way he uses pet names for his subordinates.
He is like a spoiled child having temper tantrums all the time. A foul mouthed kid who loves to call people names, but he's mostly harmless, no matter how tall he is at 6 feet 10 inches. He is all bark and no bite, quite undernourished, and sickly too, and I am sometimes worried that he might suddenly die on me.
"Your dinner is served," I said as I removed the shell of the last shrimp on his plate.
"Ang bait talaga ng Habibi ko!" [my Habibi really is so nice!]
"Don't call me Habibi."
"How about you? What did you get?"
"Meatloaf."
"Meat again? Is that all you ever eat?"
"You complain now, yet when I cook for you at home, you eat everything."
"Of course, Habibi is such a good cook, after all!."
He gives me a goofy smile, making the interns stare. It is all just for show, though.
He treats me like a love sick lover when we are in the laboratory, but at home, he acts as if I am not even there. It is as if he is doing it on purpose to make me leave.
As if I would ever leave.
"Prof. Antonio, since the budget has already been cleared, I suggest we buy new equipment and hire more researchers," I said as we ate.
"What for? Don't I already have enough minions? In fact, they're all over the place!"
"Two of our interns just quit yesterday after you burned the report they passed right in front of them."
"It was garbage," he said with his mouth full.
"You didn't even read it."
"If the title is garbage, then the content is garbage as well," he insisted. "It'll only leave a bad taste in my memory."
"Seriously, professor, I sometimes wonder why you don't get sued for acting so immature."
"No worries, I make each and every minion sign a waver before they slave away under my rule."
"A waiver?" I asked, curious.
"I was once sued for verbal abuse `coz a minion allegedly, had a 'mental breakdown' because of me, so the company suggested that I ask my lawyer to prepare a wager for me," he explained. "It states there, that all my minions should expect to be showered with verbal abuse on a daily basis. Thus, they have no right to demand for compensation since a mental breakdown would be well expected if they want to work under me."
The professor snorted and looked pissed.
"I was actually hoping that no one would want to work under me anymore, but there were still some fools who keep pestering me and wasting my time," he glared at me. "You included."
"I never got that waiver."
"Well, didn't you say so yourself, that you don't work for me?"
He is right.
I came here from the main Universal Laboratories branch from the United Arab Countries of the Middle East. I am an honored guest, not just a simple employee. I am more like a supervisor than s subordinate.
That means nothing to him, though.
"Habibi, I'm chocking! Uhu! Uhu!" he whined, feigning a cough.
"Coming."
I stood up, took his chipped cup, and went to the coffee maker.
I stare at the faded cartoon drawing of a goofy looking cow on the green cup and frown. Why exactly, is Prof. Antonio so frugal, when he is probably one of the richest persons in this company?
I dropped the chipped cup in the trash bin instead and used a shiny new blue cup from the cupboard.
"Here." I handed him the cup of coffee.
"This isn't my cup. Why do you keep replacing my cup? Where's Kalabaw?" [carabao] he asked.
"It was chipped and filthy. That one is better."
He looks at me, tips the blue cup, and spills the coffee on the floor.
"I want my Kalabaw."
The interns stare at us.
"How many times have I told you that I only use my Kalabaw mug?"
"Then go get your cup yourself," I replied, "before they take it out with the trash."
"What the – ?!" he suddenly stood up and raced to the pantry to get his cup. "You fucking son of a bitch! Who the hell gave you the right to throw my cup away?! Just who the fuck do you think you are?!"
"Did you not know that faded designs on cutlery mean that it was badly manufactured? You may even get lead poisoning from such sub standard equipment."
"This is NOT equipment!" he yelled, holding up his cup which seemed to have lost its handle. "This is my personal mug! And no one, not even a prince from some fucking country, has any right to throw it away!"
"Prof. Antonio, you are overreacting. It is simply an old mug," I argued.
"It is MY mug, and you have absolutely no right to meddle with it!!!"
He slammed the mug on the counter so hard, that a crack stemmed from the chip on its lip and made its way to the base.
"Putang ina naman, eh!" [son of a bitch] he yelled and hurled the cup at the glass wall of one of the work stations where it smashed into pieces. "I want you the fuck out of here! I don't care who you are! I don't want to see your fucking mug in this place ever again!
With that, he went to his make shift room, slammed the door shot, and fell face first into his couch.
"That was uncalled for," I said as I looked around.
All the interns were staring at me.
"Dr. Abdel, you shouldn't have done that!" said Pedro who came closer to me, "That's the professor's favorite mug! It has sentimental value to him!
"Pedro's right, Dr. Abdel," Pilar continued, "that mug was a gift from Prof. Antonio's brother when he graduated in high school. He even brought it with him when he went to the US to attend college in MIT, that's how long he's been using that mug!"
"Didn't you know that all new recruits in this floor are told not to touch the professor's favorite mug?" added Pedro.
"How come I was never advised about it?" I asked.
"Well, we never thought you would throw it away..." Pilar sounded troubled. "and it's not like we could just tell you not to touch it... I mean, you know, you being a prince and all... plus, you're a special guest from UACME..."
"Actually, you're the only one who has ever touched that mug, aside from the professor," added Pedro.
"That's right, I've never seen the professor ask anyone to fix him a cup of coffee in that mug in my two months working here."
"Well, I've been here for about 6 months," said Pedro. "The professor's only been here for less than a year, but you really are the only one I've seen that has actually touched his Kalabaw mug, and I've been here the longest! You see, all the old employees have already resigned due to Prof. Antonio's... unique personality. I heard he even fired one of them for hiding his mug!"
"Well, it's not all the professor's fault," Pilar clarified, "most of them were alphas who couldn't believe that a beta much younger than them was pushing them around."
"Yeah, that's why most of them requested for a transfer to the West Alpha tower," Pedro said with a nod.
I looked at the shattered mug.
"I guess I owe him an apology then."
I went to the storage room and took a broom. I swept up the broken pieces of his mug and placed them in a trash bin. Pedro and the rest stared at me with their mouths open.
"Dr. Abdel, don't you have an item of sentimental value that you just can't throw away?" Pilar asked teary-eyed. "Can't you at least understand Prof. Antonio's side? Aren't you a psychiatrist?"
"As a psychiatrist, I would advice a patient to let go of material things that are holding them back. Especially ones that are hardly of any use to them at all." I looked down at the garbage bin. "But it seems the professor has a deep, emotional attachment to this mug."
I took the cover off the non-biodegradable garbage bin and took the whole trash bag out.
"I will be back in a while, if the professor asks for me, tell him I am sorry."