Weird Ways Life Hits You ( COMPLETED - CHAPTER 20 UPDATE 03/08)

[markfrangioni]

Hi, I've been requesting for a story for a while, and while I've objectively found some things that I like, most of the times I've found myself thinking "I would have done otherwise". So I decided to start writing one on my own.

BUT!

I wanna give you a fair warning before I start getting into the story 'cause I feel like you all deserve it, since I don't want to waste anyone's precious time.

1 - This is my first time writing a full story, so it is highly possible that it will be convoluted and lead to nothing.
2 - English is not my first language, so it's probably not gonna be an excellent piece of art, especially if  you are someone who enjoys literature.
3 - The most important point. If you expect this get to the "kinky stuff" immediately, don't get into it. I like to take things slow and have that sweet characters development.
4 - Yes, I started this story elsewhere and I think here too but I will restart it and continue it now

CHAPTER 01

"And why on Earth would I need an assistant again?" John Jefferson, 28, was 3 when he was diagnosed with a very rare disease that affects both muscles and bones, making them fragile; while it wasn't lethal on its own, it made it impossible for him to put any muscular mass by weight lifting, and also forced him to be cautious with his eating habits, since his legs might fail his structure him if he would have become overweight. On top of that, he was also on the shorter side, so being a 4'7very skinny man, he surely wasn't the bossiest looking dude in the office.
Although his problems, he's always tried to get what was best for him and tried to give himself some authority. He grew a nicely shaped beard, he became witty and, contrary to most people in his position, he would always go to work wearing a suit and a tie.

"First and foremost, it is a cost efficient solution. Our new employee is a promising intern that will work here for free for the next six months. If she, as I expect, will turn to be good enough, we will hire her with a full-time job, so I need someone qualified to teach her. " Ever since Mrs. Thompson retired, Janna Prickles, a 51 years old unmarried men hater became his new boss and things only started running slower for his career; it was bright as the day that Janna had a particular taste in torturing him. And the hate was mutual. Short and plumpy, she always used to wear overly coloured outfits that made her look like a knock off version of Queen Elizabeth. Fitting for her personality, John thought.

John rolled his eyes and sighed "In other words, I have to babysit." but Janna blocked him with an evil grin. "I took care personally and decided for her amongst tons of other students who signed for this position. She's a quick learner, don't worry. Also, there's a second reason why I needed for you to have an assistant:  even though you're better at your job than I like to admit, you're still an annoying little prick who needs to learn how to be organized, so she will take charges of your time schedules from now on." Truthfully, his office looked like a mess, and his schedules were all over the place, he couldn't argue with it. But there was more. "Oh I see now. It's about the Gravéneux fiasco! Look I told you already it was not my fault if Stuart went through my stuff and mixed 'em up lik-" "I know and that is why he had been fired. But let's be honest for a second here. Just coincidentally it wasn't your fault this time. It was surely not the first time your pig habits got in your way. I know this is more about pride than anything else, but you DO need help in that front. And you can be helpful yourself." That didn't sound very convincing at all to John,  and she knew it; so, sighing and looking down, she continued her speech. "Fine, I knew it would have come to this. I've already hired her, as a matter of facts, she's already waiting in your office, as of now. Since I know that you need something to be motivated, here's your goal: in the next six months I want to have someone who is just as good as you doing your job, and you are the only one who can teach her. Make me proud, and you'll get a 6% raise." Finally she was talking business, he thought. John was a very proud and goal oriented person, and this seemed like a good deal, which he closed by shaking hands with his boss.

He walked to his office and opened the door. His new assistant was standing there, right in front of him. <HOLY SHIT> was all he could think of, but he limited himself to think it, and open his eyes wide.

[markfrangioni]

CHAPTER 02 

So this was his new assistant? For fraction of a second, John found his mind to be both incredulous and completely unsurprised at the same exact time. Part of him felt like it was just way too natural for Mrs. Prickles to have assigned to him someone who would have made him as uncomfortable as humanly possible. On the other hand, he had never seen such an absolutely unnatural creature in his entire life.

She was standing right backwards in front of his archive closet, already reordering the various papers with John's clients contracts and general informations. But it was not her efficiency that impressed him. She was a fucking giant.
Her shoulders, which alone were at least twice as wide a his own,  were completely over the top of the closet, and while truthfully she was wearing a couple of trampolines for heels, she still would have probably been around 7'3'' and 7'6'' foot tall barefoot. She was wearing a very elegant red jacket, that would have looked on John like a corsair coat, but that barely reached half her ass in height. Speaking of her bottocks, each one of them was bigger than any watermelon he has ever seen, and the most incredulous thing is how relatively tiny her waist was in comparison. 

She didn't seem to have notice John entering the room, so he cleared his throat as loudly as he could, without being obnoxious. Gently, she turned around and started slowly walking towards him with a very large smile, allowing the short man to give a complete check of her gargantuan body. <Big on all fronts, it seems> He already had the time to notice her big hips and ass, and was not disappointed noticing that each of her breasts was probably bigger than his head, and they even seemed particularly restrained. 
On top of that, judging how stretched her shirt was around her arms, she was probably someone who enjoyed the gym a little too much. Not that she was a body builder, but definitely way fitter than average.

In contrast with the rest of her body, her face seemed very genuine and delicate however, the typical extremely hot girl that is not aware of being beautiful. She had large deer-like green eyes and two puffy cheeks which made her look friendly; infinitely long raven hair were framing her cheerful face.

She leaned and lent her hand to greet and introduce herself to her new boss, and charmfully said "Greetings, I'm sorry I didn't hear you entering the room, I was focus on rear... My apologies, I should present myself first. I'm Giorgia Falcone, I'm 21, about to graduate in Commerce and I well... to be honest, it was my dad to point out that you would have been a... uh, but look at me, always talking without giving my new boss the possibility to present himself! Please, I know I've excused me a lot today already, but once again I will ask you your pardon." She didn't seem nervous at all. Quite the contrary.
John on the other hand looked like he had seen a ghost. "Eh..." was all that came from his mouth. He was so discombobulated by both her stature and her river of words, that he felt like he had fallen in trance. They were still holding each other hands, and he felt like he was a kid who had to cross the street and needed an adult to help him. He also felt and incredible amount of empathy for the co-protagonists of that one show on TLC, My Giant Life.

She kept on smiling, "Well...?" he finally snapped out and managed to mumble something. "Eh... yeah. You are the one who has to pardon me, if something. I'm John Jefferson, and as you pointed out, I'm gonna be your mentor for the next six months. Our director said that you're a quick learner, so follow my guidance and you'll become one hell of an seller. Just... don't steal my light, alright?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, I'm used to it. I understand that it is not that frequent to see a girl like me; but hey, at least it helps my ambitions! So... wanna start to work?"

[markfrangioni]

CHAPTER 03
The first couple of months passed rather quickly, and John had to admit allowing his new assistant to manage his stuff had been a good idea coming from corporate. Thanks to a better organized working space and a lesser thrown around schedule, he actually managed to make more profit than he ever had, closing 2-3 contracts more per day than he used to before she arrived; more recently, she also actually had started giving him help with his job as well, not just by reporting data and typing contracts in his place (which already helped a lot), but by actually correcting those minor mistakes he made every once on a while by the end of the day, when tiredness kicked in.

Her presence in the office was also a general breath of fresh air. Her positiveness towards everything, her continuous smiling, and the extroverted personality were having a good impact at work, and almost made John forget about Janna's grittiness.

"I baked muffins this morning!" "Again? You're gonna make me fat!" On Fridays, she didn't come at work until late, and she used to spend that time working on her culinary passion. In the last 8 weeks, not once she had forgot to bring some treat in the office to share with John. "I wish that was the case, you're so skinny! I know you have a condition, but still you're way too bony! I bet I could lift you with one hand." she said cheerfully. John breathed out in a one second laughter and then answered. "I bet you could do that while using the same hand to type on your phone for what it matters, but I rather you didn't. So, lunch break is over and your day has to start. What comes next, Miss Falcone?" She went to her PC, spent a couple of minutes to boot it and finally answered. "Nothing." "Nothing? What do you mean nothing?" he asked surprised. He knew he had at least other two more clients to talk to before the end of the day. "There must be an error in the schedule, there are..." "Green Inc., Myers-Flynch. Already done." His expression said aghast all over the place. That he could remember, he had never drank a sip of alcohol in his whole life, neither had he done any drugs. He would have remembered having closed those. "What the hell are you talking about?" "They are on your desk already, you just have to sign them." He checked the papers, it was all done for real. Even the amount of money taken from it was a good 10-15% more than he hoped for, as the amount of supplies sold was beyond his expectation. But something didn't check. "This is your handwriting." The young woman just smiled at him. "Yes, I know, I've done it this morning. I went to the gym and met the two of them there, Kayleen Smith from Green Inc. and Jordan Flynch. I thought it might have been of help to do things quickly, so I presented myself in vest the company saying I was a new seller and I invited them out for a coffee after that and we made it all. You just have to sign it, as I told them you still are my supervisor. Oh, they told me to say hi, speaking of which!"

John was discombobulated. One thing was  her trying her best to be of help, one thing was stepping on his toes. He never asked her to do such a thing, and the fact that she just went with the flow of her own thoughts without being permitted directly was indeed quite annoying, not to mention a lack of respect from an underling. However, he did have to admit the work was done immaculately and after all, he was not the type of guy to hate competition. More than that, she was being formed by him, so he reasoned on it for a while, until deciding he was proud of her, since her success was his own, so he came close to her and tuned into a more serious tone.

"Okay. You did a very neat job, there is no denying that. But still, you have to inform me of these things. I appreciate both the courage and the ambition, but I'm still your mentor, am I not?" She looked away, visibly annoyed by his rant. "Yeah, you are. But I would have not done it if I didn't know you would have been okay with it. I'm not a kid. I just wanted to help and show off a little." "I know. And trust me, you're doing great." He sighed, wanting to win her approval once again. "Look, what's fair is fair." He took his wallet and took a little over 100 dollars out of it, giving it to her. "This is your part. I expected to make less money from those, so this is all yours." She gasped happily and hugged him, burying his face in her gigantic tits, he tried to move himself away, but his strength compared to hers was like an ant expecting to move away a truck.

"OHMYGODTHANKYOUSOMUCHTHISISTHE..." she pushed him away, realizing what she was doing. "I'm... sorry. That was extremely inappropriate." "It's fine. I mean, I'm not complaining" he said laughing. She smiled, as usual, and then exclaimed. "You know what? Let's hang out tonight. Pizza is on me!"

[HelloIam]

On 5/29/2020 at 2:56 PM, markfrangioni said:

English is not my first language, so it's probably not gonna be an excellent piece of art, especially if  you are someone who enjoys literature.

Could've fooled me.

I love this story. Nothing more to add.

[markfrangioni]

Thanks for the encouraging comment! Those three chapters were just re-edited from my previous work, so the next few won't probably be as consistently daily updates, but I will promise I will try my best to have the story going!

[markfrangioni]

CHAPTER 04

As he was knotting his tie in front of the mirror, he questioned himself when  was the last time he has ever had pizza. Middle School? That sounds probable. John has always known to be fragile, but seeing how small he was doomed to become in comparison of his friends during his preadolescent times struck him hard and made him convince himself that since he had no way to assert maturity through physical prowess, he had to build an image that would have. He went to high school in a different town than his original one, and got the occasion of being unknown to everyone to drastically change himself, so that the resonance of his youth would have eventually disappeared. Ever since the age of 14, he had never spent a day wearing nothing but monocoloured sweaters, button down shirts, fancy trousers and elegant shoes. His haircut changed into a more adult one, and he even restrained his eating habits, and that of course included pizza. Two things he never wanted to try were smoking and drinking, as he thought those didn't make people seem more intelligent and serious, quite the opposite. 

One he was finished combing his hair and adding all his accessories, he took a look at his Rolex, noticing it was 19:43, which meant Giorgia was soon to arrive. Truthfully, he was a little bit annoyed for both that she invited him out and that she offered to be driving. He wasn't neither a misogynist nor some conservative person, but the thought that his 20 years old assistant was so eager in wanting to be paying for his meal was just bothersome. He had just given that money to her, and she already was willing to spend them. No, that was not gonna happen, he would have sneaked to pay once she would have gone to the bathroom and then taught her a lesson about the value of money. After all, this wasn't some sort of date. It was just a... business dinner. For the latter part, he had to be a little less assertive and more conceding. She was simply too big to enter in his spider, and he was not large enough to be driving her customized Hummer. "Family money... a jeep that has been made larger than the standard version. A version that is already known in the world to be large" he sighed. 

Presuming she was about to be there, he gathered his belongings and started going out, not being disappointed in her car's lights to turn the corner just in same second he closed the door behind him. "Looking dapper boss!" she exclaimed getting out of her car, usual energy. She looked astonishing. A silk see-through white shirt adorned with classy frills, a simple golden bracelet on both her wrists and some skinny black pants that ended around the length of her ankles, to meet a pair of elegant sandals with high heels of the same colour. It was the first time they have met outside of the office and she looked just like he imagined her. Gorgeous. 

"I'm glad you had no problems finding my house?" he asked smiling. "Hey, I'm the organizer! There's no administrative task that I can't do with my eyes closed!" "Hopefully not the way you intend to drive. So, where shall my chaperon bring me? " she giggled. "You know the word actually refers to an older person bringing some kid around, right? Is that what you want me to be for you, Johnny?" Visibly embarrassed of his mistake, he decided to stay quite and say nothing, letting her talk to avoid the awkwardness. This was the first time she has referred to him as Johnny, and even if it was in the context of a joke, it was humiliating nontheless, since it reminded him of the times he was bullied for his small stature. "It's a local pizzeria. It's cozy and not too many tables, so we can relax and just have a talk outside of our usual environment."

The ride to the location was not that long, around 20 minutes before getting there, but all through the time John felt extremely uneasy. Her car was simply gigantic, and made him realize their size difference even more accurately. His head didn't reach the top of the seat, and his feet were not touching the ground and had plenty of room just to float there; not to mention, he probably didn't cover half the width. In the meantime, she was there, completely occupying the space of the car seat and then some, while also easily reaching the pedals with her feet. It was a manual gearbox car too, which gave him time to notice how long her nails were as well, since she had to operate it quite oftenly. John had to force himself not picturing his dick being receiving the same treatment of the gearbox, since her movements around it where also rather sensual.

Once they arrived at the place, John noticed that her description was on point. It looked like an old rural trattoria remodernized, it wasn't one of the extravagantly coloured pizzerias that he remembered from his childhood. Everyone in there, children included, were dressing rather neatly, and that made him feel at ease, since he felt in a place that reminded him of himself. Small but elegant. One thing immediately made him rethink everything though. He noticed the chairs and the tables, and there was no mistake in his judgement. Once he would have seated, he would have struggled reaching the table, since the distance was just too high for his torso. He tried to ignore it, and moved the chair for Giorgia. As she sat, her wide thighs didn't fully manage to enter inside seat. "What a gentleman!" she commented, then went to his own chair and his hopes faded away. It was that time uncomfortable time once again. Getting his cheeks red, he went to a waiter without saying anything and then came back with him. "What happened?" "Just a logistic problem that can be easily solved" the waiter said the waiter, who briefly came back with a pillow. "Oh... I... I see." was the last comment on that regard from her part, but John started looking around. Nobody past the age of 10 required a pillow to raise his position to reach the table. Nobody except for him.

The rest of the night went rather smoothly, except for the fact that the pizza was so large that he only managed to eat one third of it, but Giorgia intervened in that front, and not before having already eaten 2 of her own. "Don't be judgemental! I'm a big girl you know!". She also drank over 2 lt of beer without even getting tipsy, how  she managed to stay so lean with that sort of diet was beyond  him. She eventually went to pee, and, as programmed, he went to the cashier upfront to pay. "Uhm... well there seems to be no problem in that front. Miss Falcone already has paid for the whole meal as you arrived." She must have done it when he went to the bathroom to wash his hands, no other explanations. "Oh, also! She asked me to give you this..." and she gave him a small packaged wrapped in bimbo blue gift paper with a letter. "Don't open it before Christmas... you're invited at my house with my family."

As he came back, she was standing furiously, staring at him. "I KNEW IT! John. This deeply offends me. I am the one who invited you. I am the one who is going to pay. I am an adult. Respect that. I don't care if you're my boss. You still owe me the respect I deserve." John felt a little ashamed. "I honestly didn't do it with malicious..." her expression calmed down and she knelt down to his eyes height, putting her ginormous hand onto his tiny shoulder, completely covering it reaching the bicep with her thumb and the tricep back with her middle finger. "I know John. But this doesn't make it less bad. I want you to feel relieved in my presence outside of the office; we're just Giorgia and John here. Please understand this." She was scolding him and cooing. There, right at the centre of everyone's attention. And yet, maybe it was her soothing voice, or the fact that her sparkly eyes were looking at his own so deeply, or the fact that her hand started going up and down his arm softly, caressing it... or maybe it was a combination of all of it, but he was not anxious nor he felt humiliated for once. Quite the opposite, he was just swimming through the flow of her words, she continued talking for a while, but he couldn't focus himself into hearing what she was saying. He was hypnotized by the situation. Relaxed to a point he never felt before. Then she stood up, smiling. "...so just please don't do it again, okay?" he simply nodded, then she went to grab her purse and they left.

The drive home was silent, and once she left him on his doorsteps, they just a rapid chat that finished in a friendly hug. Once on bed, he couldn't help himself from imagining the blanket being her warm body spooning him, and with that he felt asleep immediately. 

[kasarberang]

Very good start! I really enjoy this story so far and I'm very excited to see how it goes!

Your writing is very good I wouldn't have known english wasn't your first language had you not mentioned it in your top post.

 

Keep up the good work! I'm excited to read the next chapter!

[markfrangioni]

On 6/2/2020 at 1:15 PM, kasarberang said:

Very good start! I really enjoy this story so far and I'm very excited to see how it goes!

Your writing is very good I wouldn't have known english wasn't your first language had you not mentioned it in your top post.

 

Keep up the good work! I'm excited to read the next chapter!

Thank you! I was reading some of your works and was really enjoying 'em as well! I hope you will continue all your in progress stories!

[markfrangioni]

CHAPTER 05

After that event, John's days at work started becoming more awkward, almost to the point of making him anxious even just to go to work, as he started noticing things about his assistant that he hadn't in the past, mostly they were genuinely nice acts, but he couldn't help to perceive as patronizing and condescending; every time he closed a contract with a better resolution that the minimum he had supposed, she would cheer him and clap, and in the opposite case, she would start cooing in an unnecessary and unrequested reassurance, caressing his back which he found unprofessional to say the least. On the last one, he found out that with anyone else he would have been angry, but he understood that she couldn't help herself from being touchy  with people, not just him, so he gave her a pass.

Or that's the excuse he gave himself. Part of him couldn't help going back to that one night. Did he actually enjoy all those new sentiments? Was he being prideful? No. Impossible. All his life has been spent showing the world that he's an independent person regardless of his physical structure. He saw what happens to persons more disabled than he his, how society cocoons them into losing the ability of being self-reliant. Not his destiny. This was a temporary solution. Just a couple of weeks more and the six months would be over.

Two weeks? How was that possible!? He didn't realize it, but he had spent almost four months reasoning on all of these... emotions! Was it really that long ago that they went to the pizzeria!? 

Yes. It was. Everyday something new kept on happening, which made everything faster. They went on those business dates a lot of times, since he decided to be giving her more space, she was becoming quite the saleswoman herself; he knew he wasn't 1/10 as good as she was when he had her age. How was this just a college kid? And then, there was something else happening in two weeks, which scared him to death. yes, the six months would be over, but that meant that she would also be hired. <<The results are even more impressive than I had imagined, and I was already aiming at the stars with this one!>> was the comment of Mrs. Prickles, which inevitably meant they were going share the office as coworkers; and it was pretty self-evident that she knew that. Flowers, plants and paintings he never had started appearing all around. The top shelves used to be empty, while she now was starting organizing any archive there, forcing John to be asking her to grab them. <<See Johnny? Instead of having everything just sorted around, this extra space will give us access to a much better organized workplace. Whenever you need one of them, I'm here for you, don't forget to say please though! Ahahah!>> she commented. Johnny was also her way to go name now. Was he being too easy on her... he didn't know.

"JOHNNY!" he jumped on his chair. "Johnny you were even listening to me!? You're always zoning out lately!" he looked around, he was in his office. Did he fall asleep on his chair? Was he assorted in meditation? For a second he didn't even remember having been at work. "Yeah... no. No, sorry, I was deep in my thoughts. What were you saying?" She frowned at him. "It's quite rude to ignore people who are talking to you." she scolded. "My... apologies." "Good. Now reformulate your question in a more well mannered way." Whenever she felt he wasn't giving her respect, she would become quite authoritative; he understood this part of her, he never liked being treated as less either. "May I ask you to repeat what you were saying please, Ms. Falcone?" and she went back at giving him a reassuring smile. "Of course, Johnny." she went behind his seat and leaned, having her head next to his own, way too close for him not to notice how warmth the sensation felt. reaching her arm from the opposite side of his head in comparison to the one where hers was, she started pointing out things on the monitor, explaining some spreadsheet and using some big words people tend to forget once out of university. It was a long conversation, she made a long list of extremely valid points, but he was way too focused on the flowery smell of her hair and the bulging boner he felt raising between his legs. He limited himself to agree.

"Great, I knew you wouldn't have questioned! But..." she turned the rotating chair on which he was sitting, so that he was facing her direction, with her still leaning. Her cleavage was now hanging in front of him, so gigantic he started imagining himself swimming in that valley. "you know the gift I gave you... you told me you didn't open it yet, right..." he didn't. He found extremely juvenile to not maintain promises, especially over something so petty, so he shook his head. "I didn't. It's not very important to me per se, but I understand is something you care for. I respect that." her eyes squinted with obvious joy and she hugged him, letting his head lay on her massive shoulder. He felt her forearms behind him, which alone were long more than his torso was wide, but she detached with a worrisome face. "Why is not important to you though?" He shrugged. "Oh it's nothing really. My dad was gone before I was born and I've only met my biological mother as an adult, when she was found dead on the streets, as I was informed by the carer of the orphanage where I stayed until I escaped at the age of 12 to go to work." she started tearing in empathy, which is really not what he wanted. "Oh my God Johnny, that's horrible... you went to work at such a young age... never had a family... what a traumatic childhood..." she started gasping, her face red. "It's alright, I just..." she silenced him. "Well. I want you to know what was in that gift. I know it's earlier than I asked you to, but please, opened it now." he took the gift from the drawer where he had it locked in and scratched the baby blue paper. It contained a small wooden box, manually carved, inside of which there was a note. 

"Johnny, you're officially invited to the Falcone's Christmas's Eve Dinner." he moved his eyes from the note to her and felt his heart sinking. He couldn't help from letting himself go into hugging her and crying "THANK YOU."

[kasarberang]

23 hours ago, markfrangioni said:

Thank you! I was reading some of your works and was really enjoying 'em as well! I hope you will continue all your in progress stories!

Glad you enjoy my stories! I will absolutely continue working on them. I have a 3 day weekend starting Saturday (which is technically today since it's 3am at the time of me writing this) so I should be able to get some writing in and hopefully release a new chapter in the next few days.

 

Really enjoyed Chapter 5! Very excited to find out what's going to happen at the Christmas Eve Dinner!

[kirababy]

yes looking forward to more, and it is not at all obvious english is not your first language.  good job

[the diaper mike]

please more so cute

[markfrangioni]

On 6/13/2020 at 1:22 PM, kirababy said:

yes looking forward to more, and it is not at all obvious english is not your first language.  good job

Thank you, I must say that's a huge phobia of mine. I'm not as keen in English as I am in my first language, so using a more refined text comes out as stilted and contrived, rather than natural. 

On 6/13/2020 at 11:59 AM, kasarberang said:

Glad you enjoy my stories! I will absolutely continue working on them. I have a 3 day weekend starting Saturday (which is technically today since it's 3am at the time of me writing this) so I should be able to get some writing in and hopefully release a new chapter in the next few days.

 

Really enjoyed Chapter 5! Very excited to find out what's going to happen at the Christmas Eve Dinner!

Thank you! Sorry for the large delay in answering you. I've been trying to work on Chapter 6, but I had to scrap it out it twice already, since I can't force myself to like the result. Hopefully I will have something definitive by tonight, depending on my time today.

[markfrangioni]

First and foremost, I'd like to deeply apologize for the 2 MONTHS DELAY, but I was really not feeling in the mood for writing. Everything I put down seemed ridiculously half-assed, and I hope this final version of the chapter will at least be somewhat enjoyable.

CHAPTER 06

The 24th of December didn't took too long to arrive. John had been extremely nervous about that day coming, never he was used to those social events. He had clubbed a little bit in his early 20s, but even back then he felt more obliged by social constructs to do so more than anything else. He  was much more focused on his own individual goals than to share anything with anyone, which admittedly lead him to become oblivious to emotional intelligence, or at least not very keen to use it. Empathy was the same as common courtesy to him, rather than a genuine behavioural need. 

However, as the famous painting's title says, "The Sleep of Reason Produce Monsters". For the whole week, since he had read the note, he has been fantasizing about the nightmarish disaster that the event will be. Naturally, he was excited about the idea of spending an evening with more than a can of beans and Comedy Central, but at the same time he also felt an increasing anxiety of being inadequated to partake with the other guests. What would they think about him? Would they find him interesting? Would have been weird for their daughter's boss to be present? He didn't know. He just googled online some courteous things to do and brought a bottle of Pinot Gris, a white wine, since apparently in Catholic culture it is forbidden to eat meat on the 24th of December. Or was it every Christian? Or every Christian but Catholics? Did he fuck up? Did he....?

"JOHNNY!" without even realizing it, immerse in the ocean of thoughts he was navigating into, he drove himself to Falcone's mansion. Yes, mansion. Unsurprisingly, Giorgia's family was rich. If he recalled correctly, both his parents were the owner of quite the large law firm, she revealed it to him when he asked how come she was so versatile with contracts. She lead him to a private parking lot in the back of the house, and they passed by a large olive grove, that extended for a good 2 miles in lenght, judging by sight only. <Rather than moving from Italy, they seem to have moved Italy here.> John joked to Giorgia, that seemingly appreciated and giggled. As he put his foot outside of the car, he received a spank on the back. It wasn't very hard, but still made John flinched. "Oh you must be my little princess's head! Nice to meet you, big boss!" what DID manage to surprise him was what he saw next. A perfectly normally sized couple in their fourties, and child no older than 15. They were all extremely normal. And yet they were undoubtly Giorgia's family. The man who just had greeted him was large, balding man, about 5'9 tall, wearing a Royal Navy Blue Adidas track suit and an undershirt tank top that would have been white, if it wasn't for the copious stains of grease and oil. Seeing the grill nearby and some fishes being smoked on some sort of inside campfire, it didn't take long to understand the man to be the designated chef. His wife had the same cheerful look as Giorgia, and her face looked exactly the same, minus being aged. She was occupied cutting some salmon and frying some sepias or some calamaris, or what in the world that was. The youngster was a little further away, just playing basketball by himself, but John easily recognized him, since his underling had a picture of him on her desk. He didn't look much taller than his dad either, probably around 5'11 or maybe 6'. Were did Giorgia got her height was mistery. 

What wasn't a mistery however is the rest of the scene. John had been working with some Italians and he very well know that by "just relatives" they meant such extended family that they didn't share one single strip of DNA with most people they were dining with. It was a good 80 people he saw around him, and he got there fairly early, so they would probably multiply before dinner. 

"DAD! PLEASE! Don't be forceful with Johnny!" That name again. "He's fragile! I told you!" she instinctively grabbed his arm and got him closer to her, protectively. "It's nothing really, don't worry. Your daughter seems to think of me as a terracotta vase. I should have not revealed her my condition." they laughed at the expenses of Giorgia, who frowned in response. "Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Falcone, it's quite the pleasure for me to encounter the couple that raised this formidable woman." "Oh, call me Giulia, no need for formality, and thank you! But don't get too attached to appearances, she can be quite the little pest  when she wants!" "MUM! the woman, who had now spoken for the first time, had a much thicker accent than her husband. She had probably immigrated later on in life. "You're right, my apologies dear. She's a huge pest! Especially figuratively!" "MUM!" "Oh come on sweetheart, your mother is just joshing around, it's a good way to get to know your friend, eh! And she's right Johnny" great, now he also had catched up on that. "Feel free to call me Francesco, or Frank if it's easier for you say." 

The chit chat went on for a while, and John tried to interact with multiple people, but it was socially exhausting. Especially during dinner, while they were forced to look in each others eyes by proximity, he felt so much at a disadvantage with everyone involved. As the stereotype goes, literally everyone in the event, children included, was overly extroverted. The pinnacle of his frustration came when a couple of the children, who were probably 10 and 8, mistaken him for one of their age and invited him to play with them with some gifts they received. He went red in embarassment, but to avoid being unpolite, he agreed and started playing. He hated to admit it to himself, but it was enjoyable. The colours, the lack of responsability, being able to sit down on the ground just 'cause it felt appropriate. That was something he never experienced ever since he was a little kid. He never gave himself an occasion to just relax ever since he escaped from the orphanage. It had jut been work work work ever since then. This was... nice. Adults were playing cards in the meantime, some Italian card games he didn't know or cared for. At some point, Giorgia came to thank him for babysitting his little cousins, but he was a guest and it was not his responsability, and so she forced her brother to keep playing with them. He was ashamed of admitting it, but while he said to Giorgia that it was not a big deal to do it, he was actually loving the sensation, and felt sad about having to stop to save his face.

What was happening to him?

[kasarberang]

1 hour ago, markfrangioni said:

First and foremost, I'd like to deeply apologize for the 2 MONTHS DELAY, but I was really not feeling in the mood for writing. Everything I put down seemed ridiculously half-assed, and I hope this final version of the chapter will at least be somewhat enjoyable.

I totally relate to this, no need to apologize! Quality is more important than quantity!

 

Another great chapter! I look forward to the next one!

[markfrangioni]

CHAPTER 07 

As he stopped playing, John went sitting on the couch, and that's when he noticed how tired he was. Maybe it was the fact that it was almost 03:00 in the night, or maybe it was that keeping up with a pair of children was much more exhausting of what he anticipated, or maybe it was the fact that he was forced to eat probably twice as much food as he weighted by the copious amount of women keeping on putting something else in his plate, including Giorgia herself; whatever he was, he was wasted out of any energy left, and in addiction with the softness and the dimension of the sofa (which the Falcone had probably customized for their daughter, like many other furniture John noticed in the house), and even the murmurring sound of people surround him talking softy to each other, without even realizing it, he blanked out on the spot.

He dreamt of some source of power lifting him, he couldn't described what it was, but it was acting with strenght and yet being very gentle and delicated. He felt wrapped by the brute, tender force, and his stomach warmed up, as well as his back, that was covered by a soft and positive sensation.

The next morning, he regained consciousness slowly, feeling himself immersed in a soft and warm white blanket. The shining, piercing rays through the windows had just started enlighting the room, and it didn't took him long before understanding he was in an unfamiliar room. "Where... what has happened?" he got himsef in a sitting position and stared looking around; all around him there were fluffy bunnies peluches, and he was sitting on a bed that looked impossibly big for his tiny body. He was still wearing the same outfit he wore yesterday night, and a look at the clock made him notice it was still fairly early for a Chrismas Day, so he could have probably just gone down sl... NO! What the hell was he thinking!? He had fallen asleep in a house he wasn't invited to stay in, for Christ sake! Time to get up, man up, and apologize for the inconvenient. 

He opened the large wooden door, which was probably 9 feet tall; the roof of the house itself was exremely tall he noticed. Where they so reach they built a whole house for their daughter? As he put his foot outside, his nose was invaded by a vibrant and fragrant slouth of croissant, which made him feel good. It reminded him of all the good things Giorgia bakes for him on Friday. And that is exactly what was going on. She was alone in the kitchen, wearing a comfortable shirt, leggings and an apron, with mittens on she was curved in front of the oven and he couldn't help himself from staring at her vast ass. He also noticed that while she had to fully bend to watch if whatever she was cooking was ready, he could barely reach the sight while standing. Umming, she opened the door of the oven and took out some fuming croissants, that by the smell of it contained honey and various jams. 

"Good morning sleepy head!" she said her usual large smile, squinting her eyes. "I still want to thank you for having come yesterday, I know my family can be... a lot." she giggled. 
"Uhm.. you're welcome... actually. I wanted to apologize for having spent the night here. It wasn't... polite." "Oh are you kidding me!? That was so cute! You were sleeping so profoundly I would have hated for you to wake up and I brought you to my room instead! I hope you didn't mind sleeping next to me. I swear I didn't do anything naughty ahahah!" They slept together!? Was this woman out of her mind!? He was her boss! He felt too much at a fault still to comply however and ignored the fact. "Yeah.. .I actually didn't even notice. I just woke in an unfamiliar space. I must have really badly aspleep, 'cause I don't remeber you waking me up to bring me here. Anyway, sorry again." "Oh shush silly! Of course you don't remember! I brought you myself! I'm quite strong and you're super light!" she said with a condescending voice. Totally out of the line. "Well... I guess I will have to go now and..." "DON'T EVEN TRY! You're gonna sit down, I already made you breakfast. Beside... in case you didn't notice, the house is empty. My parents and my little baby brother have left early this morning and won't come back before the 7th of January. We won't go back to work before the 2nd and..." as John was sitting down, she gave him some croissant, some cereal, and big ass bowl full of warm milk. "I... I shouldn't probably be telling you this but... I get very easily depressed when I'm alone. Even the slightest, shortest second I spend without social interaction I become very anxious. What I'm trying to ask is... can you please spend time with me?"

John was flabbergasted. One thing was to be extroverted. One thing was bringing your boss to your room without his consent and to ask him to spend time with him. Was she being flirtatious? That was... what had he to say? She would have.. "Wouldn't people find that... inappropriate?" She got extremely angry. He was extremely aware by now how easily she could go from overly cheerful and obnoxiously nurturing to Incredible Hulk mode. "WHY DO YOU CARE!? Why are you always putting others priority before your own!? What about what I would think? I've just opened my heart to you and..." "OKAY FINE, I'M STAYIN!" as if she had been briefly possessed, she returned to her normal self again. "AAAWWW! Thank you Johnny! I promise I will take extra care of you and you will super duper fine, partner!"
 
Partner?

[kasarberang]

Things are getting interesting!!! Always love tuning into new chapters of this story, keep up the good work!

[kirababy]

great to see this one continued!

[markfrangioni]

"Well... this is first." John said with some reluctance. "I mean, it was expected to be happening, I guess... but still..." Giorgia was still occupied with the pans, keeping on cooking something, but she immediately turned back and and gave him an interrogatory stare. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I'm following what you're saying. What are you referring to?". He wasn't even surprise. She had the habit of doing things out of instinct. "You've just called me partner. You've never done it before." Giorgia put the pans down and went to the table, lowering the flame at a minimum. 

"Oh. Uhm... well I guess it is a good time to say it now as much as any when else. I've been officially promoted and given a contract. Yes, I've been hired for good this time. I didn't want to tell you 'cause I know it would make you all fidgety and unease." She took both his hands with one of her own, and started rubbing them with her thumb, while using the other hand to gesticulate. "I don't want you to believe that this will make things weird for you, Johnny. It just means that we are gonna spend more time together, okay?" she was once again using her soft voice. She did it every time she felt like she might have hurt his feelings, this he knew now about her. On one side, he was pleased that she was empathetic, on the other one, he felt like he saw him as fragile. Fragile... didn't she use that word to describe him to her father? 

"Look Giorgia, I'm just happy for you. Don't know why you would think anything else. It was just... new!" he lied, forcing a smile. In reality, things were going to change. Things were changing already, as a matter of fact. Ever since she arrived, he wasn't the boss of his own actions anymore. She coordinated everything about him, 'cause she was his assistant. But now she would have not been there anymore, would have he been capable of keeping up? 

"That makes me very happy! Thank you for saying that Johnny! You know what? I want to do something fun to celebrate! It was already in my intentions, you've probably noticed I prepared some extra stuff. I am intended to have a picnic, and to go skiing. My family owns a lodge up on the mountains, it's not too far and we can be there in a couple of hours. We can spend the weekend there before coming back here!"

John didn't feel good at all about it. He didn't want to sound like a brat, but he never skied before, and he was also very well aware of how risky that would have been. Regardless of that, she already took her decision for the both of them, so he just said "Sounds great!". "PERFECT! You can watch some TV if you want, I'll prepare everything and will tell you when I'm ready to go. I'd ask you to help, but I don't think you can reach the rooftop of my car ahah!" she said jokingly, but the comment was hurtful nontheless. Grumpily, he went on the sofa and, marveled that they still had re-runs of it, he started watching an old cartoon show they used to show at the orphanage. Both the script and the drawings were childhish, but he still enjoyed the good memories, and he had nostalgia of when he was little and would just doze off watching TV. And the memory must have been very vivid, 'cause it had the same exact impact on him this time. 

He woke up hearing a key noise and some wooden door noise cracking, and more importantly feeling something warm surrounding him and looked around. His feet were in the air and something huge was touching his butt. With a second, more lucid look, he realized what was happening. "GiORGIA WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!?" she had him lifted. She was just carrying around, having him set on her hand and his neck lying on her shoulder. She let him down, but looked at him with anger. Her hands were on her hips, and she was towering over him. "What did you say again?" she was frightening. Yelling Giorgia was scary and annoying, but calm Giorgia felt like a nightmare. This was the first time he had experience something like that with her and didn't know what to do. Wait. HE WAS THE ONE ANGRY AT HER. What was going on? Why couldn't he respond to her authority? He had the words in his mouth, but they didn't want to come out. "What were you-" "Excuse yourself right now, young man. I will not tolerate curse words. You are very aware of how much I dislike such things." "I... I apologize..." he mumbled. "Good. The only reason why I was doing that is that you were asleep, and it would have been very rude of me to wake you up. Now, I hope that such an accident won't be repeated. Is that clear enough?" he was in absolute shock. He couldn't help himself from complying. "Yes,Ma'am." Where did that come from? "Good. I don't like being stern with you, but it is necessary when you misbehave. Remember that I was hired in the first place to rectify your behavioural problems. Do you think that just because I'm not your assistant anymore you are free to go back to where you were?" he felt tears coming down, but tried his best to avoid letting them out. "No, Ma'am" again? "Good. Now let's go inside. I said we're going to celebrate and go skiing and we shall do that. We won't let this little accident ruining our day. Remember Johnny. I am doing this for your own good."

[aldl4811]

Deep character development here. Looking forward to more!

[kasarberang]

I wonder what else she'll be doing "for his own good."

[Sarah Penguin]

Extroverts are huge inescapable swarms of zombies who will inevitably run you down and eat your introvert brain.  Even if you have told them specifically to leave you alone if you leave the building you just need space and agree in an email before the family christmas party I still got followed out to the van I had just entered and had just enough time to pull my kindle out before the guy I had emailed to ask his folks to give me space arrived to make sure I was okay.

[WetDad]

13 hours ago, Sarah Penguin said:

Extroverts are huge inescapable swarms of zombies who will inevitably run you down and eat your introvert brain.  Even if you have told them specifically to leave you alone if you leave the building you just need space and agree in an email before the family christmas party I still got followed out to the van I had just entered and had just enough time to pull my kindle out before the guy I had emailed to ask his folks to give me space arrived to make sure I was okay.

Huh?

Please explain, I'm confused.

[Sarah Penguin]

50 minutes ago, WetDad said:

Huh?

Please explain, I'm confused.

I'm n introvert.  I have a long history of extroverts following me when Ieave wantng to make sure I'm fine and sometimes even try to grab me to keep me there.  I'm fine just too many people and I need to some place quiet and get away from strangers when I reach mental overload. Which just makes me feel more like I need to leave.  Introvert brains reach fun/experience that was fun and ready go home  to and reflect on what happened than extrovert brains.

[WetDad]

Thanks for the explanation, Sarah. I was confused.

On your scale, I'm somewhere in the middle, because I can be at both extremes you cover. Though, seldom at the same time...