“Did I say something wrong sir?”Hector, realizing he was overreacting, regained his composure, quickly picking up a picture off his desk. It was a photo of Jane with Alice standing beside her.“May I remind you that, inter office relationships are prohibited.” Hector said.Michael seemed confused by this. “But sir, this isn’t stated anywhere within the company’s rules and guidelines.”“How dare you question me.” Hectors temper rose again. “And there’s no way you know the entire company’s rules and guidelines, after being here for just two days.”“Sorry to disappoint you sir, but I take my job very seriously.” Michael retorted, pride in his voice. “I’ve made it my duty to know what goes on within the company.”Hector’s anger began to increase. He didn’t expect the meeting to go like this, he had hoped that Michael would be that someone he could easily control.“Look here son, if you try anything to go against me, you won’t only lose your job; you’ll lose everything you ever had.” Hect

Calling Michaels number, Alice waited for a short while before he answered. She was silent as she held the phone to her ear.“Hello, who is this?” Michael spoke through the phone.“Hey Mike, it’s Alice.” She said softly.Michael went quiet for a minute before he finally said, “Hey.”“Hey.” Alice said. “Hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time?” her voice was calm and gentle.“No, no, I’m good to talk now, since I left work early.” He said quickly, as though he was nervous. “Yeah, me too, weird day at the office.” She said with a hint of humor.There was another awkward silence as Michael didn’t what to say, it was his fault she left office early.“Look, Alice, I’m so sorry about what I did, I had no right to kiss you all of a sudden, I was tired and wasn’t thinking straight…” He said quickly without stop.Alice laughed, “It’s all right, I liked it.” She said smiling, kicking her feet on the bed. “Besides, I think I kind of… forced your hand with my confession.”“I’m confused, so you’re

Looking into his eyes, Michael saw that he was set on Jane. Time slowed down immediately; the man was already too close for Michael to react properly.Without many options, he quickly turned himself into a human shield to protect Jane. Spreading his arms wide in anticipation.The man lunged in, aiming his knife on Michael’s center. Without delay, Michael grabbed his assailant by the wrist as they struggled, pushing Jane to the ground.Onlookers at first were baffled by what was going on, before a lady on the other side of the street yelled. “HELP! HE’S GOT A KNIFE!” causing an instant panic.Their tussle, which lasted only moments, felt like hours to Jane, who sat helplessly on the street, using her arm behind her to weigh herself up against the ground.Michael pushed hard, his assailant pushed just as hard, in a backwards tug of war, neither of them giving in. Michael kicked him on the shin, forcing him to fall.On his way down he took Michael with him, as they landed chaotically on