Chapter 7

Sunday morning.

Ilene is sitting in their small bed, dressed in her worn-out pajama, drinking cheap beer. The little bedside table is packed with empty beer bottles and ashes from cigarettes, and their bedroom is reeking with the smell that comes from them.

She looks bad. Ilene looks tired, miserable, very thin, even anorexic, and paler than ever.

Philip tried to explain to her what she saw two days ago; he tried to explain what Agatha and Mariah did to him. Why he had to do it. Why he had to be treated like a child, like an object, like something to be used and disposed at their will.

The more he explained, the more Ilene sunk into a deep, severe depression.

Philip himself can barely believe what he told her. He's living in this surreal world, waiting for someone to wake him up from this nightmare.

Yesterday, he tried to clean their couch the best he could. He tried to clean it for almost two hours, but the disgusting odor from Agatha's urine remains stubbornly there.

Ilene can't bear the thought of sitting on that couch anymore. She can't even have dinner in the living room.

She barely ate all weekend. And, she barely muttered a word.

"I hate her..." she finally says, her voice so very faint. "I hate them..."

Philip remains speechless. He hates them, too. More than anything else in his life, and even more after what happened this Friday left Ilene like this.

"Philip ... Please ... Can't we quit? I don't want to go back to the company ... I just don't..."

Philip sighs. "I don't know, Ilene ... We ... We can't afford leaving our jobs, right now ... Your mother, our home ... And, I can't seem to find a job anywhere else ... I'm sorry, I..."

"Philip ... Please ... I can't see them again, do you understand?" Ilene cries. "What I saw ... What I was forced to see ... That ... WHORE, on top of you ... And, you were crying ... And ... And that other ... Fucking slut ... She grabbed me ... She made me watch Agatha on top of you ... Please, Philip ... Please..."

Philip breathes deep. Every word from her makes him want to cry. No one should ever have to suffer like she's suffering. And he can't say anything to her that will help her. He can't do anything to soothe what she had to see.

He's lost. He never felt this lost.

"Ilene ... Your mother ... Everything ... How will we ... You know? I'm sorry ... I don't know what to do, too..."

Ilene cries. Philip sits right next to her, and holds her tight in his arms, trying to comfort her with all the warmth and love he can.

"How can they do this to us, Philip ... How can anyone do this? They are ... Monsters..."

Ilene loses herself in tears.

Monday comes quickly.

It's almost 12PM, and Philip still couldn't do anything. He turned on his laptop in the morning, and that's it.

He can't take his eyes from Ilene. She's staring blankly at her laptop, with the deepest sadness he has ever seen on her.

"Ilene ... I have to go to a team meeting, I think it won't take long. We'll go lunch somewhere, wherever you want, OK?" he says to her. He's hoping that a lunch outside, in a restaurant full of other people, can help take her mind off the weekend.

"OK..."

Philip is the last one to arrive at the meeting. The room has all of the programmers that worked with him on the Transports Ministry portal standing up and chatting, and, at the end of the room, sitting at the same table, Darien and Agatha.

She doesn't seem to notice him. Hate is all that he can feel towards her. The sounds of his colleagues talking to each other seem to disappear, and some sort of blurriness takes over the room, leaving him and her alone.

Darien interrupts Philip's focus.

"Gentlemen," he says, smiling. "Thank you all for your presence. Agatha, the Associate responsible for the Transports Ministry project, has something to say."

Agatha looks away from her laptop. Her sight runs through all of the programmers, and, finally, her cold gaze locks on Philip.

"First of all, good work to everyone," she says, sounding dispassionate as ever. "You did your company's name justice, and delivered a quality work, which impressed our client in a most positive way. The demonstration that I personally carried through was a success, and we already have in place new developments between the Transports Ministry and our company."

"Believe me, everyone, this is the happiest I've seen Agatha!" Darien cheerfully says, bringing laughs from everyone.

Except from Agatha and Philip.

"As Agatha said," Darien continues, "You've done a brilliant job. We're aware of the effort each of you has done to make this happen, and so we want to thank you by giving you a day-off this Friday, next week's Friday, and the last Friday of this month as well!"

Everyone begins to happily chatter in excitement, clearly happy to have three prolonged weekends as a reward for their hard work.

Philip himself can't help but feel some happiness to have some well-deserved days to rest.

"So, once again, thanks for your dedication, gentlemen!" Darien says. "Please go ahead while we give a last word to Philip."

Philip suddenly feels alerted and worried as everyone leaves, chatting about their newly given "holidays".

He tries to read Darien and Agatha. Their expressions couldn't be any more different. Darien is noticeably happy, smiling and looking very personable, while Agatha still seems like she belongs to the coldness that permanently punishes Vienna.

"So, Philip," Darien says, with an obvious look of joy and pride on his face, "we know how hard you worked, how difficult it was to keep everyone together to get this through. We couldn't be happier with the results! So, as our personal way to thank you, the other Associates and I have decided to give you an extra salary deposited to you, right this day. What do you say, Philip?"

Philip is speechless for a few moments. "I ... That's amazing! Thank you very much!"

"Not only that," Darien continues, "we know you and Ilene are together, so we've deposited to her account as well an extra salary! After putting so much of your personal time in this project, you most certainly deserve to spend some quality time along with Ilene!"

"I ... I ... I can't thank you enough!" Philip can't believe what he's hearing. Two extra salaries will make him and Ilene the most money-comfortable they've ever been in their lives.

"No, we thank you, Philip! We'd also like to discuss the possibility of turning yourself into a Project Manager, maintaining your role as a designer. You've conducted your colleagues in a way most Project Managers don't do, so, it's something we'd like you to consider. That would bring some advantageous salary benefits, of course."