BANG!
Damian Baines slammed his hand down on the desk before him, his face - which was no longer young nor full of the vigor of his past years - locked in the rictus of a snarl, the man barely keeping himself from strangling the person on the other side.
That person happened to be Myra Gates, the head of HR for the Apex Meridian Logistics, a global conglomerate that handled shipping and moving goods across the world from various e-commerce sites. The company was a Fortune 500 titan that could not be shaken in the Western Hemisphere of the world, leading to its very cold and mechanical internal structure.
Myra Gates pushed up her glasses and regarded the form that Damian put before her to sign, glancing at his fist which smashed the table with a partly raised eyebrow.
"There is no need for such agitation, Mr Baines. I understand your concerns and your worries, but I am simply not in the position to furnish this claim." She responded with a firm shake of her head, sending the form back to Damian, which was revealed to be an insurance claim.
Damian did not look at the form, still glaring at the woman as he spoke in a cold tone. "I was injured while working due to poor management and supervision of the workplace. It is only because my employment contract stipulates that I must sign off with you first before seeking legal means that we aren't already in court."
To her credit, Myra only frowned slightly but showed no panic. "Mr Baines, your assertion is quite erroneous. Our supervisors are the best in the business, and I find it hard to believe that such an accident can occur under their careful watch."
Damian raised an eyebrow and smiled coldly. "Is that so? Then can you explain how I got this?"
The fellow suddenly pulled up his shirt and jacket at once, displaying his rather toned torso that had been turned from mounds of belly-flab when he started this job 5 years ago to lean muscle, but that image was ruined by a severe purple colored bruise covering his entire left side.
Myra winced at the sight, then straightened her expression to prevent any signs of weakness. She put up a false image of pity and sympathy, sighing deeply.
"This seems to be an injury caused by carelessness, Mr Baines. Luckily, our company has a subsidizing package available for you where we will cover 30% of your hospital bills in exchange for reclaiming your leave days and the promise of at least a month's worth of overtime work." Myra started downcast but suddenly became chipper, pulling out a form from her drawer and placing it before Damian.
Damian glanced at the form, then at Myra, then at the form again.
It took him all his willpower and more not to do something he would regret forever.
In the end, he understood that he was wasting time here; a top company like this one put people like this as their HR reps because they were cold-blooded creatures that would not crack even if the sky was falling. As such, he directly stood up and took his insurance claim form, glancing at the woman coldly.
"See you in court soon," Damian said, though he knew that it wouldn't be her in the courtroom if he launched a suit.
Myra remained smiling until Damian closed the door loudly and stomped away, after which her expression became gloomy. She immediately picked up her office phone and dialed a number, waiting for it to ring three times before a gruff male voice picked up.
"Marcus, you'd better find a way to deal with your subordinate. I have more important things to deal with up here than to placate such low-life characters from the streets!" Myra spat with venom, causing Marcus to grunt.
"Sure, I'll talk to him." He said simply, cutting the call the next moment.
Meanwhile, Damian had to walk rather unsteadily due to the pain in his side, heading downstairs through the elevator and out of the headquarters of the company. Gazing at the busy boulevard during the peak afternoon, he sighed and decided to walk as is without wasting money on a taxi or an uber, walking around seven blocks to the east with his injury to the First National Hospital, a public establishment.
As a public hospital, it was both slightly old and very busy, with Damian struggling to get to meet the receptionist to give him a permit to enter the inpatient wards. Hobbling his way over, he saw many family and friends in the various single wards that were dutifully taking care of their loved ones, some even being familiar faces that Damian greeted casually.
Eventually, he got to room number 144 and pushed the door open to reveal a rather ordinary ward with open windows that let in fresh air, along with an old CRT TV mounted opposite the bed that was playing old cartoons.
Damian moved over quietly, shutting the door behind him as his eyes fell on the only thing of importance to him in this world, his middle-aged mother, who lay in the bed with her eyes closed and her arms crossed, her breathing even, and a slight smile on her face.
Damian sat down beside her and held her slightly bony arm gently, his lips quivering as the cold and hard front he presented before Myra began to crumble, revealing a young boy who craved his mother's affection once more.
"I'm sorry Mom, I got injured at work yesterday and it's pretty bad," Damian confessed his usual happenings to his comatose mother as he had done since he was 12 years old, like a child reporting their daily activities from school. He was now 25 years old and despite being somewhat young, he looked rugged and fatigued, with an unkempt beard and a mop of brown hair that needed an urgent cut.
Worst of all were his bloodshot blue eyes, which told anyone who looked at him that this was a weary soul, held up only by the unwavering will to protect something or someone dear to them, no matter the cost to themselves.