บท 1: A TASTE OF THE DAILY

The afternoon sun was blazing at the earth below mercilessly, earning a couple of cusses from the drivers as well as passengers stuck in traffic. What vengeful heat; clouds were not visible across the vast blue sky.

"Damn with this heat," Jacob murmured within his helmet as he weaved in between vehicles in his duty bike. He raised his arm and swiped the sleeves of his uniform against his face to clear the sweat from his brows, but instead, wiped at his visor.

He murmured more incoherent words against his visor, fogging up the plastic. Momentarily, his gaze wandered to the compact buildings at the side of the asphalt. They were massive and beautiful, majority of them made up of multiple stalls for small time retailers. The rest were behemoths of glass that had a piece of the pie -the market- of Sheran, the city Jacob had settled in.

"Hmm? Ah, am running late!" exclaimed the youth as he increased the pace of his cycle, riding closer to the pedestrian sidewalk, being a target of the sun-baked passers'-by rage.

However, he kept his focus before him while his fingers assaulted the horn of his vehicle, warning the people ahead of him of his invasion. Jacob was heading to one of the largest buildings that was coincidentally located at the center of the Capital.

He was on a food delivery part time job, his second job of the day; there are two more work places for him to complete the day's quota. But those are in the evening and night.

In ten minutes, he was before the entrance of Stragenah Cooperative. Jacob sighed in relief as he slowed down to a halt before the check point section. A guard in deep blue uniform walked forward with a stun gun strapped to his waist belt.

"Ahh~ If it ain't Jacob on his daily quests!" the guard chuckled as he adjusted his cap to wipe off the sheen of sweat on his forehead.

He pressed a button on the pillar beside the security cabin and the bar raised for the delivery boy to get through. There was no need for searching Jacob, as he was a constant visitor to the premises, and, according to the guard; he was a trustworthy guy!

Jacob killed the old bike's engine and got off to drag it past the entrance. Once on the other side of the bar, he leaned the vehicle against the security cabin's wall. He then worked the helmet off and hissed out a heated breath, his face was dripping with sweat, plastering his jet black hair unto his brows.

"Nice to see you too Peter," Jacob panted as he further unzipped the green jacket -with double orange stripes along the sleeves of his arms- and dropped against the wall beside his bike with his tongue out.

"Lemme get you some water," Peter stepped into the small cabin with a wry chuckle and came out with a half a litre sealed bottle of mineral water. Handing it over to the burnt out delivery man, he added," Sorry there ain't no AC today, not your lucky day aye kid? The machine broke down just this morning."

Jacob crushed the bottle into his mouth, gulping down the slightly cool water like a parched nomad. He only separated his lips from the bottle's when he had drunk most of its contents, he further drained the rest over his scorching scalp to cool his head. It was like an oven within that helmet!

" Man, am I tired~" Jacob sighed and raised his head to stare at the blue sky, his features set in perturbation. An enormous tree provided shade to this side of the cabin he was resting, a slight pity offered by life.

Peter chuckled to himself and leaned lazily against the wall beside the younger friend he had made over the past two weeks. He too stared at the cloudless vastness of blue, allowing a comfortable silence to settle between them.

"Hey now, you ain't old enough for all that, young Jacob!"

"You are only ten years older, Peter, don't start forcing proverbs down my throat," Jacob retorted, earning another heartfelt laugh from the security guard.

Peter, was turning 35 this year, he was exceptionally tall and of lank stature, with dark brown hair that was styled into a shallow fade. His fair complexion was beginning to tan under the strain of the sun these past few weeks. His black eyes always seemed to hold back a jovial youth with massive energy reserves yet to be unleashed. He always kept a clean shaved face; probably a requirement for the job. Peter was a fun guy to have around and good looking to boot.

"That's still a decade ahead of you, short stacks," he doubled over in laughter when Jacob glared at him, he never liked it when Peter made fun of his height, as he was not short! He was even slightly taller than average, at 177cm( 5'10"), Peter was just enviably taller, standing at 190cm(6'3").

Jacob rose to his feet and stretched himself. He had pale golden brown complexion that was being wasted on the mediocre clothes he wore. His eyes were hazel in color, but his long curls always shaded them over, oftenly being mistaken for brown. His features were always a blank slate, as if all that was happening before his eyes affected him on a lower scale than most. His body was of a scrawny stature, since he only enjoyed a full meal once a blue moon.

"Am running late," he glanced at his wrist watch; it was of cheap caliber, strapped at his left wrist, "I'll see you later Pete…stay hydrated."

Jacob left towards the imposing glass building, leaving behind a waving Peter, who seemed to have been rejuvenated and ready to tackle the rest of the day after the small talk with his delivery friend.

"Don't give up yet yeah?" the guard called out and Jacob waved without turning back.

The building before Jacob was three quarters made of glass and comprised of 65 floors. The lowest floors were painted white and gold, skillfully attended to, bringing out its majestic beauty. At the middle of the building's height was a massive 'S' and 'C' carved in black and green, placed in a manner that the S was slightly above the C.

Jacob draped the green jacket over his shoulders, zipping it halfway through, on his right hand were two boxes of large pizzas. He sighed and resolved himself, taking a step towards the glass doors that automatically opened, allowing him entry into a world so different from his own.

The interior was lavishly decorated; the floors were of marble and the ceilings were high, various plants were fixed at strategic points ushering in a natural beauty to the sleek hall. He walked forward to the reception area while he kept looking around. This place would always charm Jacob no matter how many deliveries he made, he appreciated the cool breeze, a contrast to the glaring heat outside.

Arriving before a young lady in a black and white striped business attire, Jacob tapped twice at the mahogany desk to get her attention from the monitor. The blonde was in a jovial mood; from what Jacob gathered, but when her baby blue eyes lowered to greet her customer- as she had countlessly practiced before a mirror-her smile died and a disdainful gleam now washed over her eyes.

"What do you want?" her voice reeked of disgust, as if she were a noble gracing a mere commoner with her presence.

Jacob internally sighed, he has been to this place for two weeks now, heck, his attire had a pizza logo at the right breast, the boxes with him were aromatic to say the least. But as always, this certain receptionist deemed it necessary to humiliate him, it was a drama she enjoyed, at the expense of the delivery man.