Page 90 of Signed, I'm Yours!
How the hell have I managed to screw things up again? Maybe Jack is right. Maybe I really am no villain. Maybe I’m just a joke. I mean, it’s taken me four years to uncover any clues to find my family, and even then, I’ve still managed to fuck it up. Royally. Maybe I’m just not cut out for this life. Maybe I’m worse at it than I think I am. Maybe I just need to accept I’m a terrible supervillain just as much as I am a terrible son and brother for letting my family slip through my fingers.
“That was quick. Another?” Betsy asks, and I clear my head so I can look at her.
She’s staring at my plate, which is now empty, and my half-empty cup of Dr Pepper.
I shrug.
“Might as well,” I answer her and glance at the private door to my right.
What the hell is taking them so long? Is he getting an earful on my account? Is April suspending him? Or worse?
Is it possible she’s sent people to arrest him and make him disappear, like Omma and Min?
“Here you go.” Betsy puts another slice in front of me and a fresh, ice-cold cherry cola with barely a smile. “When you’re done, you may go back up.”
I get up, but before I can do anything, Betsy tuts at me and points at me to sit back down.
“I said when you’re done. Are you done?” I shake my head. “Then sit your ass down and don’t waste my food.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I pick up my slice of pizza under her watchful eye and try to work through it, but be it the anxiety or the anticipation, it’s like chewing cardboard. A very sweet and sour-tasting cardboard, but cardboard nonetheless. After what feels like an eternity, I’ve cleared my plate and my cola, and Betsy taps some buttons on the register, making the elevator door open again.
The rumble of the mechanism threatens to bring all the food I’ve consumed back up when April’s office appears before me.
Jack is still here, thank God.
But there’s someone else in the room, sitting behind the desk. Jack is standing on the other side of the desk, staring at me.
I approach with caution, narrowing my eyes, trying to see through the gaps between the screens, but it’s not until I stand beside Jack that I can finally see the other person.
“Hello again, Mr. Bae,” April says.
I lean forward, looking side to side at all the monitors, but they’re all blank now. No, there’s no illusion going on. April is in the room with us. How the hell did that happen?
“H-hi,” I answer.
“Please, take a seat.”
Jack takes one of the chairs, and April gestures at the other for me. I step back with shaky legs and sink into it, the lower position hiding April behind the monitors again. Which isn’t a concern for long since she taps a button and the screens move to the side, putting me back in her field of vision.
“Mr. Lewis here has explained your predicament to me.” She gestures toward Jack but continues to stare at me.
“I…um…okay.”
“While I may disagree with your actions, Mr. Lewis has assured me you’re no threat to SPAM.”
I shake my head before I realize what I’m doing.
“I can be a threat.” I correct myself.
“But you’re not.” Jack reaches for my hand and taps it.
“What did you tell her exactly?” I whisper at him.
“Mr. Lewis has told me everything.”
“Everything?” I gasp. “Everything everything? Like, even nighttime shenanigans everything?”
