“Ugh, another day, another few hours being counted down until I can go home,” Dylan said, sighing as he got off the bus and headed towards his workplace: Pageview. It was one of those rare days where Dylan was called into work, regardless of him being able to just work at home. Stifling a yawn, Dylan soon made his way, spotting one of his coworker, Alicja, dressed as a mascot(A strange creature with mannerisms and looks identical to a fox decorated in hearts with a large clown-like noise, x eyes and an axe;located in its head) promoting one of their new comics “Everlasting Love… Not really”. As soon as Dylan passed by her, Alicja waved.
“Hey, Dylan! Another day, another few hours of fun, wouldn’t you say?!”
“Yea, sure. Personally, I can’t wait to leave…,” Dylan mumbled to her.
“Oh yeah, I know. I can’t wait to go home so that I can go to sleep and wake up tomorrow for the Valentines Day Party!!”
“Oh yeah, that event… Sounds kinda like fun. I probably won’t be there long, but sounds fun.”
“Uh huh! Oh, and before I forget, I have a birthday gift for you on my desk! Don’t open it until tomorrow though! But if you simply can’t wait, you can open it today!!”
“Oh ok, you didn’t have to though.”
“Nonsense! Anything for a coworker!! Have a wonderful Dylan, and see you at the party tomorrow!!”
“Yea, you too,” Dylan said, before walking inside, leaving Alicja outside to keep on promoting. Once inside the small building, Dylan passed by several decorations of hearts and kisses on the windows and some more decorated on the small, sitting area, computers, and desks. Dylan couldn’t help but admire the few decorations strewn about before locating Alicja’s desk and picking up the medium-sized red-wrapped package with a small piece of a folded tag on top.
“Hey, Iggy Akiyama!”
Dylan groaned a bit as he noticed George, his other coworker(who he couldn’t really tolerate with blonde, short hair), walking towards him. He was wearing a red vest with a pale pink tie, a white button-up long-sleeve shirt, a pair of black work pants and dark grey shoes.
“Oh… hey George. Nice…outfit?” Dylan said, trying not to sound bored/disgusted by him.
“Ah thank you. But, you have no need to tell me though. I KNOW I look good,” George said, posing a bit, which caused Dylan to roll his eyes
“Yea…sure.”
“And you have a… nice outfit as well. And by nice, I mean the same outfit you’ve been wearing since you started working here. Couldn’t find anything with red and pink huh?”
Dylan looked down at his outfit: a blue and black striped sweater over a black tie and white buttoned shirt, with black loose, ripped jeans and blue and white sneakers. He looked back up at George and gave a slight glare.
“No… I didn’t. But that shouldn’t be a problem though….” Dylan said, obviously trying hard not to get annoyed at his co-workers’ dumb comments.
“Eh sure, I guess its not a problem for you. But, that’s not what I came over to talk to you about.”
“Than what are you here to talk to me about?”
“Mr. Agnew wanted me to tell you that he wants to speak to you about something important.”
“What’s so important that he just couldn’t come out to tell me?”
“I don’t know. But he says to just come anyway.”
“Ugh, fine.”
Dylan soon passed George and made his way towards where his boss was, a small door with a cheaply made sign that said: “Boss Agnew: Come in of your Admission… Or If You Still Want To Come In, That’s Fine Too ”. Dylan soon grabbed the doorknob and opened it up… Only to be met with some resistance from the other side.
“What the… Agnew? Hey Agnew!”
“Huh? Dylan is that you?! Uh, hold on a minute!! I just got to move some boxes!!”
Dylan paused, hearing the noises of boxes being placed in different parts before the door finally opened all the way, causing Dylan to fall forward and down on the floor.
“Oh shit Dylan! You ok?”
“Y-yea just tripped a bi…” Dylan started saying before trailing off as he took in the sight of his boss’s office. Now, even though Agnew’s office had always been a less than pleasant clean, it seemed to be way more cluttered than before. There were about 40 heart-shaped boxes strewn about on the desk, floor and some of the shelves. Each of them was decorated with several different colored bows, and several tags attached to them. His boss was on one knee looking at Dylan with one hand extended, looking quite disheveled. Agnew’s hair was a greying mess, hair not in its usual ponytail and hanging off his sides and back. His outfit was even more messy than usual, his red Hawaiian shirt half-tucked in and unbuttoned at the top while his pants were more dirty and raggedy, and the only thing that didn’t seem off on him was his sandals.
“Uh, Agnew… What’s with all the boxes?” Dylan asked, taking Agnew’s hand in order to be lifted back onto his feet as he kept looking around, all the while Agnew rubbed the back of his head with one hand as he looked sheepishly at Dylan.
“Heh, o-oh yeah… Wellllllll, they’re all from… my wife. You remember, Florence? She came here a couple of times?”
“Oh, yea. I remember her. Wasn’t she the one who brought in that giant, 3-foot cake celebrating the anniversary of you starting Pageview?”
“Yea, such a beautiful cake,” Agnew said, a loving smile on his face as he remembered his wife’s proud look as she bought it in, before snapping back to reality to share the same sheepish discomfort from before.
“Y-yep, the same. She’s a baker, part of one of the small chain of bakeries scattered around NewDugWood and for Valentines Day, she decided that she wanted to give me more than just a card. So she decided to spice up by making me different-shaped/colored chocolates with different fillings.”
“Wait, that’s what’s in all these boxes?!”
“Yea… Florence can get a little crazy when she starts baking, but she definitely means well. However, that’s where the problem lies.”
“Problem? What problem?”
“Well, you see… I have the suspicion that Florence may have filled up some of the chocolates with nougat. And if you don’t know, my digestion system and nougat… Are not friends. Even the taste of it is enough to cause my taste buds to recoil. And since I don’t know which box contains the confectionaries in question, and taste testing them is not an option, I’m afraid my wife’s treats might have to be forced to melt in order to understand which is which.”
“Ah, I see… Well, if that’s the case, why do you need me exactly?” Dylan asked, to which Agnew looked at Dylan with a bit of a sparkle in his eyes as he clasped his hand on Dylan’s shoulders and looked at him with a smile.
“Well, that is where you come in! You see Dylan, I need you to taste the chocolates in each of the boxes and tell me if any of them contains nougat!”
“Oh… wait, what?! You want me to taste all the chocolates in all of these boxes?!”
“Not all the boxes, just until you get to one that doesn’t contain nougat! This will make it easier for me cause than that will mean I won’t have to watch Florence’s beautiful creations melt and I won’t have to tell her I wasn’t able to eat any of them, risking to see her disappointed reaction!”
“Ok, that’s good for you… But not for me! What’s the point of eating all these anyway? Wouldn’t it be easier to just save these until later on in life?”
“Noooo, that is not an option here! That’s essentially deeming these sweets as just leftovers, and no one wants to eat the leftovers that someone else had!”
“…That makes no sense Agnew…” Dylan said, to which Agnew soon took Dylan’s hands into his own and started pleading with him down on the ground on his knees.
“Please, Dylan! If you help me with this, I promise I’ll give you the rest of the day off!”
“I-I don’t know…” Dylan said, despite the promise of being able to go home seemly a wish come true. Agnew didn’t say anything but simply looked with eyes glistening(looking like he’ll cry) and small whimpers seemly emanating from his mouth. Dylan tried looking away but ultimately failed as his shoulders slacked and he sighed.
“… 2 days…”
“Huh?”
“Two days off from work. You agree to that, and I’ll help you with your chocolate situation.”
“Uh, s-sure! Ok!” Agnew said, a bright smile on his face as he got up, grabbed a box of chocolates and gave it to Dylan as if to say “Start!”
Dylan gulped and opened the box up. Each of the chocolates was shaped differently, with the top row square shaped, the middle row heart-shaped, and the bottom row in oval shaped with lines of white and dark chocolate decorated on top. Dylan couldn’t help but admire the carefulness and decoration that was put on, that he almost felt bad about eating it. Almost, as he picked up a piece and placed it in his mouth. His teeth soon bit on to the shell as he chewed before swallowing, noting the taste of something that was a mix of honey and sugar which Dylan recognized as…
“Taste like nougat.”
“Ah ok… So then that means that box might have fillings of nougat in each piece, so… Can you please eat the rest of them?”
Dylan rolled his eyes but complied, eating and swallowed the rest of the pieces before placing the box down. Just as quickly as he was done finishing the box, another was plopped in his hands. Dylan opened it up and admire the now just milk chocolate triangle-shaped chocolates with different messages of “I Love You”, “Be My Valentine”, and other cheesy, loving messages, before picking up a piece and chewed. The first piece was a little hard to tell, so Dylan popped in a couple more, which raised Agnew’s hopes up that maybe this box contained non-nougat, until…
“Hmmm… this one also has nougat in it,” Dylan said, mouth still chewing the pieces.
“Damn! Alright, you can finish the pieces…” Agnew said, disappointed. Dylan complied and went ahead, finishing the box just a bit faster before the next one was popped into his hands. The process continued with at least 4 more boxes, with the 5th one…
“Oh hey, I think this one has cherry filling in it…”
“Really?! Ah yes!!” Agnew said as Dylan handed him the box as he chewed on the first piece before swallowing, a small burp erupting from his mouth as a feeling of fullness started in his stomach. Unfortunately, he was far from done as Agnew soon gave him another box.
“Ah, Agnew… I don’t think I can eat another box, I’m already kinda full…”
“Noooo! Please don’t stop now Dylan! Just try a few more boxes for me please!!!”
“Ummm…”
“Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeee?”
“…‘Sigh’ Ok.”
Agnew let out a bit of a squeal before giving him another box, the process picking up again. At least 10 of the boxes contained nougat, while about 5 more contained other fillings like hot fudge, blueberry(which Dylan took two pieces from them to chew, much to Agnew’s dismay), marshmallow(another two pieces eaten by Dylan), etc. During that time, about 20 boxes were inspected, and during that time Dylan was starting to go from being full to slight discomfort. His stomach was now started to try and make some form of room for the pieces, and in the end, was starting to push out more from underneath his shirt. Soon Box number 21 was finished(another nougat) and Dylan was trying hard not to let loose any more prolonged burps and ignoring his pants now starting to cut into his expanding flesh. Box 22 was placed in his hands and Dylan had to stifle a groan.
“Huh? Is something wrong Dylan?” Agnew asked, a bit of concern on his face.
“Ugghh… Its n-nothing Agnew… ‘Burp!’”
“You sure?”
Dylan just nodded as he opened the box and picked up a piece, sighing as that one was proven to be nougat too. His stomach gurgled and groaned as more pieces were digested and it started pushing out again, raising the hem of his sweater up to where slivers of his white buttoned up shirt could be seen.
“Ah, that was all nougat huh?”
“Yep…’BRAP!’ Excuse me…”
Dylan felt sick. His stomach felt heavy, the button cutting into it as Dylan’s hand tried unconsciously to rub it in order to make it better. It was at this point that another box was given to him and Dylan took slowly. While that box proved different flavors(one was raspberry cream), the next few were, as expected nougat. Dylan could feel his stomach painfully stretch out, the buttons now starting to strain against. By the time, the number had dwindled down to a reasonable amount, Dylan was now starting to consider unbuttoning his pants button in front of his boss, but decided not to. Soon there were only 5 boxes left. Dylan groaned, one box already in his hands as he opened it up slowly and chewed. Nougat, Nougat, Nougat, Buttercream. And all the while Dylan’s stomach was at this point begging him to stop as his sweater now sat on top of his shirt.
“Ok, Dylan… Just one more box, than you can go home for at least two days,” Agnew said, worried about what might happen to Dylan, considering he was starting to look sick. Dylan didn’t say anything but took the box, and opened it, not caring about what they look like, just that he wanted to finish. He picked up a piece and plopped it in his mouth, chewing slowly before swallowing. It took a while before he finally said…
“This one is… Pistachio…”
“Pis-PISTACHIO?! Oh, I LOVE pistachio!!! Alright, great job Dylan,” Agnew said as he gave Dylan a nice pat on the back, all the while Dylan was busy burping and holding his stomach tightly, feeling sluggish and like a rock. Though Agnew, if he could, hardly noticed.
“Alright, Dylan! Thanks for your help!”
“N-No problem…” Dylan burped out before finally walking away, closing the door behind him as he leaned back against and rubbed his stomach, moaning as more burps erupted from his mouth. Examining his gut, it was struggling against the buttons on both his white shirt and the button/belt of his pants. He held his stomach close and prayed that he would get home before his stomach would immediately pop off the buttons in question.
“Iggy Akiyama! What did the boss want you to do,” George called out, oblivious to Dylan’s discomfort.
“Uggh..’BURP!’ Nothing… L-listen, I’m going home right now… And don’t even bother asking why cause I’m just going…” Dylan said quickly before rushing towards the door before George could say anything else, hoping to take the bus as a quicker way home in order to relax and hopefully sleep off the pieces before vomiting. At the least, he wouldn’t have to worry for two more days of work to come, though it was going to be anything but relaxing.
“Uggh… Note of advice, never do anything for your bo- ‘BURRRP’ boss… Ever again…” Dylan said to himself, hoping that in the future this would stick… But probably not…