Javier Oreguela

A short fiction using the concept of misperception.
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“This’s getting freakin’ annoying!” Louis was shocked by the slip of tongue. Months of working in this hell, sonofabitch investment bank had exploded him, he thought. Javier, Javier, Javier, such a moron, bluff and drama king.

Say in the thanksgiving office party, Javier would impersonate Shakira, shaking his ass off and reminding everyone that he and Shakira came from the same village in Colombia. Awful! He would laugh at Louis’s Singaporean accent, a sore point. But here’s what Louis found most disgusting - Javier always started off a sentence with “When I was in Harvard, …”. Louis was sponsored by the Singaporean government to Cambridge and graduated first class. But he preferred to stay under the radar for fear of questions on how he could get away from the compulsory military training, that’s another story. Louis could only express his hatred in private. Everyone loved Javier – the secretary, managers, directors and clients. Javier was the untouchable gold, the high-flying star.

Perhaps the numerous late-nights crunching spreadsheets, gulping down caffeine mixed with red-bull, and toying with the Bloomberg machines created certain camaraderie. Louis found the better side of Javier– humorous, street-smart and smooth. He also learnt tons from Javier, how to cover ass in office, how to schmooze with the secretaries, and what’s a good pick up line ….

Last Sunday, they went out for drinks to celebrate a record-breaking 130 hours week. After some Vodka and pot, Javier half drunkenly, half seriously said,

“Mi Amigo, you know how the formula goes, white guys - yellow chicks, white chicks – black guys, black-chicks - Latino guys. Asian dudes, sorry man, that sucks! But what can you do? Stand up for yourself! Fight for what you want, si?” He grimly griped his fist and crushed the Rancheritos into crumbles, cascading into the Vodka. Louis did not disagree with it; he just didn’t realize the inequality had become so universally apparent.

Next morning, Louis came to the office fashionably on time. Walked past Javier’s desk, empty, kind of expected. Started reading emails, Louis was caught by the one marked “Important and Urgent.”

“Javier Oreguela was fired from Goodman & Company due to unsatisfactory performance.” This was impossible, Louis thought. Feeling an urge to “fight for yourself”, Louis dashed to the director’s office to do remedies.

“I have been working with Javier. I can prove he’s a great analyst!” Louis stepped back after he finished the statement, which he found ridiculous and naïve. Who he thought he was?

The director was somewhat surprised by Louis’s impetuosity. He frowned, motioned the analyst to sit, and then swiveled the laptop monitor showing Louis the CNN news. The headline read, “Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, once one of the world's most powerful criminals, has been extradited to the US to face drug smuggling and money-laundering charges.”

“Gilberto is Javier’s dad.”

“But Javier has nothing to do with the cartel, right?”

“In Goodman here, our clients come first. They include the US government. Louis, I know how it feels. But focus on your work. You ARE the star in this office! We all want to groom you into great success one day.”