The Scholar 1

Pablo has everything: he inherited a hardware distribution company, he's rich, single, very handsome, and athletic.

He takes his company very seriously and is usually the first to arrive and the last to leave.

He's very energetic, the fifty employees who work for him respect and obey him because they know Pablo doesn't tolerate mistakes and demands perfection from everyone.

"It's not that hard to follow procedures, is it?" he says, scolding two employees in charge of filling orders that morning - "everything is in the manuals, if you don't know how to follow them, I don't know what you're doing here?" -

His voice can be heard outside the office. Pablo does it on purpose so that as many employees as possible can hear him. The scolding for some is a scolding for all, this way he maintains order and makes people follow his instructions.

"People are lazy by nature" he tells Claudio, his best friend, with whom he usually has lunch on Friday afternoons - "they need us to speak loudly and remind them time and time again what they have to do" - he adds, taking a long sip of his artisanal beer.

"You have to be careful, now they can sue you for abuse" Claudio says, who is more attentive to his phone than the conversation.

"I never insult them, I just speak loudly" Pablo says - "look... they'll never admit it, but deep down they appreciate being supervised so they don't make mistakes" -

On Friday afternoons, Pablo has the tradition of returning to his office after 7 pm, when everyone has left. He likes to schedule his appointments and review his pending tasks when he's alone, he considers his secretary to be good but prone to making mistakes, and Pablo likes everything to work perfectly.

As he compares his agenda with his notes and writes some notes, he hears noise in the warehouse, his office is on the second floor and from there he has full control over what happens on the ground floor, he looks out and sees one of the workers still arranging some boxes.

"Hello" he greets him after going down to check what his employee is doing.

"Good evening, Mr. Pablo" the man responds. He wears industrial pants and a sleeveless shirt that exposes his broad shoulders and arms with enormous biceps.

The man is a very dark-skinned Latino, with quite large pectorals that stand out in the dirty and worn-out shirt. Pablo doesn't know who he is, he knows all the people who work in his company, and he's never seen him before, for a few moments, he fears it might be a thief.

"Hello" he repeats - "who are you?" - he asks with his authoritative accent and preparing to run if he confirms it's an intruder.

"Ismael Gutiérrez, boss, nice to meet you" the man says, extending his hand. Pablo responds to the greeting, Ismael shakes his hand firmly with his large, fleshy, and rough hands.

"Why don't I know you?" Pablo asks, sustaining his gaze. He's a man...