( Leo's POV )
Leo had been trained in the art of giving massages just like everyone else in sector D who worked in his unit.
The training had taken place in phases, however within the first week itself, every member of sector D that had been newly promoted and were working in the hospitality sector, received the necessary training for giving a massage.
This particular day marked Leo's second time giving a client massage, with his first time being a resounding success which earned him a recommendation, however, Leo was not fully focused on it as thoughts of Amanda and the incident that happened back at the apartment kept running in his mind.
Leo knew he was probably thinking too much about an incident that was casual for Amanda, however, even if he did not wish for it, memories kept playing in his head as a soft smile appeared on his face.
Perhaps it was just Amanda feeling low from being emotional, however, he could not help but feel mesmerized by the feeling of hugging a woman.
She was incredibly soft, unlike Luke and himself, hugging her felt completely different as her skin was supple and squishy, a sensation that made Leo's spine tingle every time he thought about it and to to it off, she smelled good too even though she did not apply any scent.
Moreover, just the feeling of being the shoulder on which she cried on made Leo feel like he was important to her and that she trusted him and although he did not understand why, that sensation of being important to someone made him feel happy this morning.
"For the 100th time mate, be more gentle, you're pulling my leg hair with how rough you are.
Are you deaf or something? I'm telling you to go easy for quite a while now-
I'm taking this massage to relieve my pain, not increase it" The sector A client that he was servicing complained, as Leo was jolted back to reality.
" My Apologies, sir, I will be more careful" Leo said, as he tried to focus on his job, however, he could not fully commit to it, as he ended up doing a half-hearted service.
*********
" Leo, brother, what is this? Your evaluation today is a B! A B! It's not a good grade at all!
The client complained that you were too rough!
You know how important Mr. Cho is?
Be thankful he did not ask you to be demoted or something, Jesus Christ, what were you even thinking?
I'll never put you on massage duty ever again if you pull this shit twice, you understand?
You getting a low evaluation makes me get a lower evaluation, it's all connected, don't fuck me with you man" Leo's supervisor reprimanded him, as Leo shook his head and listened to all the scolding without a protest.
He knew something was wrong, however, he was sure that it wasn't just the incident in the morning that made him slip, but rather something else and contemplating deeper he realized that it wasn't just today that he slipped, but that lately he had just not been as sharp as he used to.
Working in sector D was a pleasure compared to working in sector E as the job was much easier on the body and not very demeaning.
The people lived much more cohesively compared to sector E as well, with Leo never having felt an imminent danger of anyone rioting or breaking things.
But all these things were making Leo lose his edge as he did not feel alert and active without these threats.
Crime was low and criminals tended to stick to petty crimes like possession theft even if they did commit a crime and never seemed to do anything serious.
The food served in sector D was okay as well, with porridge, bread and a glass of milk being served for dinner and a variety of salads for lunch.
On Sundays they could even get dessert from the dessert shop, which was an added bonus.
It wasn't gourmet, but it wasn't too bad either as Leo felt like he would not be doing much better on Earth if he were still there.
To Leo it seemed like there was still an intense desire for people around here to improve their standard of life, however, he did not have that same drive.
The people here seemed to possess jealousy, there was a desire to stand out, however, everyone lived by the rules and did not cross a moral baseline, making this sector a slightly better place to live compared to the Earth that he left.
Back on Earth, the society was slightly worse when compared to sector D and his personal living conditions were about the same.
It was the environment where he felt most comfortable since it was this environment that he was born and brought up in and it was exactly this comfort that made Leo realize the dangers of this sector.
Back in Sector E, Leo wanted to get out of the place like a madman.
Regardless of what happened, he wished to get out of the sector and the job of cleaning septic tanks, however, that drive to improve was slightly dipping ever since he came to sector D.
The initial momentum of wanting to keep up the pace of improvement faded fast, as the monotonous routine of working hard at the job and then within the game began to slowly take its toll on Leo's mind.
Back on Earth, he had never been an immensely disciplined man, and the lack of recreation and performing activities that he enjoyed was slowly making him slip, as he was not used to performing like a robot 24/7.
When he was in sector E, Leo would ensure to get the best evaluation possible each day of his job, just because he did not wish to do it for much longer, however, ever since he came to sector D and started to like his job, he did not push that hard anymore.
His performance at his job, began to dip ever so slightly as he took it just a little more casually than he first did and his pace of improving within the game slowed down just a tad bit as well, as he did not feel the immediate need to improve at any cost possible.
He was becoming like the toad who got too used to the lukewarm water that he forgot when it began to boil, however, thankfully he received a reality check today, as his work evaluation came out as 'B' after he did a terrible job at giving a sector A client massage.
The client gave mildly harsh comments about Leo's service and it warranted him a reprimand from his supervisor, who gave him a thorough scolding.
' Since when have I taken this so casually? Since when have I become okay with not taking my job seriously?' Leo questioned himself, as he took this slight reprimand very seriously and vowed to never get comfortable and lose sight of his goal, ever again.
" I can't stop here ….. sector D can't be my final stop, I have to bring mother here and it can only be as the woman who is getting the massage done to her and never as the woman giving the massage.
I owe her that much-
And to do so, I need to get to sector B or sector A. Even sector C won't do! " Leo said to himself as he remembered what he needed to work hard for.