Chapter 5

I started slowly at first. Since I was home for another week, I increased each meal size. Breakfast and lunch were usually small, so the portion increase was noticeable. But because I still had my work responsibilities I opted not to cram myself so much at the start of the day to avoid a lot of sluggishness.

I had already given my head cook some suggestions for meals. Thus, this morning when I got up and headed towards the kitchen, I was greeted by a sweet buttery smell wafting through the air. At the table was a pitcher of orange juice, a short stack of pancakes, many slices of bacon and ham, hash browns, and what looked to be at least three or four scrambled eggs.

Thanking and greeting my present staff, I took my seat at the table, grabbed the nearest fork and dug in. Everything was cooked to perfection– the pancakes already covered in a nice drizzle of maple syrup were light and fluffy. The scrambled eggs were cooked hard, with the amount of butter and salt just right. The bacon and ham I had between bites of egg to absorb some of the more savory taste with the hash browns right after.

The overall goal would be to eventually finish a whole plate of these larger meals. So far, I was struggling, but eating a little more with each passing day. I was never in the habit of having huge breakfasts. I’d just have small things like a granola bar, yogurt, or maybe just a couple of eggs. But the days of the past were over. By now I couldn’t leave the house without at least half of what was on this plate.

Before my stomach caved, I had easily enjoyed the scrambled eggs, ham, bacon and the hash browns. I had two glasses of orange juice to help wash everything down. The only thing I had failed today was the pancakes, leaving behind two out of six. With my stomach full, if not beyond that I sat for a while to digest.

Today, I had the time to sit and do that since it was the weekend. Once my stomach had stopped making those gurgling noises and stopped feeling like a lead weight, I shuffled out and into the living room. Sinking into the couch, I still felt stuffed and uninterested in doing anything that required a lot of effort. So, I turned on the TV and watched for a while before I passed out.

When I woke up, it was already afternoon and time for lunch.

Returning to the kitchen, this time I was greeted by a large platter of neatly cut deli sandwiches, crackers, cheese, and an assortment of grapes, melons, strawberries, and pineapples. Once again, I dug in. My stomach wasn’t empty from breakfast, but the taste of the sandwiches and fruit encouraged me to push through anyway.

This time I had managed to finish all the food laid out in front of me, my stomach heavy and full. I belched, releasing some of the tightness in my stomach which was pushed out. For a good twenty minutes I didn’t move again until I was ready.

I sat down on the couch as my post meal ritual, my stomach popping out over the waistband of my shorts slightly. It was a bit sore, so I did my best to lean back to get more comfortable. I turned the TV to some trivia show and vegged out until dinner.

Since I couldn’t go too far with massive meals for breakfast and lunch, my dinners were always the largest meal of the work week. I kept it up during the weekends as well. Tonight, I was served a garden salad, a big sirloin steak, mashed potatoes, and spinach. It took a long time to get through, me having to break and belch to help ease space, but as usual my cooks were superb. The sweet dressing for the fresh salad, the thick and creamy potatoes, and the perfectly cooked medium rare sirloin was too good to not finish, so I fought my way through.

It took over an hour to complete everything, but I did. My plate was empty and my stomach was pushed almost to the maximum.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it, sir,” John, one of my butlers said, as he took away my plates on a tray. “Don’t forget about dessert.”

He placed a large piece of apple pie and a scoop of vanilla ice cream in front of me and left me to my own devices.

“I…thanks.” I had totally forgotten about dessert tonight. I wasn’t sure how much more I could fit into my stomach without getting sick.

But the smell of the apples was inviting. Gulping, I picked up the spoon nearby and dug into a piece of crumbly pie and ice cream. In my mouth was a merging of the tangy apples and sugary vanilla. As I swallowed, my stomach was resisting, but my taste buds were lusting after more. Bite after bite, I huffed and puffed my way through the treat until there was nothing left but a few crumbs.

I let out two big belches. Damn. I felt like one of those championship eaters, no, maybe someone who foolishly joined an eating contest not having any real clue as to what they were doing. I had been too greedy…but in this stage of the experiment I knew I had to push as much as I could.

It was for a good cause…or so I kept telling myself as I cradled my bloated stomach. After a long time, I pulled myself up and forced myself up the stairs to my bedroom and crashed into my bed. Just to do it all again tomorrow.

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I took advantage of my time at home.

Most of the time, I relied on my chefs to make whatever I wanted. I never really took advantage of my staff, but lately I asked for sandwiches, subs, burgers, fries, onion rings, tater tots, mozzarella sticks, breadsticks, pizzas, tacos, burritos, quesadillas…anything I could think of they’d make. Sometimes when I didn’t want that, I’d get fast food from McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, Long John Silver’s, or Little Caesars to name a few. It had been so long since I had food from these places that I forgot how much I enjoyed them.

While the past two weeks had been heaven, it was time to head back to work. Sunday, I decided to try on my suit to see how it was fitting. My first surprise was my dress shirt. It was mostly fitting, but the bottom was stretched out a tad thanks to my now small belly.

The real mystery was my pants. As I pulled them up over my legs, they felt a little more snug. I could button them if I tried very hard, but I imagined after a meal they’d come undone. Pulling the zipper up and covering it with a belt seemed to be the best solution, since I unfortunately didn’t have any larger pants. My suit jacket could also hide this issue… It was already late, so I’d go shopping tomorrow for bigger sized suits.

I just hoped I’d be comfortable enough to get through the day, after all, even if I had to slow down a little at work, it didn’t mean I’d be stopping with food.

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“Good morning,” Tom said, as he entered his room.

“Morning,” I replied with a curt nod.

The door shut behind him without another word, no dumb jokes or snide remarks about the merger. I frowned.

Things had been a little awkward between us, and I really only had myself to blame for that. But he was so hard headed. It wasn’t my fault he couldn’t see how good this could be and how we could work out.

Overall, I did my best to ignore the stuffiness between us. Since this was work, that’s how I distracted myself. For the next few hours I scheduled appointments, sorted data, and answered emails until I took a short pause.

I half wondered if it was my imagination, but I couldn’t help feeling that something was different about him. Lately he’d been taking his work home, which he had never done in all the time I worked here. It could be that he was going out of his way to avoid me after my blow up, but… I stood up from my desk and moved outside the door leading into Tom’s room.

Bending over, I looked through the keyhole of our adjoining space. Tom was sitting at the desk doing paperwork, but also taking bites out of what looked to be some type of granola bar. But that wasn’t abnormal, what was abnormal was how he’d nearly scarf the whole thing down in about two bites. And then he’d take out one bar and then another bar and then another bar…to do the exact same thing.

What was that?

I took a step away from the door, half wondering if I saw that scene correctly. Obviously, I couldn’t spend my whole day spying on him, but…what was going on? I returned to my desk, to check my emails to stay on top of things, but that sight…boss was such a light eater. He’d barely eat at a bar, let alone multiple bars in one sitting. He ate like a damned rabbit. I would have to bring snacks in there and remind him to get lunch sometimes.

Tilting my head as I typed on my computer, I decided to keep an eye on him and his new behaviors.

In the next hour I saw him, stepping out of the office and heading down the stairs. When he came back up, he was carrying a big brown paper bag. Takeout of some sort, I assumed. Come to think of it, that was a bit new too. The boss hadn’t indulged in takeout until more recently.

Could it be…?

Well, I couldn’t be entirely sure, but maybe he was heavier? It was a bit hard to tell, since to me he was always nothing more than a little stick and was almost always wearing a suit, but…no. It couldn’t be my imagination. His face seemed fuller and his pants seemed to be of a tighter fit when he was swimming in them before.

No, he must have gained weight. After all, he’s snacking like there’s no tomorrow and ordering large takeout orders for himself too.

It didn’t seem like too much, and I was sure he’d notice and drop it. He was always a health conscious twig as far as I knew.

I did have to admit to myself that he did look better with the extra weight, but I figured it wouldn’t last.