chapter 1 - introduction

As usual, Todd walked into work with another box of cupcakes from the sweets store near the office building. He usually brought them on special occasions, like club meetings, a co-worker's birthday, holiday, et cetera but it became this sort of normal thing. Every day, even if it made him late to work, he would stop by the sweets store, buy cupcakes, doughnuts, or whatever sweets he intended on buying and came to work. He'd usually place them in the lounge area, but recently he started leaving it in his cubicle and everyone, especially the boss (Austin was his name), noticed. Todd was the boss's assistant, so he'd take a peep in occasionally to see how things were going, to help open a graph of some sort, see the statistics of the company, et cetera. For about two months, there was the signature pink box with the shop's logo printed on glued to the left side of his table. And the sweets got to Todd as well! It seemed like every day, his belly bumped up a bit in size. Not something that occasionally happens... right? Anyways, Austin always seemed to chuckle when Todd would walk in with his right arm grasping the signature box. He knew he was getting himself bigger, whether it was intentional or not; he didn't know. And it wasn't like Austin was the only one that noticed it. Gordon, Tim, Andre, Bud, pretty much all of them noticed Todd's ritual and they followed what Austin did - laugh and giggle when he would enter the building with the signature box clenched under his right arm, right underneath his right breast. Todd was a big guy. Six feet with around 260 pounds? Something along those lines. He was probably around 210 before the first time he brought in the known pink box - which was first brought around under six months ago - to work.

A meeting was called. The meeting was between Austin, Gordon, and Andre.

"What's this meeting about boss?" Gordon asked. He yawned from the long hard day at work. It was just about time to close up the complex.

"It's about Todd," Austin answered.

"Todd Ozginyan?" Andre asked. "You're assistant?"


"Yes," Austin said. "I have a question for you two."

"Ask away Boss," Gordon said.

"You two have noticed him bringing in that pastry box from the sweet shop in the building across the street, right?"

"Who hasn't?" Gordon chuckled. "Tim and I sometimes try to ask for a piece only to be answered with a quick no. He really enjoys whatever is in those pastries,"

"Yea, it's a running gag. Sebastian and I made a bet on that boy. I bet that he's gonna gain at least 10 pounds in the next week," Andre laughed.

"Andre, how about we make sure that bet comes to a reality?" Austin said.

"I'm listening," Andre smiled.

"Let's make Todd gain a lot of weight! It'll be a fun thing to do since we're all stressed out here from working all the time. What'dya say?" Austin asked.

"I'm in," Adre laughed. "I'll do anything to win a bet."

"Perfect. You guys can bring me food from the sweets store, a lot of food, and I'll do my part by persuading him to binge on some food."

"Hey, Mr. Austin, that sounds great and all, and I don't mean to be rude sir, but what's in it for us?" Gordon asked.

"I thought someone may ask that. Here's what I propose. For each pound of sweets you bring, I'll add about $20 to your salary, and for each pound Todd gains, I'll add $30 to your salary. How does that sound?" Austin smiled.

"I'm in," Gordon laughed.

"Perfect," Austin said. "I'll see you boys tomorrow.