Charlotte stormed out of the metro station, her brows frowning and a red face in anger. It was past two and a half, and her cool was as well.
I won’t ever travel with them again!
She thought back to their little journey. They constantly tried to make small talk with her, asking her about the life she didn’t care to explain, once more. What made her lost it was the time one of them touched her hips, saying it was dangerous with all the people in the train.
Insensible fools, they need some woman in their life to teach them how to treat a lady! And it won’t be me! She waited for them outside, breathing out slowly.
Once Laurent came out, he led the group. Charlotte kept a distance of at least five meters. No one spoke.
At least her mind eased with the trees and greenery around, those normally not seen in the busy parts of the city. The number of vehicles and people told her they were still inside, but the ambience felt otherwise.
After uncomfortably walking with the group for a while, they finally arrived to the restaurant he talked about, it had a sign full of serpentines character from a language she studied before, though she didn’t remember enough of it to read it. She stared at it, trying to get the meaning across when Laurent spoke.
“A friend of my family runs this place. It’s called Princess’ Food, pretty good, I like it a lot.” He smiled with nostalgia written over his face.
“What are we waiting for! Let’s dig in!” Dave cheered before his massive body shot inside, not caring about the others.
“Uhm, Miss Charlotte,” Started Parker Bacher with a quiet voice, the offender. “I’m sorry, really. I didn’t do that with bad intentions, I, was truly thinking about your well-being...”
She glared at him and walked in after Dave. Though Parker wasn’t bad looking, his attitude really drove her mad.
Inside, decorations from Decros abounded. Masks with strange faces was the first thing she saw, her eyes then darted to a wingless dragon coursing through the ceiling, with its tail and head at both ends of the place. The tables and chairs shared the theme, though in a lesser degree. Swords and knifes were shown over one wall as gallery, while on the big screen above the counter desk was being broadcasted a program about their food.
This is something new, I can get used to this. She thought, forsaking her irritation.
Occupying the seat next to Dave, she waited for the others to arrive while studying the weird faces around the place.
A girl in traditional decronian clothes came to their table with a smile.
“Good afternoon. Oh,” her mouth went agape for a second before restoring it to her previous expression. “long time without seeing you here, Laurent, why is this rare occasion?”
“Hello there, Eli. We’re teammates in a project we’ll start working after a delicious meal in here.”
“Is that so?” Eli chuckled. “Well, I wish you luck with it. What’s the delicious thing you want?”
“Hmm I don’t know, I’ll leave it to the chef’s choice, please surprise me.”
“And what about your companions? Oh, a girl? That’s quite the thing.” She commented with a strange accent in her every word.
Charlotte continued her wonder of the place, finding a new thing about the things showcased with every passing minute. Even if she herself didn’t care about dressing properly, she was still quite interested in beautiful and awe-inspiring arts.
“Miss Charlotte?” Laurent asked.
“Oh, sorry. What are we eating again?” She blinked twice before going to the girl standing next to her, her cheeks porting a rosy hue. Noticing the girl’s clothes, she tilted her head. “Those are…?”
The girl brought up her right hand holding a pen and chuckled with it covering her mouth. “You’re not used to this kind of attire, right? I’m currently wearing a Yukata, it’s pretty easy to move in after you get used to it, even if it doesn’t appear so. As for your food, Laurent asked us to make that choice, so it’ll be a surprise.”
She smiled before bowing to her and went back to the kitchen.
“Uh, that kind of formality is rare nowadays, it’s a sight to behold, no?” The most quiet of the quartet, Kodye, said, garnering a nod from everyone sharing the table.
This place looks pretty extravagant, I bet Dord’d love coming here…
“Indeed, that’s one of the reasons I love coming here.” Laurent replied with a smile.
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With the meal over, they continued their journey to the place Laurent proudly spoke of with haste, it was getting late already.
“It’s here.”
Laurent said, pointing to a four-story building with a fence taking all the street to its own.
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That’s pretty big. Charlotte thought. Does he want to flaunt his wealth? Yes, you’re rich, I understand, you’ve said that already, why are you doing this kind job, anyway? To flaunt your wealth with the commoners? Please, shut up or gimme your money.
“Woa, it’s really big, uh? We have it all to work in?” Dave asked.
“Of course not, haha. I reserved a room big enough at the end of it, come on in.”
The four of them followed Laurent as their head turned to the well-arranged garden and it fountain with plenty of fish living in it. Arriving to its reception room, a security guard approached Laurent.
“Sir Laurent,” the man said, “you can use meeting room 9 in the second floor. I believe you know where it is?”
“Yes, thanks, Paul. Ok everyone, let’s go.” he turned around and motioned for them to follow him.
They entered a room which could house at least twenty working people with ease. In the middle was a table more than big enough with a coffee machine and a water dispenser at each wall next to it. Six computers were already turned on without anyone on them, of which one was an expensive laptop.
“Uhm, why are there so many devices? I believe it was only me who didn’t bring her own?” Charlotte said with a tilted head.
“Yes, but with this we can double our efficiency. We won’t need to wait for trouble with bad connections and stuff like that. This place has a big enough room for us, so we can work without problem.” Laurent said while approaching the sole laptop, touching it. “This place has the best equipment the marked can offer, so I don’t think there’s any problem with using it. Now, let’s sit and start…”
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“Ok, we can stop here for now, it’s getting pretty late.” Laurent said, bringing up his hands and stretching his back. “So, what do you guys think, mind coming here again?”
“Hey, can I take this home?” Charlotte pointed to the laptop she was lent. I can make it work with other things too, it’s a shame I don’t have one like this at home.
“No problem,” he nodded, “but it’s going to be pretty hefty, no? Taking it every day and having to bring it back the next one.”
“Huh? But it’s weekend now?”
“What are you talking about, we need to finish this as fast as possible, or else there’ll be others who’d get it done faster than us.” Laurent said with certainty in his voice.
Charlotte’s eyes went wide open, looking at the nodding lot her eyes twitched. “I’m sorry to be the one saying this, but the contract didn’t say anything about working on weekends, I hope you don’t expect me to be here tomorrow.”
Laurent opened his mouth a couple of times before frowning. “I don’t think you understand the seriousness of the situation. Necox is in need of this and so is all the world, another attack could be made at any moment now.”
“And I don’t think you understand the situation, either.” She gritted her teeth. “There’s no chance at all of another attack. Also, weekends are meant to relax, I won’t work on them, it’s a family time, my home! My relaxing time!” Her voice went higher up the longer she spoke, finally ending her words with a heave. I can’t take much of this! Do you know how hard it’s been all this time, trying to keep a smiling and bored expression while I was in fact working on all the things you guys had to do in order to keep myself safe!?
Laurent’s eyes went down for a moment with a deep frown. “Why do you think there won’t be another attack?”
Oh shit, I said it without thinking. Charlotte looked at the side for a moment before coming back to him. “Uhm, isn’t that obvious? If another attack was made so soon, they’ll be busted straight away, no? There’s no way another attack like that will happen, at least not so soon.” Charlotte nodded at her ‘perfect’ reasoning.
More importantly, I don’t need the help of a super-computer now, I can handle it on my own.
“Hmm, it’s true, it’d be foolish of them to do so… But there isn't a sole group who is aiming to steal Necox's data and create chaos. So, we’ll be working on it, trying to prevent it from happening again!” Laurent said, bringing his body out of his chair while hitting the table with a smile.
Uwaaa, what a hero complex he has…
“Anyway, I’m not coming tomorrow, if you want me to work on something, I’ll do it from my place, though I won’t be able to if I can’t take this home.”
She signaled the laptop again that was still in the table.
“… You already have plans for tomorrow despite the important things we ought to do?”
“Eh? What are you talking about? This recruitment was out of nowhere. I had something planned from long ago, and! They never said anything about working on weekends! I’m going now, see you guys on Monday!” Charlotte waved at the speechless trio before turning away, leaving the laptop untouched atop the table.
“Hey! Wait! Didn’t you need my input to continue working in there? If you don’t want to get a bad one, then-“
“I only wanted it so I wouldn’t need to search for other jobs! If you’re going to be like a bitch and try to manipulate things to your pleasure, then FUCK YOU!”
She shouted as hard as she could at the end while showing him the greeting of angry people, finger up in the air.
Who does he think he is!? Threatening me with the job! What a bitch! Jobs abound, if I wanted something to consume all my time, there’s plenty to choose from!
As she came out of the meeting room, some people still working inside turned their faces her way, though only for a moment.
“The president’s son…” “By a woman…” She heard whispers from them, not minding it in the least.
Once Laurent saw Charlotte descending the stairs at the end of the office, he shook his head. Taking the personal computer on his hands as well as its cords, he ran after her.
“Charlotte! Wait!” He shouted out of breath while he limped out of the building.
“Eschete.” She turned back with a frown.
“Y-yes?” He walked to her with a strange gait.
Charlotte’s brows went up. “That’s my last name.” Crossing her arms, she looked down on him. “I never allowed you to call me by my name.”
“Eh, ah…” He straightened his back, his eyes looking at the girl at least thirty centimeters below his height. “No… I understand, Miss Eschete. You can take it with you and work from your place.”
“Ho? Aren’t you polite?”
“Yes, sorry about before. Please, take this with you, I’ll be sending your part of the work for you. You don’t need to come but I’ll be grateful if you do it.”
“No, thanks.” She smiled. “I won’t work on weekends. Good luck with your things. See ya on Monday.”
“Eh, but you said that…”
“I changed my mind, really.”
“But-“
“You can create anything you like in the reports, right? Well, do it. I don’t want to deal with pests like you now. Pleaase?” Charlotte turned around and walked past the big fence, putting over herself the black sweater she brought.
*Sigh...
“How complicated… That’s why I don’t like to work with women, they make everything a mess…”
When the others arrived, they found Laurent scratching his head with one hand while the other still held the laptop.
“How was it?” Asked Dave.
“She’s not coming tomorrow. We’ll have to do it ourselves.”
“I’m not coming tomorrow either.” Parker said, bringing his hands over his head.
Laurent’s expression froze. This is why I didn’t want to allow her this little thing!
“… Ok, we’ll just work with whoever comes tomorrow. Goodbye, then.”
Laurent went inside the building with heavy steps, cursing at his bruised feet.
It’s true we never talked about the timetable, but we’re in an emergency, we ought to give our all.
Alas, the next day, no one came to the building except for Laurent. He cursed out loud.