Xavier is sitting on his desk, listening intently to his Secretary's update on a project that the company is working on. They're developing a new software that they projected to not only go big in Asia but could potentially spread towards the west, he's confident that they can make it to the world market from the moment he saw how the project progressed in time.
"The meeting is set on monday and the board is expecting that you can provide the launch date by then." Sam wrapped up the report.
"Any updates about the new female secretaries?" It's been a week since he last saw Leona and since they had set the mission in motion, he's been feeling restless for some reason.
"Yes boss, but are you sure about not just having one but two female secretaries?"
It's typical for a big corporation to have multiple secretaries working for the CEO's office but Xaiver understands why Sam is skeptical about his decision, personally he prefers male secretaries since it saved him from troubles he usually gets from the opposite sex, he is very particular with his people's professionalism and doesn't want any annoyance in his company. However the mission required them to create a backstory for him and Leona, to be honest he didn't have second thoughts about the idea and offered for her to start right away but she insisted that it's suspicious if he let her in alone when he didn't have any history of having female secretaries, so they decided he needed to hire two.
She also seems to be confident with her skill that she insisted to go through the regular screening and interview proccess and declined to take the free pass. He didn't doubt her at all, not even for a second and he's really surprised with how he trusts her to the extent that for the first time he's scared for his dear self for the way he seems to subconsciously put her on a pedestal.
'I just need her around me for now and maybe in time I'll get used to her presence and this feeling will eventually fade.'
"Yes it's fine, also you and your subordinates are having heavier workloads lately due to the higher volume of projects that we're having so extra hands would be necessary."
Sam' lips twitched a bit, his boss sounded sincere about giving them extra help but it didn't answer the question why they needed female secretaries this time.
"We already hired the two finalists boss, they are to start on monday."
"Names?"
Sam rummaged through the folders that he's holding and placed two files on his desk. Xavier didn't touch them but looking at one of those profiles he can't help a wide satisfied smile to form on his handsome face.
Sam was dumbfounded, his boss never even have this kind of smile when he signed multi-million deals before. he tried to check which CV caused it but Xavier already has his eyes elsewhere.
"Good, make sure I won't have to go on business trips for the next few weeks." Xavier is feeling proud about Leona passing without any help.
Impressive bio is one thing but it's still fake, for her to pull it off proves that she's definitely competent especially with the fact that this is far from her line of work. This is making him look forward for monday and the days after that....
He grabbed his phone with the intention to call her when he realized that he didn't have her personal contact information.
He eyed the file again and spotted her cover's contact information but stopped himself from copying it.
'Patience is a virtue Xavier' he encouraged himself inwardly like a predator waiting for his prey to move.
****
"Kids, chew your food." Klaus sighed looking at his unit who ignored him and continued wolfing down the food he cooked as soon as it landed on the table. he shakes his head looking at how they steal one another's share, like a bunch of kids with chipmunk cheeks.
"You dare" Leona swatted Li Wei's hand with her chopstick as soon as his touched the meat on her plate.
"Hey, don't be stingy. You have a mission you can't be fat, who would want to marry you." He said with his mouth still full which he ended spitting half when he received a blow at the back of his head.
He glared at Akio but Demitri hit him at the same spot as well.
"How can you drop such disrespectful remark." Demitri scolded which made Li Wei pause for a second as if he's rewinding and analyzing what he has said.
Growing up in the military, it's normal to hear a sexist remarks every now and then. It's a world dominated by men with inflated egos, but growing up with a girl made them mindful of their words.
"Yeah sorry, that did sound wrong but hey aren't you gonna scold Leona for being stingy???" Li Wei lashed out.
"You can barely hold the food in your mouth, glutton!"
"Okay enough, let's get down to business." Klaus decided to end their childish bickering.
This has been a tradition for them already, they start a mission with a feast at his crib before hell breaks loose. They casually finalized the plan with homemade meal and cans of beers.
"Leona, this might look like the team's mission in papers but just like operation Chameleon, we won't be able to be with you again so-"
"It's okay, I'll be fine." Silence ensued for a bit, they all have the same thought about operation Chameleon, it is something that they could not let to happen again.
"Leona please let's just back out okay? I'll give you my 1 year salary or my whole savings even! This is too dangerous for you" pleaded the same Li Wei who was stealing her food earlier.
Yes, she could have said no and she's sure Brother Klaus would have pulled some string to decline the mission but this is also important to her. She reviewed the file of the dead spy and saw the last thing that she imagine she would see on it and there's no way in hell that she'll let this opportunity go.
'It's about time.'
"We'll be around to assist you."
"Thank you brother Demitri." She's a person with few words and with him, she doesn't need to voice out her thoughts or explain herself.
"The rest of the team will be working on the dead spy's case, so you'll be around Xavier Wang and his team more."
This is the only thing she's not comfortable with but of course she has no choice but to suck it up.