"I heard about the deed of yours from her." Mr. Sinclair declared with a straight face.
"And what deed would that be, if you very well specify that?" Airi also dropped the act of cordiality and cutesy, removing the friendly smile of her.
Mr. Sinclair didn't want to voice it out, and Airi was intending to make him spill the beans. "About… the video… you posted, of Rena, " he reluctantly said it out, seeing that Airi had no intention of faltering.
"Oh, you mean about the night activities of your daughter? Now I am on the same line. So, what about it?"
Airi noticed how angry her words made him, for that he was gritting his teeth so hard even she could hear the gnashing sound of it. Yet, he chose to stay calm. "Yes, about that. I heard Rena's version of it, so now I would like to hear yours. But before that, Mr. Arne, if you would like to leave us alone."
Max was reluctant to do so. He knows very well how ill-mannered and harsh his boss was rumored to be. He was scared if he somehow ended up hurting her daughter. Moreover, the tension between them was so intense that no matter what, he can't shake off this bad feeling inside him.
Just then, Max felt a soft touch of a hand on his. Airi lightly parts his hands and said, "Paa, I will go meet you when I am done, okay?" Air squeezed her father's hands with hers, to make him assured. Max nodded back at her, squeezing her hand back. "Then I will take my leave, sir, " and with that, he got up from his seat, and left the office.
"Well then, shall we start, Mr. Sinclair?" Airi turned back her eyes towards the man seated in front of her. And this time, there wasn't any single hint of politeness in her eyes. The timidness she had in her was nowhere to be seen, and the calmness in her was replaced with a sharp cold gaze.
Seeing the one-eighty degrees change in her, Mr. Sinclair slightly regretted regarding her as a timid little girl. "You sure changed into something else right now, didn't you?"
"We should act according to the situation we get ourselves into, don't you think so, Mr. Sinclair? Even Airi's tone dropped to several scales.
The man nodded his head slightly. "Then I suppose beating around the bush is useless here. I will get straight to the point. I am not going to blame you for whatever you did. Honestly, that was sure a bad move from Rena. That could mess up her reputation and her life in the worst way possible, and that did. By you or by anyone else, doesn't really matter, " he again started tapping on the table with his fingertips. "My point is, why did you do so? You could talk about it to her parents, to any teachers, and they would've dealt with it accordingly. Why did you show it to the entire school overnight out of nowhere?"
Airi chuckled lightly at the words from him. "So, you are trying to say, I should have gone to any teachers, or to you, so that you can get a chance to shut my mouth? And bury the entire thing? Don't you think that would be injustice?"
"So you chose the elections of all time? You chose to tail her just before the elections? That feels a bit deliberate, " he suddenly stopped tapping his fingers and slapped the table with a loud bang. "You think it was justified that you purposefully chose to publish the video the night before to gain the advantage? To get the votes in your favor?"
"Tsk, looks like the cat is out of the bag already, huh…" Airi clicked her tongue in annoyance, letting him think his suspicion to be true. "So what? I am the wrong one here? Surely, using her would profit me a lot, and it did. But to think you use the facade of donation just to make sure your daughters have a smooth school life, don't you think we are the same? After all, who doesn't want to get benefited?" Airi's words irked him to the point that he was too angry to say anything. After a long while, he started talking back, "Look, whatever you did, there is no way that can be undone. I will just say one thing. Apologize to her and tell the principal to take back the rustication order. then I won't bother…"
"Ahaha, oh my God, let me just… ahaha…" his words got interrupted when Airi suddenly burst out into laughter. "I'm sorry… it's just... "
"WHAT'S SO FUNNY!?" Airi stopped laughing at once hearing the outburst of Mr. Sinclair, like an injured tiger.
"Then how should I react, huh? What can you possibly do to a simple high schooler? Worse case, one word from a high schooler, would make a stubborn stain on your reputation. After all, if words came out like, 'a famous millionaire is messing with a high schooler', sounds interesting as well as petty, right?" Airi got up from the chair and walked to the door. Before opening it, she once again looked back at the man. "I guess that marks the end of the conversation. And you understood very well that you clearly don't have any say whether I did anything for my own advantage, when you do the pretty much same thing. Well then, have a wonderful day ahead." Airi gave a light bow to him and went out of the office, leaving a man seething in anger.
Airi remembered where her father's table was, so she immediately went there. "Paa, it's done."
Max was anxiously waiting for the return of Airi all this time. So when she actually came, he felt like a huge cloud went away from his mind. "Are you okay, dear? What did he say? Did he do something? Everything is fine, right?"
"Oh Paa, calm down. How am I going to answer if you ask me this many questions all at once? Calm down, okay?" Airi pulled a chair and sat down on it.
"Yeah, okay. I am okay. Tell me what happened."
Airi described everything to her father, whatever Mr. Sinclair said to her. Hearing all of it, the uneasiness in Max increased way more instead of lessening. "Airi! Why did you go ahead talking back? It wasn't anything to do with you anyway."
"Who cares, Paa? He wouldn't even listen even if I explained anything. So let him be delusional. Nevertheless, he won't brood over it if he got even a bit of brain in him. Forget about it already Paa. we just wasted our beautiful morning, thanks to him."
She got up from the chair to take her leave. "Well then, I will head home now. I want a good rest, I am so tired of all this."
Max nodded slowly, "Yeah, be safe on your way. See you in the evening."
"Okay, all the best with work!" she waved her hands repeatedly, until she went far away from the vision of Max.
"I hope everything turns out really okay as she said." Max started working on the papers laying down over his table, having the uneasiness still lingering somewhere in his heart.
------
Airi came out of the building, humming a classical song on her own. She was planning to have a nice cup of hot chocolate, while comfortably lying down with a book. Just then, she heard someone calling her from behind, "Is that you, jasmine?"
Jasmine? Is it…
She turned back to see who was calling her, and as she guessed, it was Clara.
"Miss Celestine! You are here? And Sam too! Good morning to both of you!" Airi greeted them with her usual smile.
"Good morning, Miss Airi. What a pleasant way to start a weekend, right Celestine?" Samuel returned Airi's greeting with a light nod, while saying it in his usual Sweedish butler-like tone.
"You sure it is for me, or because of the lovely date you have beside you, Sam?" Airi's response made Clara blush to the point that even someone far from the could see the redness on her cheeks. "Okay, Airi that's enough. You have become naughty just because we love you, huh?"
Airi gave back a wide smile to her favorite teacher. Airi also loved her a lot. After all, she was one of the people who loved her a lot, and she could be herself with them.
"So then, why are you here this early in the morning?" Sam returned Airi's question from earlier back to her.
"Ah, it's just, Paa… I mean my father works here, so I just came with him."
"Oh, your father works here? That is a pleasant surprise. Maria's father's office is this too." Clara mentioned it in response to Airi. "Did you know that?"
Yeah, I know very well now…
"Well yeah, my father works under him. I have known about it for a while now."
"This is great, I will surely meet with your father after the meeting with Mr. Sinclair then. It would be wonderful to make the acquaintance with someone who has such a lovely daughter." Clara enthusiastically added. But the last part of her words didn't reach Airi's ears, as she got stuck with the first half of it. "You are here to meet Mr. Sinclair?"