After receiving the message from the Chief, I went outside to meet up with my 'assistant'. Tch. Just hearing the sound of the word from my mind makes me hate it even more..
"But I guess I have no other choice..", I muttered to myself.
To be frank, it's not like I hate having assistants, I've been wanting to have one when I joined here on my first week. But after experiencing the pain of no serious investigations, I've now been wanting to have the attention and award for myself. That's why I hate having an assistant now.
But I guess fate takes it toll first before the karma huh..
After I've gone outside the Department, I searched my surroundings to find my 'assistant'.
"Now that I think about it, the Chief never told me what my 'assistant' looked like.. This is gonna be haslte..", I said to myself but..
"No worries Ms. Watson, I'm in a more haslte situation than you are right now."
It seems like someone else heard my rant.. Am I gonna be in trouble? But wait, maybe it's just a random person who overheard me, but how does she know my last name?? There's only one way to find out the truth..
I turned around and saw... A man.
"Oh? You're not really that ugly.. To be honest, you're kinda cute Ms. Watson.", the man said.
"Excuse me but, do I know you?", I asked.
"You will, soon.", the man said with confidence.
If this is my assistant then I'll grow to hate him even more..
"Oh! You're here Jhon!"
I heard a familiar voice that came from the Department and when I looked I saw the Chief calling the Man's name.. And his name is Jhon huh..
A name I didn't expect to hear at times like this..
"Oh? Chief Joseph, it's a pleasure to meet such a Genius Detective such as yourself.", Jhon said while bowing.
"Ehh you're quite mannered Jhon. Don't tell me it's just for show off?", the Chief said.
"No, you're mistaken. I always show respect and pay manners to those above me.", Jhon said as he raised himself up.
"Heh, then you should respect me too righ—", as I was about to finish my sentence, Jhon cuts it off by saying..
"Except. To those seniors who disrespect me on my first day on the job. I will not respect them until they apologize.", Jhon said as he looked at me with a serious and furious face.
Geh... I might've done something bad..
And did he say it's his 'first day'? Did he just apply here?
"Ms. Watson, don't tell me you disrespected your own assistant on his first day?", the Chief said.
"Eh? What do you... Mean by that.. Chief..?", I asked.
Oh no.. Don't tell me that this guy is....
"Oh yeah! I forgot to send you the picture! But hey, he's already here so I might as well introduce him to you. This is Jhon Benedict, your assistant in the upcoming Reaper Case.", the Chief said.
Oh.. Oh no..
I said something rude to my junior.. Not even, I said something rude to my own assistant.. On his first day.
"Bad Day, Ms. Watson. My name is Jhon Benedict. And starting from now on and until we solve this case, I'll be your assistant. It's a haslte to work with you. Ma'am.", Jhon said in a greeting but.. his face is still... Angry.
Oh no.. I seriously have crossed the line now..
After our little yet 'calming' introductions outside the Department, we were both brought inside to the Chief's office and discussed the followings.
"Today, Ms. Watson and Mr. Benedict. Will be the ones who are going to solve the Reaper Case.", the Chief said as he sat on his chair in his office.
Me and Jhon stayed silent, but the awkward atmosphere made it hard for me to speak up..
Then seconds later, the Chief let out a sigh and said..
"But still Ms. Watson, disrespecting your junior on your first day.. Or rather, your assistant.. Is really just.. A shame.", the Chief said.
The Chief saying it now makes it even 10x more painful than it is from Jhon..
"You said it Chief Joseph, not only did she disrespect me, she also bragged about using me to respect her even more.", Jhon said.
"H-Huh?? When did I say it??", I asked.
"'Heh, then you should respect me too right?', is what you said outside earlier before I cut you off.", Jhon said.
Geh... He remembered that?? And most of all, he even finished that sentence?? This guy is sharp...
"Truly a shame Ms. Watson.. Have you forgotten the alibis of this department already??", the Chief said while wearing a disappointed face.
"I.. I still remember them..", I said in nervousness.
One of the alibis of this Department is hard to say through elegant sentence, but in that certain sentence it explained, 'If you're the Senior then you shouldn't show rudeness towards your own Juniors.'
And I've completely, disobeyed that alibi..
The Chief let out another sigh and said..
"I don't want this investigation to fail Ms. Watson so, you're gonna have to apologize right here and now. So that there'll be no miscommunications later on."
"O-Okay, Chief..", I said.
I stood up from where I sat and did a deep bow and apologized.
"I'm really sorry for what I've done earlier Mr. Jhon. I ask for your forgiveness for our soon cooperation."
I can feel his gaze.. He's definitely.. Looking down on me right now. And he's.. Enjoying every second of it.
Jhon let out a deep sigh after my apology and said..
"Good grief. I don't want to ruin our cooperation by the time we start cooperating Ms. Watson, so since it's still early, I'll forgive you. But please do not do it again, you may hurt the soon Juniors through your thoughtless actions."
"I.. I know.. I deeply apologize..", I said in response.
"Then all is good. I'm glad the two of you could calm down fast.", the Chief said.
Yeah.. I'm glad it did.
Because.. I don't know if I'll still get the praises from the others soon if I don't apologize and show my respect towards this Junior..
"You may raise up Ms. Watson.", the Chief ordered.
I stood up and looked at the both of them.
The Chief is smiling bright while Jhon is still wearing the the serious face. But I don't feel any anger towards him anymore, I guess he really did forgive me now.
"Now, to discuss the main discussion. How will you two approach this certain case that I've given to you?", the Chief asked as I sat back again.
"That is.. I'm not really sure where to start Chief since that has been happening for months now. So I guess we still need to catch up on what's really happening.", I said.
"May I oppose a suggestion?", Jhon said as he raised his hand slightly.
"Go ahead Mr. Jhon.", the Chief gave him permission to do so.
"In order to catch up through everything on the Reaper case, I would like to discuss it with Ms. Watson together in a private place. So that no one else can hear our discussion.", he said.
That's actually a good suggestion. But the question is where?
"I agree to your suggestion Mr. Jhon, but where do you suggest we discuss the case?", I asked.
"It would be convenient if we were in a café, but only booked for the two of us so that we can discuss everything privately.", he said.
"But do we have enough money to do so?", I asked.
Jhon used his hand to hold his chin in act of trying to figure out on how to book a private café.
"If you don't mind Chief Joseph. Could we borrow some of this department's money for this situation." he asked the Chief.
Eh? But.. I don't think the department has enough money to do so though.. I mean sure this department has solved lots of cases and have gained a certain amount of money, but most of those money goes to the bills and property damage or property insurance. Does the department really have enough money for this..?
"I'm fine by that.", the Chief said.
Eh? Then does that mean the department does have enough money for such an occasion??
"Thank you Chief Joseph.", Jhon replied to the Chief's agreement of his proposal.
Well, well isn't this surprising.. I didn't know the department had enough money.
"Well if that's settled then we should discuss about what time we should meet.", I said.
"You're right. I'm suggesting that we should meet up by 8:00AM, it's not too early and it's not too late either. It's the perfect time for a meet up.", Jhon said his proposal.
I wake up at 6 but when I do get up late, it's usually 6:30AM or 7:15AM, and given the time that I have around the house like preparing myself and feeding Bubba, I should be able to reach the exact time of the meet up. Yes, I'm safe to say that I'll be okay and will not be late.
"I'm fine by that time, 8:00AM right? I won't be late on that.", I said with confidence.
"Then that's settled. On a café at 8:00AM, the day after tomorrow.", Jhon said.
He's not that bad during serious conversations huh..
I guess he can really be reliable as an assistant.
"If you two have already decided on everything, then all I have to do is to give Jhon the money by tomorrow.", the Chief said.
"Yes Chief. We're done discussing.", I said.
"Then I renounce this meeting has ended. You two may leave now.", the Chief said.
"Yes sir.", me and Jhon said as we stood up and left the Chief's office.
We walked through the hallway in silence passing by the other workers of this department. But I'm not gonna lie, he's really confident in his skills, not just observation skills, but also in terms of understanding certain situations as well. He's also composed and I'm guessing he's not the type to get angry that easily. Heh, I guess he really is reliable after all.
As I was lost in thought, Jhon called out to me.
"Ms. Watson?", he asked.
"Hm? What is it Mr. Jhon?", I replied as I turned towards him.
"May I have your cellphone number?", he asked as he took out his phone and held it towards me.
"Hm? My number? What for? Is it perhaps.. You're flirting on me already?", I teased him in test of his composure but..
"That's not it. I want your number so that by the time I finally found a suitable café for our meeting, then I can send you its location. So that you won't be able to have a hard time of knowing where it is.", he said.
Ehhh.. He really is something.
"Sure, I'll give it to you."
And with that we exchanged our cellphone numbers. After our conversation we continued to walk and ended up our day in the department in complete silence since we had nothing to talk about in the office..
He said he had no particular hobbies either, there goes cooperation..
But I wonder how he'll do in the day of our meeting at the café. I guess we'll just have to find out.