_23_ (Bianca Irene Lee's Point of View)
We came home from school. We're all listless, the only ones with energy were Lavalee and Jace.
When we entered the mansion we headed to sit in the living room.
Lavalee and Jace are not here yet because Lavalee had some things to fix in school.
"Konbanwa, Mnemosyne." We looked at the doorway
At first, we thought it was Lavalee because it was Japanese but when it registered in our brain, it was Jace who spoke.
"Oh, you're learning," Lavalee teased Jace
"You always say it," Jace said and lifted Mnemosyne
"Irene," Jess called my attention
I think I know what's going on in this girl's mind.
She motioned to Lavalee and Jace who sat beside each other. They're the only lively ones among us.
We're all drained from the two exams. Those are nowhere near the exams we'll have tomorrow but those exams drained us too much.
"Young ladies, unexpected visitors arrived." The butler said and behind them are kids we didn't expect to see
"Kent? JC?"
"Xander?"
"Warren?"
"Charlie?"
We called their names almost simultaneously before we stood up and hugged them.
Ah, their presence recharged us.
"My gosh! You've grown up fast. " Jess said and ruffled their hair
"Sister Jess!" the three complained at the same time because Lav hugged Kent and Jasper
"Wrong timing, Lavalee?" Kent asked Lav
"Nope, come join us. " Lavalee said and the five of us sat on the floor in front of us
"I never imagined your house to be this big, Flame," Kent said
"Underestimating me, Jarvis?" Lav asked playfully
"More like overestimating you, Flame-chan," Jasper replied
"Why are you boys here anyway?" I asked them
"Accompanying JC," they pointed at Jasper while speaking
"Wait, you're not here to ask for your crush's hand from her family right? " Lavalee asked teasingly
"No way! She's just a friend." Jasper said but his cheeks are flushed
"Who are they?" Charlie asked and pointed at the guys
"Ask them," I replied
"Hello, Brother! What is your name?" Warren asked
"Uh, I'm Lt. Caspian Sandoval. " Caspian said
"I'm Alpha Elijah James Luar, here's Delta Ethan Gonzales," Elijah said
"He's Police Detective Jace Scott," Ethan said and pointed to Jace
"You're police officers?" Xander asked while examining each of them
"Yes," Caspian said
"Ryu!" Jasper exclaimed and approached Mnemosyne
"No, it's Mnemosyne, JC." Lavalee corrected
"Come on, Mnemosyne," Jasper said and patted Mnemosyne's head
"Here," Jace said and lowered Mnemosyne
Jasper tried to carry Mnemosyne but we were surprised when Mnemosyne roared.
Didn't Lavalee say Mnemosyne was calmer than Ryu?
Looks like it doesn't want to be separated from Jace.
"Don't take Jasper, she likes Lav-nee-san's boyfriend more than you," Charlie said
"Jace is not my boyfriend, Charlie. " Lav said and patted Mnemosyne's head to calm her down
"Aww, you don't miss me, Mne?" Jasper asked and carried Mnemosyne to Kent
"Why are you guys here anyway?" Jess asked
"We went with JC," Warren replied
"Wait a minute, JC. What was her name again? Your so-called best friend but you're crushing on?" Lavalee said in a teasing tone
"I don't have a crush on Ley." Jasper insisted
"Who's the girl, Jasper?" I asked because the nickname seemed familiar.
I mean many people have a nickname that sounds like 'li' but still.
"Riley? You don't know her," he said so my eyes widened while Lavalee, Jess, and Chelsea looked at me and laughed
My eyes widened at Jasper's answer.
I don't know maybe older sister instincts?
I feel protective of Riley because she's the main reason I joined the dark side, I took the throne in her place and left the other one for Thunder, just to save her.
"You mean Riley Zephanea?" I clarified with my serious tone
"Yes, Irene-san. Why – Oh, shit!" Kent's cuss cut what Jasper was supposed to say
"KENT!" Chelsea and Lavalee scolded at the same time
"Chill, Irene. Jasper said that he and Riley are only best of friends." Jess said
"Irene-san, Riley's your sister," Kent said
It's not a question but a statement.
Jarvis Kent AYAZAKI Fuentabella quickly caught up on the current situation.
"Yes, so I'm warning you Jasper Crimson, don't think of hurting Riley," I warned him
"Believe me, Irene. When JC hurt Riley, I knew that Astrid and Zia were already there to back her up. They're friends, right Jarvis? Charlie? " Lavalee said
"Yeah. Astrid's spending more time with Riley, ever since Riley came here." Charlie said
"Let's review already," Jess said
"Review? Are you sick, Jess-san?" Warren joked
They change moods quickly.
They seem to have been tensed earlier because of my strict tone and now they are joking.
"We have exams tomorrow, boys," Chelsea said
"I'll help review," Xander said
"I'll help prepare food." Jasper and Kent said
"Okay but first thing's first, did you tell your parents?" they stilled from Chelsea's question
"I did," Xander said
"You should've told our parents too," Warren said
"If not, go home," Lavalee said that's why the four's shoulders fell.
We dialed their guardian's numbers, and in a snap, their parents arrived.
"You're unfair, Alexander," Warren said when their parents arrived.
"Hi, Aunt, Uncle." We said and went over to hug
"Uncle," Lavalee said and hugged Uncle Lawrence
"Aunt Dana." we greeted Warren's Mom
"Aunt Chelsea," we greet Charlie's mom
Yep, her name is just like Chelsea's but the only difference is Chelsea is really Aunt's name so they call Chelsea; Crystal.
"Aunt Jane," we greeted Xander's Mom
"Sorry if these little boys bothered you." Aunt Chelsea shook her head
"It's alright, Aunt. They energized us from the draining exam. " Chelsea said
"Right, your midterm exams. How was it? " said Uncle Lawrence
"Dreadful," The three of us answered at once
"Even for you, Crystal?" Aunt Jane asked
"I lost a bet," Lavalee said making them laugh
"Really? To whom? " Aunt Dana asked
"To him," she pointed at Jace so Uncle and Aunt also looked at him
"Congratulations, young man. Somebody finally had beaten Lavalee on a betting game. " Uncle Lawrence said
"It wasn't anything serious, Sir," Jace replied
"We should go ahead then. You still need to review," Aunt Chelsea said
"See you again soon, Uncle, Aunts." We said and hugged my aunt and waved to Uncle
"By the way, Uncle Lawrence, I suggest you meet up with Papa and Aunt Rhea because Jasper likes my sister." I said
"Sister Irene!" Jasper complained
"Don't worry, Irene. I'll make sure JC stays loyal. Ayazaki's are loyal, aren't they, Lav? " Uncle Lawrence said before they left
"Ayazaki's are loyal." We teased Lav
"Of course, look at Nii-sama, he's loyal to his works and duties. He doesn't have a girlfriend but I think he'll be having one soon." She said making us laugh
I can already imagine Frost's irritation once Lavalee starts setting him up just to give him a love life.
Lavalee's really tricky and she always has a trick or two under her sleeves.
When we got back inside the mansion Chelsea and Lavalee separated from us. They told us to meet them inside the meeting room which made Jess and I confused but we still followed.
All of our eyes widened, even Jace when we saw the butlers carrying books. There are at least three books for each subject which means there are currently 21 books on the table arranged and grouped according to the subject.
"So first thing's first. We'll start with Human Resource Management. HRM." Lavalee said and words started flashing on the screen
"Related terms are Employee Benefits; Employee Compensation; Employee Manual or for mnemonic notations, EBECEM or 3Es for BCM, whichever you prefer." She said and flashed the next slide
"Essentially, the purpose of HRM is to maximize the productivity of an organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its employees. This mandate is unlikely to change in any fundamental way, despite the ever-increasing pace of change in the business world." Lavalee said without looking at the screen
"As Edward L. Gubman observed in the Journal of Business Strategy, 'the basic mission of human resources will always be to acquire, develop, and retain talent; align the workforce with the business; and be an excellent contributor to the business. Those three challenges will never change.' Do you understand?" Chelsea then said
They alternately discussed the lessons with us and they tutored us, Chelsea's assigned to tutor Ethan, Caspian, and Jess, while Lavalee would tutor Jace, Elijah, and me.
Chelsea and Lavalee just brought food here and then they also got it after 30 minutes.
The terms we were reading made my head hurt, and I knew it did the same to the others so I really focused on listening.
"Economics is about making choices," Chelsea said
"Economics is not just about money. It is about weighing different choices or alternatives. Some of those important choices involve money, but most do not. " Lavalee said
She turned off the screen when she and Chelsea started tutoring us.
"In many cases, money is merely a helpful tool or just a veil, standing in for a partial way to evaluate some of the goals you really care about and how you make choices about those goals. You might also think economics is all about "economizing" or being efficient, not making foolish or wasteful choices about how you spend or budget your time and money. That is certainly part of what economics is about. However, that's just the tip of the iceberg." Lavalee added
I can't help but think that they have built-in computers in their minds.
Damn, I don't know how come they can study it like it's just memorizing colors.
"How about this, tonight while going to sleep, recall what we studied today. We're only going to exam the subjects of exam tomorrow then tomorrow after our exams we'll review the ones on the next then on Saturday we'll rest our minds. That way we won't overwork the brain." Lavalee said enthusiastically and jumped
"Are you crazy? Your mind is tired and you jumped?" Jess asked her unbelievably
"Of course not. I'm just keeping myself awake." She said
I started at Lavalee and that's when I realized that there are dark circles under her eyes.
She may have covered those with concealers but her sweat is erasing it.
After that, she gave us water and chocolates and we continued reviewing the four subjects for our midterm exams tomorrow.