In the quite space, where only the rustle of paper and constant sighs could be heard, one of the dim souls looked at the faces that reflect fatigue and boredom around it , hesitated for a while then walked to the man sitting next to the door and asked : "Excuse me sir, I finished reading the book, what's the next step? "
"Please hold on a for moment. ", after filling the last case of a crosswords puzzle , Jacob finally raised his head , he gave a professional smile to the man in front of him, " How can I help you? "
The man repeated :"I finished reading the book, what should I do next?"
Jacob replied :"Your partner will decide if you need more time to grasp the basics by asking you random questions, you will answer easily if you have memorized and understood the book. Please give me your info card so I can contact your designated partner, if you want extra time you can continue revising now and come back later."
"No need for more time, here is my card.",the man reached to his pocket to grab the card and gave it to him.
Jacob started reading what was on the card: " Let's see, Alan , soul number 024 , you are paired with.... Razel. You know what, you don't have to wait that much , I think he is in the office right now." , a paper appeared in the air near him as he is talking, and he started writing in it from a distance without touching the pen .
Alan looked at what's happening with eyes full of curiosity but still didn't ask, he is trying to adapt in this new environment by observing and collecting infos to fit in quickly. From where he is standing, he could identify some vague words : to Razel , meet , my magazines...but before Jacob could finish writing , someone appeared suddenly and tapped on his shoulder, he froze for a moment and slowly moved his eyes to see who almost scared him to death, sighted in relief when he met the narrow gray eyes and mumbled :"Speaking of the devil."
Razel gave him a threatening look, Jacob automatically translated it to "you're not getting the magazines you asked for. ", so he quickly tried covering his mistakes:" I meant what a coincidence Mr,Razel ! I was about to call you to meet your partner Mr, Alan.". Then he turned to face Alan and introduced briefly :"This is Razel, one of our efficient employees, you are in good hands."
Alan saw the paper disappears the same way it appeared, he shifted his gaze to the awaited visitor ; in front of him, stands a tall man wearing a black suit with a pin of a red flower on one of the lapels, a honey colored skin, short black hair and gray eyes that looks like they're trying to see through his soul.
On the other side , Razel was really trying to see the secret of how to 'respectfully' scare him away, the dim soul looked young, maybe just reached twenty, with silver hair almost down to his shoulders, red pupils trying not to avoid his gaze, pale skin reflecting his tiredness. His baggy cloths seemed hanging on his body rather than worn, he had a golden bracelet on his wrist causing his blues veins to stand out .
But all in all, their appearance didn't matter that much since it is not necessarily real, the souls look like how they remembered themselves from when they were alive; so Alan could be really young or middle aged or even a child that pictured himself as that fragile innocent looking youth . As for Razel, like all grim reapers he can change his looks or choose how others see him , so this is maybe just one of his appearances.
Jacob had already prepared his lines to lead the conversation and convince Razel gradually, "well, what are we waiting for? Since both of you are here why not start right now? " he pointed at the desk in the corner , "Mr,Alan you can go sit there at the moment, Razel will join you in a second. "
After Alan sat down, and before Razel could say a word ; Jacob seized the opportunity and started talking like a sales representative, "you see how easy to deal with he is, not just that he is the first one to finish learning...", Razel refused to let him continue, " I don't need...", Jacob interrupted him , " Are you sure? Remember how many times you have complained about the paper work and how boring it was; and you'd rather use the time to do something better .Can't you see that he is the solution to those problems. You just have to give it a try, you can even see if he is qualified or need some additional training. "
Razel eyes lit up when he heard about the paper work he could avoid to do more important things, and the slight hesitance in his heart was cleared when he knew he could test this partner and make sure he is eligible. So he agreed this time but didn't forget to use a hesitant tone to hide that he was completely convinced, "Mmm, I will see, but I am doing this just to not delay the work anymore."
Jacob knew he succeeded, " Don't let him wait anymore, no need to ask unimportant questions, and most importantly be friendly as not to scare him; then he will be the one refusing to work with you". looking at his back, he quickly sent a letter to Grace to inform her, in the paper that disappeared out of thin air a short sentence was written: 'Mission successful, when do I get the reward?'
Alan didn't know what happened to make the one called Razel change his attitude 180° all of a sudden, he introduced himself briefly and shook his hand with a smile of winning a prize. He thought to himself that the questions shouldn't be that hard since he had already memorized all the key points, but he didn't expect the things to be completely different from what he imagined.