"I have never seen this building before. Guess I was too busy back then to notice anything." Viviana could feel a self-loathing chuckle rising from her chest. It wasn't that she had changed, but the body she was in had forced her to see things differently. It was clear that she was not entirely the Viviana from back then. She had huge parts of Liora in her, who had a new way of seeing things and reacting to them.
"He looks pretty rich," she muttered.
"You're impressed? Money seems to impress you very much," Kiera added.
"Not really, but he does seem rich," she replied.
"Well, he is. As a matter of fact, he is very rich and very sneaky, so you better be cautious. Don't ever trust this man," Kiera instructed.
"Coming from a man who has literally kidnapped me and kept me in a place without my permission, it's pretty ironic," she replied, looking in his direction. Kiera had gotten used to her talking back to him; she never did it to anyone else, so it was pretty easy to ignore her remarks.
"We would have left you if you had the information required of you," he said.
After rolling her eyes, she grabbed the door of the car. "I am getting out now," she said.
Kiera looked at his watch and then nodded. "About time." She got out of the car and fixed her hair with her fingers, something she had started doing often since she got her hair cut short. Finally, she pulled her suit down.
"Another day as Leo, meeting new people and making them believe that I am a guy, and for some reason, they keep on believing it." She shook her head sideways. Now that she had said it, it did occur to her that most of the time she barely acted like a man. She could tell that this cover was just for a few days to buy time so Liora's father and brother (Leo) could run away, leaving Liora as bait who would be killed upon discovering that she was a girl and not a small teenage boy. But who would know? The gangsters either had a brick for a brain, eyes made of stone, or ears of mushrooms that they didn't recognize she was a girl because often times she forgot to act because that was not who she was. Shaking her head with a tired groan, she walked towards the entrance door, shaking her head sideways. "Ahm… I can't blow the cover here, at least," she said, making a conscious effort to appear and sound like a man as much as possible.
"Hi! My name is Leonard De Louis. My name is Leonard De Louis. This name is so hard on the tongue." Almost like a tongue twister, she felt her tongue having a hard time getting used to this line. She got to the spinning door, pushing it forward and walking in, but suddenly her steps halted as there was another person standing on the other side of the door, stopping it from moving. "Argon?" she muttered in surprise. But the expression on Argon's face was not one of surprise. Rather, he seemed very displeased by her presence.
"You?" he asked in an irritated tone.
'Okay, this reaction was unexpected, but act normal,' she thought and breathed in. "Do you mind?" she said, acting like she didn't recognize him at all.
"What did you say?" Argon started to walk, letting the door spin again, allowing Leo to get inside. As soon as she did, she didn't stop to interact with Argon and simply proceeded to walk towards the reception for the interview room.
"You! Stop right there!" Argon said, pointing at Leo. She slowly paused, turned around, and looked at Argon, pointing at herself to confirm he was calling her. "Are you talking to me?" she asked.
"Who else? What are you doing here?" he asked, irritated.
'Is this a common reaction of people after you have saved their life?' Leo pondered for a few moments, confused by his reaction, which was not what she had anticipated. She improvised in the situation and replied, "Do I know you? Why are you talking to me like that?" she asked.
Argon was confused at this point. Kant, who seemed to be catching up on the situation, whispered in Argon's ear, "He doesn't seem to remember you, boss. And by the looks of it, he must be here for the interview."
"What nonsense is this? How could he not remember me? Does this face look that forgettable to you?" Argon seemed slightly offended and turned around to talk to Kant. But in that time, Leo simply walked away, making sure that she appeared as uninterested in him as possible so that the plan of growing closer to him did not seem forced. She was also barely a person who could stick to someone in order to earn their affection.
When Argon turned back around, he saw Leo's back in the distance as it reached the reception. The woman there gave him a very sweet smile and handed him a card.
"That b*st*rd! Who does he think he is?" Argon grumbled, about to walk up to Leo when Kant grabbed him by the arm and spoke.
"Boss, what has gotten into you? Are you seriously fighting a simple nobody because your crush seems to like him more than you? I never knew you were that petty," Kant seemed disappointed. "Also, you should be grateful to him. He saved your life, or else you would be dead or, worse, hospitalised with your mother by your side." Kant added, and this line almost brought a shudder to Argon's body after he mentioned his mother.
"You should be helping the guy with the interview and, if possible, get him the job as repayment for his favor. Instead, you're worked up over useless things." Kant shook his head in disappointment, having expected better from Argon.
When Kant ridiculed him like that, Argon realized he might have overreacted. Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "I did seem to have lost my cool there. But why is he here at my company? Have all the other companies stopped hiring?" he said, still irritated. Then he walked toward the receptionist and spoke. "Tell the Human Resources department that I need the list of the new interns before they hire anyone," he said.
Kant slapped his forehead, done with Argon's petty actions.
"Yes, boss," the receptionist responded, puzzled. It wasn't her job to oversee which intern qualified, but she didn't want to risk losing her job, so she complied. She even glanced at Kant, who was clearly exasperated with Argon's childish behavior.