He bent down, his upper body spread on top of the edge while his legs splayed down the edge like a baby wanting to get down from a tall bed.
"What in the cold hell are you doing!" The man asked puzzlingly. "Or... He said grinning and rolling his eyes without completing the word.
"Hey! Don't get the wrong idea, who would do a suicide competition!" Luca cried.
"I'm not jumping, I'm trying something"
Luca tried to focus on his sticky-like power or Spiderman-like, how he had climbed up a five-story building, he couldn't remember clearly how he had done it. The system wouldn't come out, or was it even real?
Wait, my acute sense didn't work back then
Luca realized.
Like how he had seen people moving slowly when he wanted to save the girl, how he had heard the man's heart racing, he didn't remember the sensation of climbing the building, it was just in a flash.
Then Luca came to a conclusion, the acute sense becomes activated when the power wants to come.
Just as he tried to look down at his leg, Luca's hands slipped, he felt he was already falling,
Second death in a day, farewell...
He thought in his mind, but then he felt a grip.
The man had gripped his hand, groaning and pulling, and he helped him back to the top.
Saved by a suicider, what an irony.
"Brat, you are quite cunning, what is with the talks earlier, you were actually planning to go first" the man let out a chuckle. "But that isn't how to do it, you ought to dive headfirst, you dive"
Luca could only blink blankly at him, the thought of being saved by a suicider was still foreign to him, he couldn't believe it.
"You ought to dive headfirst like you want to swim, you know," he said while doing a diving-into-pool gesticulation. The man actually looked like a fish doing a dolphin kick in the air.
"Don't get the wrong idea, I'm here to save you" Luca said softly. "I'm thinking about how we could get down"
Luca paced around the top of the building, something caught his gaze, he could see some passersby started gathering and gawking at them from below, they were pointing, some left after a while but some stayed.
Perhaps they were thinking maybe we were planning suicide or repairing something after all some solar panels are here, I need to act fast before they ask a staff about it down there.
Luca thought.
he checked the time, it was 4:50 pm.
Won't the staff have closed?
He mused.
"Sir, what time do the staff close here?" He asked the man, pointing downward at the building.
"We close at 5:00 pm" the man replied. "So, call your choppers already before I give up!"
What the hell! Is he threatening me?
Luca thought surprisedly.
Well, I brought this upon myself, I have it see it through.
Besides, he saved me earlier, I should repay his kindness.
Something happened suddenly, Luca noticed movement near the small, glass-walled structure housing the elevator shaft at the other far edge of the rooftop. The doors slid open with a soft hiss, and a man stepped out onto the rooftop. The man was dressed in business casual attire, his shirt slightly ruffled by the breeze. He moved towards Luca and the man with a purposeful stride, his eyes scanning the rooftop as if searching for something.
"Mr. Jude," he said with a firm voice. "Take this, and don't forget to meet with the secretary tomorrow" he stretched a brown paper folder to the man.
"Er... S-sir" the man stuttered and collected it with shaking hands. The man in business attire raised up his index finger in a signal as to say he didn't want to hear any word, then left.
"Hey, you should at least look at what is inside" Luca tried to sound in a motivating tone but it seemed he himself wasn't motivated.
Wait, he said he collected a loan right? What if it was a letter of foreclosure?
Luca knew if it was what he was thinking then what he had done, how he had convinced the man, all would be fruitless.
Let's remain positive
He thought. He looked over at the man who was Mr. Jude, he was already pale even before committing suicide.
"Mr. Jude... Mr. Jude, it seems they have repaired the elevator, we should hurry before the company closes" Luca called as the man seemed to be lost in thought.
He flinched, the folder almost falling off his hands.
He opened and brought out a white paper from the brown paper folder, his eyes darted across it as he read what was written on it.
He made a confused expression.
"What is that?" Luca asked puzzlingly as he moved toward him and gazed at the paper.
To Mr. Jude
Mrs. Jude, the customer you brought, has paid her loan with all interest, she also has 500 EP Bucks in change which she has left for you to collect.
Phone number: xxxxzxxzz
You have been offered a promotion for referring a good customer. Meet with the secretary tomorrow.
Luca read.
"Your wife didn't run away, if she did, she wouldn't possibly pay the loan back" Luca explained "She even left you with such an amount in change, she is probably coming back, perhaps she had her reasons"
The man could only nod his head, perhaps he was dumbfounded.
What if he had jumped down and died, the paid loan and the promotion would have all been a waste.
Luca pondered. He heaved a sigh.
"Let's go," he said in one word while the man followed without uttering a sound. They left the rooftop, Luca's mind wandered off to what happened earlier, to the case of that voice and interface, how it had suddenly appeared, crackled like there was loss of signal, and trailed off.
It called itself System, is this really happening to me?
Luca mused as he strode away...