Reckless Fall

Jenny sauntered like a lava flow towards the building as if she owned the place. The front desk employee spotted her from a distance and immediately stood up to bow at a 45-degree angle. She greeted her boss and their guest in her most welcoming voice, "Good morning, Ms. Jenny Huang. Good morning, Sir Lucas."

Jenny tapped the employee's back and said, " Hey, watch your back. How's everything in the office?" Jenny's sunny smile surprised the employee.

She quickly straightened her back and reciprocated the same sunny smile to the Huang's Third Young Miss.

They were already used to seeing their boss's younger brother and his friends looting around the office in their free time. And it was also a known fact that carefree third-generation brats were much easier to deal with than their parents. She had seen her smile a hundred times before but today...

But today was different. The hairs on the employee's skin raised at the sunny smile of Jenny Huang. It was a testament to her resilience from the tragedy.

"Glad to see you well, Ms. Jenny," the front desk employee held Jenny's hand but immediately drew it back upon realizing her intrusion of personal space.

Jenny caught the employee's hand with no delay before it went farther and held onto it tightly to say thank you and then left.

Jenny easily located the meeting room, it was the only glass-walled room in the office.

She turned the doorknob and immediately frowned when she realized it was locked. She looked at the pin pad and entered her name.

53669

*beep beep*

The pin pad flashed a red light.

78669

*beep beep*

The pin pad flashed a red light, yet again.

The beeping sound of the meeting room attracted Pio's attention, sliding out of his cubicle for a quick peek. He looked worn-out, the bags under his eyes tripled in size.

He hasn't slept a wink since the incident and felt a little relieved upon seeing the Huang's Third Young Miss. 'Now, there's only one person to worry about,' he said to himself as he slid his chair back inside his cubicle.

Jenny scowled at the turtle who lagged behind her, "Hurry up. Why are you taking your time? I want to see my friends."

"Last Christmas, you said that your gift…" Jenny rustled and tried to bring out the words from her mouth but became rather shy about it. She remembered how she childishly forced him to make a silly promise.

Lucas grabbed her two-tones darker hand, looked at her straight in the eye and pressed her index finger on the scanner beside.

"You are the passcode," he said in his signature monotonous voice. Jenny should be happy with the revelation but his current attitude ruined the mood.

*beeeeeeeeep*

Lucas stepped inside the meeting room first when the door flung open. The tables have turned and it was now Jenny who watched his cold and ruthless back walk away from her.

'So this is how you feel like whenever somebody turns their back on you, huh?'

Pio slid his chair out of his cubicle again and witnessed the lovers quarrel. He shivered in his seat when he remembered how his boss rampaged on that frightening night; Pirate was drugged and a group of minions too.

On top of that, all the security locks in the facility and the office were rewired and changed overnight.

'Now you are fighting? Unbelievable.'

"Oh, yeah. The sketch artist," Pio mumbled. He abruptly stood up from his seat, his finger circled in the air. He grabbed his coat that hung on the backrest of his humble chair and sped off to deliver the sketch artist to the Decepticon Supreme Commander.

Once they got inside the meeting room, Jenny peeked at Lucas's direction, his face was blank yet his eyes were brooding.

He sat at the corner of the room, blending among the posters of deconstructed cameras and other security system accessories on the wall.

Jenny swallowed her pride and kneeled in front of her wallflower, their eyesight leveled to each other. She chuckled at how he could naturally conceal himself anywhere he went.

"Sorry I stormed out at you," she pouted. She didn't want to say those words but she was more afraid of his sulking. Jenny rubbed the back of his hand with her thumb, her eyes were pleading and full of regret.

Pio knocked on the open meeting room door. He peeped at the star-crossed lovers in the room and silently sighed to himself.

Who knew that he would be graced with the Decepticon Supreme Commander's precious facial reaction today? He looked like a little boy waiting to be pampered.

As far as he knew, his boss only had two faces: first would be his wallflower self, and the other, which Pio hated the most, was his boss's madman self.

He greeted the big thighs in the room and escorted the sketch artist inside.

Lucas stood from his seat, his gait was smooth yet imposing like a lion in his territory. He shook the awestruck sketch artist's hand then pulled out a chair for Jenny to sit, beside the sketch artist's chair.

The sketch artist pulled up his paraphernalia from a brown leather messenger's briefcase and laid everything on the glass table.

Jenny lifted her face and locked her eyes on Lucas like a child waiting for her parent's approval. He clamped his hands over her shoulders and gave it a tight squeeze.

The sketch artist smiled at her and reassured her that everything will be done in a jiffy. He started to ask her questions about the shape of the person's eyes, nose, and even the tiny details that would make the sketch as accurate as possible.

He showed her a book that had different faces and different shapes of ears and lips, even chins too!

While the sketch artist worked on the piece, Jenny casually leaned back in the chair, the backrest dipped dangerously low backward; however, Lucas's reflex worked like a charm — his arm was quick to stop the office chair from its reckless fall.

Jenny sheepishly grinned at Lucas, "Thank you," she said, earning her a gentle pat on the head.

She pushed his hand away and looked at the almost done drawing, "Omo, you kinda look like her, Lucas. Don't you think so?" Jenny yanked Lucas's sleeve and pointed at the semi-finished drawing.

Edited by Swaning