The Lounge

"The elevator?" the man asked.

"Yeah. You know, the one that suddenly broke down again a few days after being repaired," the guard said.

There was a short pause before the man answered the guard. "No, I don't believe I was the one that did it. This is my first time here after all," the man said.

"Oh, I see." The guard scratched his head and then turned away. "Huh, I could've sworn remembering hearing about someone with a garbage bag during the day the elevator broke down," he muttered. The guard apologized to the man for disturbing his work and closed the door again.

The three saw the man watching them as the door slowly squeaked to a close. He didn't look angry but his eyes showed that he was very annoyed at the three. But of course, he had good reason to be. The guard smiled at the three and said bye again to them before leaving.

"Okay... I guess he was innocent," Zack said.

"Hmph, could've fooled me," Samantha commented. "Well, whatever. Anyway, where were we going again before we got sidetracked?"

"Don't know. I forgot as well," Zack said as well.

"The lounge," Jean reminded the two.

"Oh right. Well then, lead the way again I guess."

Jean took one last look at the door before turning away and heading off. She could hear the sound of metal clanking against each other and what sounded like the sound of nails and other small machinery pieces hitting the floor. After they walked some distance from the computer room, she heard a familiar sound that they have only just recently heard. It was the sound of the metal cover of the machine that Zack accidentally knocked over.

Zack recognized the sound too and said to the other two, "Looks like that guy also found the note. Do you think he knows what it means?"

"If he understands what those numbers mean then it means that the note was meant for him. And if the note was meant for him, it means that someone put it there for him. And if that is the case, then that someone is probably not a person with good intentions towards I.C.E." Jean reasoned. She saw no other reason how an outsider would be able to understand what the note meant otherwise.

"Do you guys wanna peek at what he is doing right now with that piece of paper?" Samantha asked while nodding her head back behind them at the room.

"We probably shouldn't," Jean told her. "That person isn't exactly on friendly terms with us. If he really is a criminal or terrorist, then he will be caught eventually." The three of them shouldn't be sticking their noses into dangerous things such as this. The authorities are the ones that should be handling it.

They turned around the corner and made it back to where they had met the strange man. They walked to the last room of the hallway where the lounge was. They passed by a few open doors and some of the people inside gave them a curious look they didn't recognize the three of them. However, many of them did recognize Jean and waved hello at her while she walked by. She also waved back at them and continued to the lounge.

"You sure know a lot of people here," Samantha remarked.

"Yeah, I guess I do," Jean replied back. "I've been visiting this place since I was young. A lot of the people here are used to seeing me every so often," she told them the reason why so many people on the floor knew her.

After a bit more walking, the three of them made it to the lounge. Jean opened the door for the two and waited for them to enter before entering herself. There they found the lady they met earlier in the hallways sitting on a sofa with her legs crossed. She had her folder of documents next to her leg, a document in one of her hands, and a mug in the other. The lady looked up at the three as they entered with a surprised look on her face.

"Oh, hi again." The lady pushed her glasses up which had sunk down her nose from looking downwards at the document. "Fancy seeing you three again, especially here. No one really comes here."

"Hi again too, uh... Ms. Jessie?" Zack remembered the security guard calling her name and wasn't sure if he remembered it correctly.

The lady raised an eyebrow and said, "I don't remember giving you my name. How did you-" the lady stopped herself and recalled that the security guard had said her name in front of them earlier. "Oh wait, nevermind. Nick said my name in front of you guys. Just call me Jessie, I don't like formality."

"Okay..." That was very surprising to hear considering that she looked like a very serious person with her getup.

Jessie took off her glasses and asked, "Anyway, what happened to that suspicious man? Did you catch him?" She put down the paper she was looking at and crossed her arms, waiting for one of them to tell her about what happened.

"Well... As it turns out, he isn't really suspicious. I mean, he looks like one of those criminal killers from your average detective or horror novel but he isn't one," Zack explained.

"So it was a mistake?"

"Yes."

"Okay, well that's good," Jessie said in a relieving voice. "We already have enough problems as it stands. Anymore and I.C.E. might just fall apart.

"What do you mean?" Jean asked.

"It's a long story... Why don't you take a seat and I'll tell you about it." Jessie pointed at the sofa directly across the table in front of her which was also directly in front of the three. Jean was the first one to take a seat as she was tired but also very interested to hear what the woman had to say. Samantha and Zack both took a seat to her right and looked at Jessie.

She put her mug down on the table and took off her glasses and put it next to it. Jean saw that the mug was filled with a greenish-yellow liquid and deduced that it was probably tea. The last batch of tea leaves was lost along with all the fruits from the recent shipment. These leaves were likely from the previous shipment.

Jessie caught Jean looking at her mug and asked her if she wanted some. "I have plenty lying around here." She pointed at a counter which was filled with boxes and jars of various kinds of things such as sugar, tea leaves, and coffee beans. "Since no one really uses this place other than me, I decided to make it my own. It's nice isn't it."

"Yes it is," Jean agreed. The lounge looked nicer than her apartment room. The walls were pleasantly decorated with paintings and other things. The entire place was clean and there was no trace of wear on any of the furniture in here.

"Can I have some of that?" Zack took up Jessie's offer and pointed at the jar of leaves on the counter.

"Can I also get what he's having?" Samantha asked.

"Of course. And you?" Jessie looked at Jean. Not wanting to feel left out, Jean told her to get her the same thing as the other two. Jessie got up and walked over to the counter and tossed a few leaves in a pot and poured some water from the sink into a boiler and turned it on. She then brought out three cups that were identical to the one that she was using and set them on the counter. The water finished boiling in just seconds and Jessie poured it into the pot and left it there and walked back to the sofa.

"It'll take a bit for the tea to cool down. So while we're waiting, I might as well get started now, shouldn't I?"

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