Friends?

Hilde sat down in her desk worried, it was ten minutes before eight and Helen had not arrived at work.

'What happened? Did something go wrong? What if Hyde had hurt her while trying to erase her memory or what if he erased all her memory, I should have stopped him' she thought.

"What are you doing?" one of her colleagues asked.

"Nothing, just checking out some interesting things" she said chuckling nervously.

"When is your friend arriving, it is close to work hours already?" he asked.

"Uhm.... I... l-let me call her" replied Hilde.

She was about to take out her phone when Helen walked in. "Checked in 7:59, that was close" she said sitting close to Hilde.

"Ahem..... Miss Helen, you're arriving one minute past eight. Do you have any explanation for this?" their manager asked.

"I'm so sorry, I lost track of time" she replied hurriedly.

"That's it! Lost track of time!! This is an organization where timing is important every second matters.

Do you think because the director isn't around you can decide which time to come to work" he slightly raised his voice making Hilde feel incensed.

It was probably her fault that her friend came late and since this was the first time it was happening she thought that she would easily be let off the hook.

But their manager wasn't relenting, he kept scolding Helen until everyone eyes were on them.

"She already apologized as sincerely as she could, why don't you just forgive her?" she asked with a slightly pitched voice.

The manager turned towards her direction a bit shocked. This was the first time he'd here her talk this way and he was clearly angry.

"Did I talk to you? How is this any of your business. Do you think an apology can justify her coming late? Huh!! Look at the time she's resuming!" he shouted.

"If you're talking about now, I guess you should minus the ten minutes you've used in scolding her" said Hilde making most of the staff suprised.

They couldn't believe that Hilde who always put an effort in making herself invincible was suddenly flaring up. A young man around Hilde age who had been listening to the argument on his seat smiling suddenly stood up and walked over to where they were.

"I've been listening for a while now and I think there is just one way to find out who is at fault and who needs to apologize" he said.

"Who is this?" the manager asked.

"Whai the time that Helen checked in?" he asked ignoring the manager's question.

The staff in charge checked and saw that it was 7:59 am. "Did you see that? Official working time starts eight, so you were wrong in scolding her" he said.

The manager was flustered and more than angry he couldn't believe everyone were turning against him even someone he had never seen before.

"Who do you think you are to accuse me of being wrong?" he shouted.

"You don't want to apologize?" he asked getting the manager more infuriated.

"Do you know how long I've been working here?" he asked.

"I don't know, but there's one thing I'm sure of and that is this is going to be your last day here" he said which evoked gasps from every corner of the office. Helen felt like she was watching a movie, she wasn't curious about her strange oversleeping but interested in its effect.

"Starting from today I'll be the new director. My name is Tony Dexter and you are officially relieved of your duties Mr." he added.

Everyone stood shocked not understanding what was happening until two men in suits walked in. One of them opened up a briefcase and took out a document. "This is an agreement that confers all the power of ownership to this gentleman here" he said.

"I feel like I'm still dreaming, I mean how is this possible?" Helen whispered to Hilde who just nodded.

"Aren't you leaving or do you need the security team to show you the way out? Clear your desk" he said before turning to the rest of the staff "You can resume your work, sorry for the short interruption" he said.

Oliver walked into the lecture room quickly even though he was already late. He had decided to not skip any classes at least since they were to have a short test very soon. The lectures had started when he came inside so he sat at the back not wanting to attract attention. He hadn't spent up to five minutes inside, before his phone started to ring. Everyone turned towards him and he quickly hung up.

"I'm sorry for that" he said embarrassed. They were about to continue before the call came in again. "Mr. Oliver is there a problem?" the teacher asked annoyed.

"I'm so sorry" he apologized quickly while putting his phone in silent mode.

"Why don't you leave the kid alone? He's probably busy" Edna said as Nel tried to call him again. He was anxious as he fiddled with his phone.

"I'm talking to you" She said when she realised he wasn't listening to her. "This is no time for me to argue with you, don't you know how dangerous it is for him to be out there, the walkers are good at recognizing people what if he get attacked?" he said.

Edna looked at him and sighed "I think you've made it your daily quest to just be superfluously working yourself up . Yesterday it was Hyde, today the kid. Tomorrow you're probably going to worrying about patients in an hospital or drivers" she said.

"You don't understand" he replied sitting and was about to continue before Edna interrupted "Of course! I mean, how do you expect me to understand the reason you're always worried about this things. Wasn't it this guy who waved off the walkers yesterday? He's powerful enough to look out for himself" she said.

"Well I'm worried because he can't use those powers on command and that's is the reason why I want you to train him, do you see now that he can't protect himself?"

"Maybe you're right, what if he comes here and they attack us? It'll still be the same result" she said.

"You're here, you can protect us" he replied.

" You don't even feel ashamed saying that. So you're admitting I'm stronger than you?!" she asked

"Well in cases like this when my power isn't complete"

"So full of excuse, it's not like he can even stay here forever. I don't even know if I would be able to think of anything that can chase away the walkers yet, they've become more powerful than before.