The Core (2)

"Sir Lobo, come join us for lunch." The secretary of Manager Bungal invited him, but he immediately refused.

"No, I'm fine. Thank you. " He respectfully declined, but the other staff at the trucking department gathered around him and insisted that he must join them in eating lunch.

"Come on, sir, we also want to welcome you to your first day here in the trucking department." A lady in her revealing office attire dares to caress Randell's arms.

"Okay, but I still need to wait for Nida. You can go first." he said, while getting away from the lady's mischievous grasps.

"Why do you need to wait for her? It's not like both of you are partners."

"Yeah, you're just in the same position, but you don't have to take care of her."

Another staff member tried to stand on her toes to get close to Randell's ears to whisper.

"I bet she won't renew her contract. She won't stay here anyway. "

Randell frowned as he scrutinized his colleagues' expressions.

'They're looking down on her.'

He commented internally as he realized what kind of bad relationship Nida had with her officemate.

'But how did they come to hate her? It's not even been a month since Nida was hired. '

He wondered while maintaining his professional smile towards his malicious office mates.

They had more minutes to talk, pushing Randell to eat with them, but they eventually gave up as he kept rejecting them.

Randell went back to his chair, which was beside Nida's.

"Aren't you going to eat?" he asked.

"Why? Are you hungry?"She responded with a question instead of an answer. She was also too focused on the papers she was processing that she didn't even look at him as she talked.

"Not really."

"Hmm. Let me finish this one last document, and let's eat lunch. "

"Okay," he briefly responded, ending their conversation.

The office became quiet, and the typing sound was the only noise that could be heard.

"Spit it out," Nida said, after a moment of silence.

"Huh?" He backs away and wonders what Nida wants him to spit out since he is not chewing or eating anything at all.

"Stop staring at me and spit out whatever you want to say," she said in annoyance.

Randell didn't realize that he was already staring at her closely for a long time.

"Hmm. How did your relationship with your office mates and managers become this bad? " He finally asked since it was the only issue he was more curious about.

"At first, they were all nice to me. Not until a weird rumor spread throughout the company. "

"What rumor?"

"I never thought that rumors would not reach your ears." She wonders how the rumor that spreads like a wild fire didn't reach Randell.

He honestly responded, "I don't talk to anyone at the office if it's not work-related."

"Ah." She replied, making the room silent again.

"So what happened?" he insist to know.

"Bitch, gold digger, leech, lazy assistant, beauty with no brain."

"What?"

"It's how rumors describe me."

"H-how is a rumor that bad started?"

"Hmmn. I don't know."

She finally lifted her head to look at Randell.

"I was just hanging out with Daniel at that time. When Sir Bungal stormed up to me, he was furious.He even pulled my hair. "

"What!? Why? "

"Someone told him that I was neglecting my job and running around flirting with the guys inside the company. It was resolved immediately, but rumors worsened each time it passed by. Until my image became worse, everyone's impressions of me turned bad. I really don't know why even the people inside this department hate me despite knowing the truth, but who cares? "

"You'll let the rumor alone? Aren't you getting hurt because of this? "

"I am too busy running away from supernatural creatures to deal with rumors. Plus, I am planning to leave. "

"W-why?"

Her eyebrows twitched once she saw a big, tall man stuttering and fidgeting around.

"I was scared to leave before because I didn't like your pack running after me. But since I have this. " She showed him her silver dust on her palm. "I don't have to be scared anymore, and now I can go wherever I want."

"When are you leaving?" He fiddles with his tie, his head bowed in sadness, thinking that Nida will be gone soon.

"After I complete this awakening process, I will make sure that this time I'll go to a place with humans only," she said, as she indulged in her own fantasy of a life free of supernatural creatures.

Randell just kept his head low, thinking of a way to convince her to stay or to make her feel better about living with other creatures.

"Sir Lobo!"

Nida snapped out of her daydream when she heard someone called Randel with a high-pitched voice.

"Hi? Do I know you, ma'am? " Randell asked, since he didn't seem to recognize the girl.

"Oh? Can't remember me? I am Aileen Mutya." She confidently introduced herself while approaching Randell, and of course, the lady ignored Nida.

"Hmm, she's ignoring me?" Nida wonders for a moment why the HR assistant who took care of her on her first week in the company is outright ignoring her. But she shrugged her shoulders and started to tidy her desk to get ready for lunch.

"Oh right, Madam HR?"

"Come on, just call me Aileen." She acted as if she was a 'demure and self-effacing lady' and that made Nida want to throw up.

'They won't flirt with him like that if they know his true form.'

She unintentionally sneered at her while deep in thought.

"What was that, Ms. Mildea?" The HR assistant caught her sneering at them and was offended.

"What is it, maam?" She acted clueless to get away.

"I just saw you sneering at us." She moved forward, then crossed her arms and said, "Who do you think you are looking at me like that?"

"Did I offend you in any way? If so, I'm sorry." She immediately apologized to her to end the conversation.

She doesn't mind bowing or apologizing multiple times rather than making an argument.

"W-what do you need with me, ma'am?" Randell interjected to avoid any more conflicts.

"Ah, I heard you were brought here by mistake. I can use my connection to bring you back to a higher position. "

Randell tilted his head, confused by the HR assistant's peculiarity. He is once again clueless about a new rumor in the company, saying that he was demoted and mistakenly placed at the trucking department. 

"There's no mistake with my current position, ma'am. Anyway, thanks for your offer. We were going to eat lunch. Is there anything else you need? "

Nida stood up on her chair and walked toward the door to go to the cafeteria.

Randell was about to follow her, but Aileen blocked him.

"I haven't eaten lunch either. Can I join you? " She fiddles with her dress, acting as if she is shy.

"No." he coldly replied, because the HR was little by little getting on his nerves.

He moved her arms out, and he then followed Nida, who was already outside the hallway.

Nida was waiting for him at the side of the hallway where a bunch of people kept passing by.

"Don't be deceived! That bitch is not really beautiful! Look at this!" Aileen shouted while running after the two who were walking halfway down the hallway. She raised her phone, showing her a picture of Nida in her teenage years.

The passersby also looked at the picture that Aileen was showing off.

The crowd gasped and became intrigued. 

The photo shows a close-up photo of Nida wearing her junior high school uniform.

In the photo, a teenager with pimples all over her face and messy frizzy hair was smiling brightly with her crooked teeth.

The quality of the photo and the ambiance of the shot were warm and picturesque. However, no one noticed the genuine bright smile of the teenager, but everyone focused on the flaws the girl had.

Everyone looked at the photo, then at her face to check the difference.

Aileen grinned, then raised her chin, feeling better after she could see the reaction of the people around them, judging the allegedly trashed fake beauty of Nida.

She was expecting Nida to panic and be helpless in front of her. However, even though Aileen was so worked up, the two showed different reactions that she never expected.

Nida looks indifferent and just stands in front of them waiting for Randell to come and walk with her while Randell's expression turns bright and he looks at the phone very closely.

"Where did you get this?" he asked, looking excited.

Aileen's confidence fades as she starts to frown and responds to Randell's question in confusion. 

"My cousin was her batchmate. I took it from his old school club album."

"Amazing! He managed to keep pictures from ten years ago?

"Well, he was a club president."

"Seriously? Can I have a copy? " He grabbed the hand of Aileen, who was holding her phone, and looked at her with sparkling eyes, as if he had found a rare treasure.

"What in the a—," she said as she yanked her hand away, leaving her phone in Randell's hand.

She would have loved Randell's touch if he was not acting strange.

His reaction brought chills down her spine.

"Hey, delete that." As Nida stated flatly, as she looked solemnly at Aileen, "I am not deceiving anyone. That face is my previous look, and this face, which you admit is beautiful, is my current look. It's an improved look," she said, with her stoic expression. 

"B-but still, you hide this fact! And you go around flirting with all the good-looking men here!"

"When did I hide it? Am I supposed to print my previous photos then hang them around my neck? Or should I never make myself presentable and remain ugly to make you feel less insecure?" She nonchalantly responded while looking at her with pity.

Nida was dumbfounded at how she was dealing with a ridiculous issue. She doesn't get why someone is being threatened and insecure about her looks when she doesn't feel like she's extraordinarily beautiful, yet of course she looks attractive. Even herself, she doesn't know how her face and body turn attractive without much effort after ten years, plus it becomes healthier and more attractive after her awakening, which made her not need any make-up.

 Aileen bit down on her lips as she clenched her fist. She doesn't like to admit that she was envious of her. She did everything, like spreading false stories about her, just to turn her down. She doesn't like the attention Nida received the moment she came to the company.

Aileen hated that Nida could effortlessly attract all the guys she worked so hard to gain attention. She felt unfair. She wants her gone.

"Deleted." Randell suddenly interjected with his jolly expression and returned her phone to her. "I reformat your phone." He said it as if he had done a nice job.

"R-reformat?" Aileen repeated his word since she could not believe what she had heard.

She looked at her phone shakenly and saw that it was on its factory setting, and nothing was left on her phone.

"I don't know If you still have other photos of her, so I reformatted it to make sure nothings left." Randell looked at Nida like a puppy, wagging its tail asking if he did a good job.

Nida just nodded and turned to walk away.

Aileen was frozen in place. She was standing while staring at her phone with teary eyes.

while the two walked side by side on the way to the cafeteria.