022 - Red string: Hidden side of a playboy

"So, you are saying that some people are trying to be parasites instead of being partners?"

"Yes, sir."

The conversation was taking place in an office, one that did not look as austere as Grace's. If anything, it looked like one indeed belonging to someone as young as the voice coming from the chair facing away from the door indicated.

The room looked more like a relaxation room, with the desk in the middle and the comfortable armchair facing away only being incidental addition to furniture.

"Actually, sir, it has been going on for a while already, but there has been no signs, no rumors. It is only now that we picked up the clues. Any later, and we would have invited wolves to surround us."

It was a male voice which came out of the computer on the desk, another one, different from the one which replied before, and the explanation it gave made silence descend upon the long-distance conversation. The room was quiet but bright, and warm, preventing the silence from making it feel lifeless, until it was shattered by the young but steady male voice from the occupant of chair turned away:

"You have one month to cut off those tentacles overreaching themselves."

"Yes, sir, but… if they persist?"

"Our claws are not for show. Let's end the meeting here."

The chair turned, and a hand moved over to the keyboard of the computer to close the virtual meeting room.

Alex looked at the time in the corner of the screen, and closed the interface of the virtual meeting room. He closed the session and opened another one, before he went on to open a display of the stock market.

He stood up from the chair. After a stretch, he went to take a yogurt from the small fridge at the side, before coming to stand before the window, and eating the chilly snack while looking at the scenery made beautiful by brightness, though only so long as the sultry temperature accompanying it remained isolated.

His face had a calm and a dignity unlike anything his trademark grin usually hid. His brown eyes carried no ripple, only thoughtfulness that carried a depth that seemed to have always been hidden, the same depth his calm voice carried during the meeting that just ended.

As he put the last mouthful of the curdled milk-based product in his mouth, he savoured the sourness, as well as the very distant sweetness, before throwing the empty pot into the trash can.

He turned back to look at the diagrams moving on the dark background on the screen of the computer, observing the trends without much fluctuation in his gaze, before he moved. He went around the desk, opened the door, and left the room.

At the same time, opening the door was like a flip being switched in his body. His face suddenly loosened, the dignified calm transitioning into a smile full of the charm of a rich playboy. In other words, Alex returned to being the one that everyone knew, the one everyone was used to seeing.

With a bright smile, his gaze swept over the large cafe as he did a stretch and a few movements to loosen his muscles and tendons.

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"You have one month. Either come up with a solution, or pay up what you owe. I think I don't need to remind you of the consequences should you fail. You are not stupid."

Following the dark voice, the call ended, the connection cut off from the other side.

The blonde with soft and gentle beige hair who was holding the phone lowered it. Resting her head against the white wall she was leaning against, her dim blue eyes looked forward, staring more into emptiness than at the opposite wall.

The smell of disinfectant seemed distant, but it served as a reminder of the constant in her life, the constant she was helpless against, and that she had to keep fighting for.

She inhaled and closed her eyes, ignoring those passing by, the hospital, the troubles, everything…

She exhaled, then opened her eyes within which was a newly settled calm, serene from the determination it was carrying.

She thought for a moment, before she inhaled again, and exhaled again, letting her face loosen up. Pushing herself away from the wall, she turned to walk away, toward the doors lining up the corridor.

By the time she held the handle of one of the doors, a smile came to adorn her face, bringing a semblance of liveliness to her light expression. She turned the handle, and pushed the door to step inside the ward.

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'Remembrance Cafe', on the last floor of 'K World Mall', was a bright jewel. If there was anything its design seemed to be aiming at, it was to make it feel as open as possible, to make it enjoy as much light as possible, bringing a bright atmosphere that seemed capable of uplifting any spirit, of shining through any cloud of gloom.

A few meters from the door, its dozen meters long counter ran along the wall until the door of the room Alex came out of. Looking only at the counter, and the tools and ingredients on it, it was indeed a cafe. But looking at the wall behind it supporting a shelf just as long and filled with bottles of different liquors, what seemed certain before did not seem to be the truth in the end.

Through the bottles, a soft light was shining to add an enjoyable palette of colors to the place, and on the smiling faces around.

As Alex stretched and looked at situation in the cafe, a smiling voice came from the side:

"Boss, are you done playing on your computer?"

Alex looked to the side, and smiled at the waitress in modest uniform and an apron at her waist:

"Of course not. I'm just tired of sitting inside alone in front of the computer, so I came out to play with my phone. Moreover, I can watch you while out here."

While waiting for her tray to be filled with the order she had come to pick up, the waitress raised her hand to hide an amused smile as she laughed coyly:

"Boss, you always like to flirt. Don't keep giving me false hope."

"And who says it is false?"

Alex threw a wink at the brunette, then went to take the soft seat in the corner of the cafe. He threw one last smile at the beautiful waitress, then took out his phone to play as he said he would.