Chapter 8: Chapter 8
BAR
Kro kept staring at Sue who was now ordering her fifth bottle of beer. She didn't expect her to participate fully in her request, but she was. All that time, Kro only had a single glass of wine. She wasn't actually feeling like drinking that night, she just did that to teach Uk a lesson
"Stupid devil!", grumbled Sue as she stared at the finished bottle
Kro said nothing but kept watching her closely. It was pretty clear that Sue had a lot going on in her head, and the way she started laughing right after she cursed showed how much she was drunk
"Should I take you home now", asked Kro, twirling her wine glass
"No, I still think about it. I want to get drunk",
"So right now, you're not?",
"I'm just getting started",
"Course you are",
Kro could see the waiter bringing Sue's fifth bottle to the table. She quickly signaled him to take it back. Sue had enough for the night. More liquor could mean more pain in the morning. She cared for her that much.
"I'm here to listen in case you want to talk about it", said Kro with a very calming tone
"I don't want to burden you, it's my mess, I'll deal with it",
"If I may ask, how's Zoe?",
The smile on Sue's face slowly disappeared, and tears started falling from her eyes. She didn't want to talk about it at all, she kept flickering her gaze, looking for the waiter who was supposed to bring her drink
"Where is he?", she mumbled,
"Sue! You won't get an award for keeping things in. Talking about what's bothering you doesn't mean you're weak, you know that", she put her glass back on the table, "Don't bother looking for the waiter, I told him not to bring it",
"My daughter is just 6 years old!", she began, making Kro more curious to know what she was about to say, "But she took her to a boarding school without even telling me! And_(hiccup)_she doesn't even want to give me the name of the school",
"It's your mother-in-law, right?",
Sue nodded,
"I'm angry enough to kill her just now, but I'm just trying to stay calm for my daughter",
"But Sue, what did you do for her to treat you like this, mh? Because I honestly don't understand why you're letting her walk all over you",
Sue leaned forward, ready to whisper. That made Kro do the same thing, she also leaned forward.
"Tell me, what is it?",
"Nobody knows about this, but I _ I killed my husband!", Sue whispered, "I pushed him off the stairs!", she started laughing as she leaned back. She laughed so hard with tears still falling.
Kro remained staring at her, not knowing if it's the alcohol talking or the truth. If it was the truth, then it meant Sue was more than just a perfect employee.
Kro had been fighting from the moment she gained her senses, so she extremely understood how tormenting killing someone for the first time was. Sue was now a delicate soul.
...…..
DAMAKI
After receiving a text message from his father of an urgent meeting, Ukraine had to comply.
Mr. Song was eagerly waiting for Ukraine to arrive. He had over a hundred questions to ask him, curious enough that he even lied about the urgent meeting. He was all alone in his house, no grandma or grandpa. Seeing his son walking through the door felt emancipating.
Ukraine scanned the room, and no one was there, just his dad.
"Where's everyone dad?", he started by asking
"It's just you and me today. Mom and dad needed to rest", lied Mr. Song, afraid his motives would be found out
"But they know we are here, right?",
"Of course, they do!",
"Great",
He walked to the whisky table and poured himself a glass. He then went on to take a seat across his father,
"How's work? How long has it been since you started?", asked Mr. Song,
"Work is unexpectedly fine. It's almost a week", he sipped his drink,
"Anything unusual?",
"Except her body temperature being ice cold, nothing else is unusual",
"So, we can say she's a dead girl?",
"She's alive, alive for too long that her whole body became exhausted. We can say that",
"What kind of science is that?", he scoffed,
"Just saying. I'll keep looking for other things which are clear, like maybe her heartbeats or maybe if her body still bleeds_",
"NO!", Song erupted, out of nowhere
Ukraine paused his whisky sipping business and looked at him. He couldn't comprehend where that angry 'NO' came from. Song cleared his throat.
"What I want to say is, do not touch her. Things like her heartbeats and circulatory systems of her body just leave them be! We already know she's not human, we don't have to hurt her", said Song, with a greater emphasis
"I thought this was the plan, we needed to go deeper_",
"What does she like to do? What about her personality? Does she have a favorite food?", interrupted Song
"Dad, I'll be honest with you, I am very confused right now. Do you want me to find out who she really is or find out what her favorite meal is? I need to know where I'm supposed to stand so as not to cross the line. In case you don't know, Kro isn't an easy target, I need to be very careful. So, please tell me what I need to look for",
"Look son, nobody forced you to do this, it's just that your age was an advantage. I can engage in this mission perfectly fine, just say the word",
"You guys sat down and agreed to assign this mission to me, I can do it, it's not even a week yet, what's the fuss about?",
"It's the way you're acting that doesn't convince me",
"Acting like what?",
"Acting like we're forcing you to do this while deep down you don't want to!",
A heavy sigh came out of Uk's mouth. His father was downgrading all his efforts to that moment. It was like he'd been doing nothing all that time. Song's motive was obvious. He liked Kro, he wanted to be closer to her. The only way to do that was to piss his son off the mission.
But Ukraine was hard-headed. He couldn't stay there and listen to more insulting comments from him.
He gulped down the remaining whisky and put the glass down.
"Next time please text me when grandma and grandpa are here, I think that will be great", said Ukraine and got up, "I'll take my leave now, goodnight!",
After seeing that his father wasn't going to say anything to him, he quietly walked out of the house. Mr. Song banged his fist on the sofa. He was already mad. Ukraine wasn't taking the hint.
"If that's the case, then I'll have to do it myself son!",
He was determined not to miss his chance this time.
.....
MALL
It was Misaki's turn to be CC's undercover detective. She walked from one cosmetics shop to another, trying some lipsticks and seeing how business in CC shop was doing. She wasn't wearing her tag or ID, she didn't want people to know where she worked at.
She was almost done with the market research, there was just one shop left. She needed to get done with it and go grab a snack or something. She stepped inside and walked straight to the lipstick sample stand. There were many mesmerizing colors, she even wished to try them all, she was having a hard time to choose.
"All righty, dark tomato red or plum pink", she inwardly thought as she checked one lipstick to another like a kid figuring out which ice-cream flavor to pick,
"Plum pink", said a man from behind her
Since there was a mirror in front of her, she didn't bother to look back. She could just see who said that to her. He was no stranger, and since she was a person who had a very good memory, she remembered him, Leo.
"Oh, hi Leo", she brightly spoke,
Her attitude put a smile on Leo's face, not forgetting the fact that she remembered him like the way he never stopped thinking about her. He stood next to her and helped her look for the lipstick which suited her
"Are you even a lipstick expert?", Misaki teased him
"I'm not, but I can surely guess the one which will look good on you", said Leo,
"And what will that be?",
"Plum pink, as I said",
"Mh, let's see",
Misaki took the lipstick off the stand, popped it up and applied it on her lower lip, and before she even moved to her upper lip she was already obsessed. She pursed her lips and spread it perfectly as she looked in the mirror. She loved it.
She looked at Leo to make him judge his choice, and he already looked proud of his pick
"What do you think? Personally, I love it", she said
"Should I just quit being a lecturer and become a lipstick recommender instead? Because I did a perfect job", he said with his thumbs up
"You're just lucky this time. Let me go pay for this first",
"Take your time!",
She smiled as she walked to the counter to pay and bag her product. When she was done, he was still waiting for her, standing at the exact spot she left him.
"Let's go, my obedient_",
"Friend?", interrupted Leo
"No, I wanted to say lipstick god",
"That's crazy! By the way, I was surprised to see you here at this time, aren't you supposed to be at work or something?",
"I'm actually working right now, I'm a CC detective today!",
"You even bought a lipstick from another brand. Isn't that wrong?",
"It's not since it's an excellent product and I want to learn about it, but it's also the first product I used outside of CC",
"Oh, so you're a CC-holic?",
"Yes, I am!",
"Kro will be so proud of you!",
"I know right!", she laughed
They kept walking side by side until they got to the parking lot, to Misaki's car.
"This is me", she said as she patted the trunk
"I see, it was nice running into you",
"Same, thanks for choosing my lipstick, I'll use it well",
"I know you will",
She waved at him and got in her car. There were many things that Leo couldn't understand at that moment, but the only thing clear to him was that he wanted to see her again.
....
CC HEADQUARTERS
Kro hummed an unfamiliar song as she entered the office. She was just getting back from the meeting, which from the looks of it bared only good news. The first place she looked at when she closed the door was Ukraine's desk. She wanted to see if he was there, and yes, he was.
Ukraine thought she'd just ignore him and walk to her desk, but to his surprise, she started walking towards his table, still humming the mysterious song. The hums kept getting scarier and scarier as she got closer. He started imagining scary stuff inside that office.
He wished she could just diverge and walk back to her desk, but it wasn't happening. He held his breath, having chills all over his warm body. But his imagination vanished in a split second when Kro knocked on his desk once. He was so startled that he nearly jumped from his chair.
Kro scoffed cheesily
"What were you imagining?", she asked after seeing the look in his eyes
"No _nothing!", he stammered
"I see", she slid the books aside and sat on the table, right on the empty space.
Ukraine swallowed a nervous gulp. She was giving him a serious panic attack on the inside. She had shown him many sides of her, and despite how comfortable she tried to make him feel, he always became more nervous. She was running out of ideas
"Why are you so scared of me?",
"I'm not scared of you, boss",
"Yes, you are", Kro stretched out her hand, "Hold my hand", she simply said as she stared at him,
"Why, boss?",
"Just do it",
He didn't understand what she was doing, but he had to do it. He held her hand.
Alas! It was warm! Different from how he expected it, her hand wasn't cold, the temperature was perfectly fine.
"I have good news for you, next week an interview for my personal assistant will be conducted, so this might be the last week we work together",
Ukraine found himself raising his head and facing her. She was smiling, but he wasn't. Somehow, he wasn't happy about the news.
"You're glad, right?", she asked
"I don't know", he really didn't, his face could tell how confused he was,
"Now here's the bad news, let's go for dinner tonight! Unless you have another date with Mis_",
"No, I'm totally free, let's go!", he blurted, unhesitant,
"Are you sure you won't run away like how you did on Monday?", she teased him
"No", he smiled embarrassedly, "No, I won't",
"Then it's settled. Let go of my hand now", she said,
As he was doing that, the door to the office fell open and the secretary walked inside. All the attention turned to her. Kro remained seated on his table, she didn't move an inch
"Boss, there's someone here to see you", said the secretary
"Sure", she permitted
They could see the secretary welcoming the guest in.
Song walked in. Ukraine's heart immediately skipped a beat. His eyes widened with surprise. Nobody knew who he was, nobody except Ukraine of course. That man was his father.
*****
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone