2 The Job

"Ding! Welcome to Mikhail's Cafe!"

Hmm, which one should I get today? Leo pondered, his hands brushing through the plastic wrap of the sandwiches. Pork cutlet, egg, ham, tuna, vegan chicken.

'I guess I'll go with egg today.'

He took the sandwich and went to the cashier. The queue was empty until he went to it and lines started forming behind him.

"That would be $3."

He reached into his wallet and his phone suddenly rang. He fumbled around with his sandwich as he tried to find his phone in his pocket that now felt abyssal. He looked behind the growing queue.

"Uh you can go first," he told the person behind him, stepped aside, and gave an awkward smile.

"Hello? Leo speaking", he answered.

"Good morning Leo, Arthur here. Good work on the job last week. The client is happy about the work although he is a little disappointed to let you go. Anyways, there's another job for you, a 17-year-old girl having one more year to live."

His part-time job, working to make people happy to extend their lives more for one of the many companies that sprouted out after a huge discovery that happiness is proven to extend your life and the invention of Lifespen, a lifespan calculator.

"Alright that sounds interesting. I'll meet you back at the office at 10, Arthur. I'll see the details first," he replied.

"Alright, see you then. Bye," Arthur ended the call.

He quickly paid for his sandwich and exited the cafe. The crowd from the morning rush hour was starting to pile up and for the small cafe, it was becoming more claustrophobic. The weather was pleasant with a light breeze and the warm morning sun made Leo's blond hair glow.

Leo took a bite from his egg sandwich, thinking about his new client while walking to the office. How would she be? How would she act? He shuddered from the memory of his last job where the old man keeps throwing tantrums and was giving an attitude.

"Oh, sorry!" he apologized when he bumped into someone when he was deep in his thoughts.

"Oh, it's no problem. I'm in a rush, sorry!" the girl apologized quietly and ran off.

Leo didn't manage to see her face but he remembered her shoulder-length jet-black hair as she ran. He was about to continue his journey when he saw a notebook, probably from the girl he bumped into. He tried to find a contact number or at least a name but he could not find it after skimming through the first few pages. It looked like a journal or a diary. He resisted temptations to open the notebook further.

"I'll just keep it for now, it's not nice to peek into the belongings of others."

--------------------------

Leo arrived at the office, as usual. It's a small office on the 4th floor of an office complex overlooking the river. The office was still empty, out of 15 employees only a few were in office. One of them was Mr Gimli at the front desk. He works as HR and support for other employees.

Mr Gimli is a really short man. One might even call him a dwarf. His stout body is bulging with muscles and his majestic beard even solidifies his image as a dwarf but he doesn't like anyone calling him short or have any reference to his height or his short fuse would explode. He is one of Arthur's most trusted friends and also one of the earliest employees working in the office.

"Good morning Mr Gimli. Early at work as usual," greeted Leo as he entered the office after scanning his fingerprint. Security in this line of work is normally quite high as highly confidential documents of their clients are stored in the offices. Cases where people tried to steal or break in to steal those documents are not rare. After all, information particularly on the rich and famous are worth more than gold and the scandal it could cause would be devastating.

Some say Mr Gimli also works as security although it's not part of his job title. Leo would believe that. Most would underestimate him but Leo would not even want to test his fighting prowess nor his anger when someone called him short.

"Oh kid, you're here today and I told you to call me Edward. You don't have to be so uptight with me, uhh count me in as one of your friends," smiled Edward. "Just finished your fieldwork?"

'Fieldwork' is mostly done by people that are committed to it as they have to keep moving around as per their brief, in some sort, an actor. As for him, it's a job with good pay and deep respect for the job.

"Go on in. Arthur is already waiting for you in his office."

Leo walked past rows of desks. The office is well decorated and there are no cubicles and partition walls. All employees can see each other. Arthur did not believe in isolating his employees in their little hole. Those already in the office were busy in their work, probably leftover work from yesterday, and did not notice Leo walking past them.

He reached the door at the end and knocked at it. While waiting for a reply, he looked at his watch. It's 9.30 am, the office only opens at 10 am.

"Come in."

"I'm here, Arthur. Who's the new client?" Leo asked as he slowly took his seat at a small grey office chair. Behind Arthur is a full-height glass panel overlooking the lake and at that height, he could also see parts of the neighbourhood. It's a beautiful sight.

"Well, her name is Luna. Her parents came last week to acquire our services. But, without her knowledge, they do not want to make her feel uncomfortable and they specifically requested you due to her similar age with you. They hoped that would make it easier. Here's her profile," Arthur explained as he passed a thick file to Leo.

He was surprised to have someone to specifically look for him. Normally people ask for John, the company's top employee. He flipped through the first few pages of the dossier, her picture somewhat familiar but he couldn't seem to recall.

"Wow, excellent grades. Not good at sports... Hmm, besides her grades, she's quite ordinary", he commented. "But what's the catch?"

"One more year left. That's all the time you have", Arthur replied. "It's now your responsibility to make her time move. Accepting the job?"

"Yeah sure, at least this time it's not some angry old fart."

Arthur's eyes squinted disapprovingly when Leo said angry old fart.

"I hope she's someone easy to work with. Uhh… I guess I better go now, plenty of work to do." Leo tried to dodge Arthur's stare while looking away nervously. He left the office quickly.

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