13 - First mission [5]

It had been 3 days since I started working as the janitor, and it was already 03:00 PM, so I had just finished my job. We were walking through the street toward some place to eat.

"Here is the place I told you about earlier."

The scene was almost the same as the one 3 days ago, the only thing that changed was the person accompanying me since this time it wasn't Rachel, but Richard.

It happened just as we finished working. I was going to leave the building when Richard stopped me and asked if I wanted to eat with him. Since Rachel told me the day before that she couldn't go with me today, I accepted his offer. He also mentioned having a place he wanted to take me, so I just went with it. However, what I didn't expect was that the place he was talking about, was in fact the same one Rachel and I had been going to these last few days.

Even though I acted like I didn't know the place since he seemed quite excited about showing me something new, like a grandparent with his granddaughter. But that plan failed the moment the waitress from the counter recognized me.

As we sat down at a table, I tried to somehow cheer him on, since he seemed a little depressed, and to be honest, I didn't like the sight of him being like that.

"H-Hey, although it is true I have already been here before, I am thankful that you tried to show me something new, so cheer up, alright?"

He looked at me, then proceeded to sigh and started laughing. At that behavior, I reacted with a dumbfounded face, which only seemed to make him laugh harder.

After some time, he finally stopped laughing and started talking while having a smile on his face, although there was some hesitation.

"I am sorry if that made you uncomfortable, it is just..."

"If you don't want to tell it, it is okay."

As I said that, he quickly looked at me, and started talking again, this time, without hesitation.

"It is just that you remember me of my granddaughter."

"Oh! Do I? Do you see her regularly?"

At that question, he put on a slightly sad face, but quickly disappeared.

"Well, not really. To be fair, I haven't seen her in a while. She's currently living in Washington with her mother. Her father, and my son, died some years ago.

She is a little younger than you, she is 17 years old now. In fact, right now I'm working here to pay her future university tuition."

(A/N: remember that Aaron 'has' 18 years old for the company)

'So she's one year older than me, huh?'

While he was talking, he had a nostalgic face, indicating that it had been really a long time since he had seen her.

"You… really miss her, right?"

"Yeah, I do, but if nothing wrong happens, in a month I will go visit them!"

As he said that, it was amazing how I could see his face light up. He really seemed excited about seeing his family.

The moment I thought about that, a feeling of longing appeared in my heart. I tried to keep it away and ignore it, but I guess talking directly about it made it come stronger.

'I miss my family.'

When I finally put that feeling into words, it only got stronger. I really missed them, both my parents and my sister. Although it hadn't been so long since I last saw them, it wasn't in normal circumstances where if I waited a bit, I would see them again. If everything continued like the Boss wanted to, I would never see them again.

It seemed like this sudden depression of mine didn't go undetected by Richard, as he started talking again with a soft smile.

"It seems that my talking reminded you of some things you didn't want to remember, I'm sorry. If you want to talk about it with me, I'm available."

"Oh, well, it's just that I haven't seen my family in a long time, and it seems like it will keep like it."

As I said that, he put on a surprised face, but it didn't last long until he put on that soft smile again before talking.

"Well, I don't know your circumstances, but I can tell that you love your family a lot. So the only thing I can tell you is to never lose hope. Maybe it seems like empty words, but, please, keep my words in mind."

I was looking at him with an astonished face, not because what he said seemed, as he said empty words, but because he said that with such conviction that I was almost sure he knew I was going to encounter them.

When I realized that he said that as a way of caring about me, even though we had only known each other for some days, a smile appeared naturally on my face.

"Thank you. Really, thank you. I will keep your words in mind."

His smile widened a little when he heard me say that.

"You are welcome."

Ding-

Suddenly, the sound of a notification broke the silence that had formed after those words. It seemed to come from my phone.

I quickly grabbed it, and on the screen, I could see a message from… Rachel?

'I thought she had things to do.'

Then when I saw the content of the message, for some reason, my body became a little stiff.

[We have to talk. When you are available, come to my room. The faster the better.]

It seemed quite urgent, so I quickly looked at Richard and apologized to him while getting up.

"I'm sorry, but my friend told me to talk to her, and it seemed urgent. I have to go after I pay."

"Oh, don't worry, go now, I will pay."

I was going to do as he said, but I realized that I had a card with almost infinite money, so ignoring what he said, I paid and quickly left the restaurant and went towards the company building while thinking.

'What does Rachel want?'

**********************************************************************

Hi, author here. Let's start.

I have finished my exams! I'm happy about it, and although I can't promise a daily chapter, you can expect more frequent chapters.

Also, I would like to thank all the people reading this, and I hope the next chapters will be of your liking.

Another thing, you may think that this chapter was pointless and just a filler, but let me tell you that apart from containing important information for the future, the most important thing was that Aaron needed this type of talk, I mean, put on his place.

Anyways, as always if you see any mistakes let me know, and I hope to see you in the next chapter!

If you want to come and chat or hear me rambling, join the Discord server!

https://discord.gg/w6UWHfGzS8