"The Anticipated Heart's Day"

Heart's day eventually came. Digital advertisements from all around the globe were full of promotions of sweets, identical accessories for couples, and love songs. For those who met their special someone or soulmate, Valentine's day is a holiday and a beautiful day. But for those who are single and those who do not consider love as a priority, that day is just like any other normal day.

Luckily, Valentine's day is on a Friday, so most of the caretakers had no work schedule in the facility. Although, some chose to work for the overtime pay, and some chose to work for personal reasons.

Gem was ready to go and was surprised to see her roommate in her usual working clothes. "You're going to work today, too?" Gem asked Lia, who had just got out of the bathroom.

While wiping her hair thoroughly with a towel, Lia replied, "Yeah, I have a lot of...cleaning to do," It was a lie. Her eyes gleamed with excitement, wishing that her first heart's day with the man she likes would be a great one. "What about you, Gem?"

"Oh, I… just needed some extra money," she said, and it was also a lie. Gem experienced being betrayed by her first love, whom she thought was her soulmate. Afraid of being hurt again, she avoided having romantic relationships from then on.

When Lia was done combing her hair, she took her sling bag and checked to see if her Valentine's gift to Aesop was there. "I'm all set… Let's go, Gem."

The two of them went to the cafeteria as usual. The cafeteria manager scanned their official I.D.s, and they took their bacon and egg meal from the counter. Surprisingly, they saw Sanya having coffee and a sandwich.

"Ms. Mayheart!" Lia said. She and Gem approached the young scientist. "Good morning!"

"Ms. Brentvale and Ms. Sayaka, please have a seat," Sanya said politely, and the two girls sat adjacent to her, placing their food tray on the table. "Happy Valentine's Day, by the way!" she smiled at them sweetly, waiting for them to greet her back.

"Uhm... Happy Valentine's Day," Lia greeted her and smiled at her, too, while Gem just smiled at her out of courtesy.

Lia ate a piece of bacon then said, "It's unusual for you to have coffee here, Ms. Mayheart," she was curious why the young scientist was having coffee in a crowded place like that when they knew that she preferred having coffee in her quiet and relaxing office. "Are you going to meet someone here?" she slightly teased her.

It made Sanya's cheeks beet red. She knew what Lia meant, and it was true. She's going to meet Sanno there because he said that he's going to give something to her. "I'm going to meet Sanno-"

"Happy Valentine's day, people," Sanno told the three girls while giving off his killer smile, "Sanya, I thought it's just going to be the two of us..." he winked at her, and the two caretakers giggled.

"Sanno!" Sanya blushed at his words, "They're going to get the wrong idea!"

"So what?" Sanno patted Sanya's head, "Why don't we just let them get the wrong idea?"

"You're a cute couple!" Lia was happy for Sanno. She thought that Sanya was exempted from their list of coldhearted and evil scientists. She wanted Sanno to be happy with her, and she's ready to help their relationship bloom.

Sanno sat beside Sanya and gave her the gift bag that he was holding.

"What's this?" Sanya asked.

"Open it."

Sanya pulled out the staple wire and opened the classy gift bag. Inside was a peach-colored, waterproof shoulder bag, with the letters LV on the front silver buckles of its mini pockets.

"LV... Isn't this expensive? This is Le Verachi! Sanno! Again, where did you-"

Sanno interrupted her by saying, "Hush, don't ask. I just want to make you happy."

Sanya almost burst into tears and internally, she was already crying with tears of joy. She thought that she was so lucky to have someone like Sanno to notice her. In her opinion, she wasn't physically attractive, yet a handsome guy like him came to like her. She thought positively, that it must be because of her intelligence.

"Do you like my gift, Sanya?" Sanno asked. He wasn't lying when he said that he'll make her happy, but the complete sentence would be, "I want to make you happy with material things only." He thought that he's harsh, but D.M. Cadre is worse than him. He still needed Sanya to gather more data about the research facility, and he planned to give a lot of 'expensive gifts' to her.

"I love it, thank you, Sanno!" the naive young scientist said.

Lia was so happy to see the progress of the two, but in Gem's mind were some questions about their colleague. On their first day in the research facility, Sanno said that he's so broke and that he badly needed money. So why was he buying such luxurious items? "I wonder where he got all that money..." she thought. She was a bit suspicious about him and worried that Sanno might be transacting with illegal groups, or that he might have a sugar mommy somewhere. When Gem realized that her thoughts were too bizarre, she shook her head. "No, he's not a shady guy. It's impossible." She then concluded that perhaps, Sanno just loved Sanya so much, that was why he looked for ways to give her those luxurious, branded items.

After thirty minutes, in-room B4-L13...

Aesop still didn't know that Lia didn't go home that Friday. Like any other boring Fridays when Lia wasn't around, he just stared at the digital window on the 3rd loft. He suddenly heard the door open and didn't expect his favorite person to enter.

"Good morning, Ae!" Lia shouted. "Hmm... where could he be..." she changed into her indoor shoes and looked up the lofts. "Ae! It's me!"

Hearing her voice, Aesop quickly flapped his wings and flew down to her. He looked at her with pleading eyes, "Why didn't you go home?"

"Oh, it's because I..." she couldn't think of any excuse. She wanted to surprise her with her Valentine's gift. "I'm going to practice my cooking skills! Watch me, okay?" she said with full energy and marched with Aesop to the kitchen.

While Lia was busy preparing the ingredients, Aesop sat on the counter stool and watched her. He felt like she wasn't looking at him in the eye that much, and it bothered him.

"Lia," Aesop called, placing his arms on the center countertop. "What are you going to cook?"

"Fried chicken," she replied, not facing him. "Just stay there, and I'll tell you to taste the gravy later."

"Okay," the vulture mutant agreed.

Aside from bacon recipes, Lia also cooks chicken recipes frequently. Her golden, crispy fried chicken was done, and she prepared the saucepan for the gravy. In low heat, she melted the butter, poured in the flour, and continuously mixed them until it became brown. Next, she slowly added chicken broth, repeatedly stirring in medium heat, until the sauce's desired viscosity.

Lia took a spoonful of gravy, blew it, and tasted it. "Hmm...I'm not sure... Ae, come over here," Lia told the sitting Aesop.

He stood up from the counter stool and approached her, "Yeah?"

Lia took another spoon of gravy for Aesop. While she blew it to reduce its warmth, he stared at Lia's lips. He noticed some gravy still left at the side of her mouth.