Maria Leonna

"Joe! Hey, um does this mean?" Ed excitedly asked me.

"Yeah hehe" I arrived at the gate of the Zellwingers past noon of April 1, 2021.

My life had changed drastically since that day. I quit my job and worked for the Zellwingers. I wasn't a normal employee back then. Ed gave me a part of his shares for free so basically I am receiving revenues more than a normal job could ever pay me. Ed put me in the manufacturing department. He knows technology is my forte. I started out as a Plant Technician. I repair and maintain machines essential for the plant's manufacturing process. No one knows my relationship with the Zellwingers. A thing I kinda asked Ed for. I don't want any special treatments. I want to be treated like how everyone else was treated.

After a year, I got promoted to the Research and Development department on June 1, 2022. This was an important milestone towards my goal. To finally be of access to the tools and equipment I need to decode that formula. I worked and I secretly had stayed after office hours to do some research and tests regarding that formula. It was then I discovered that it's a formula that can bend timetor at least an idea close to it. After 3 months, I was promoted to be a Senior Research Specialist.

In my time as a Senior specialist, I met 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒔. A Junior Research Specialist.

It was on a holiday. The plant had minimal manpower. Most of the departments were closed as well as ours but that didn't matter. I went to work anyway. That job served as a vessel towards my goal and also served as a distraction from the past I was trying to escape. Unlike any other employees, I loved that job more than anything else.

The Research & Development department was comprised of two main teams: The software development team and the hardware innovations team. Each had different line of expertise but their outputs meet at a certain point to create a new equipment or process that would benefit either the workers, the company, or the consumers.

On that sunny morning of June 26, 2022. I was working on a test program to simulate the formula. It was non-work related so planned to do the testing when no one else is around. CCTVs? I live with the owners of that company. Access to them were pretty easy for me. I didn't bother telling Ed or Ms. Zellwinger about it 'til am sure that it'll work. I was in the Software Development wing and I met the largest wall in my pursuit of decoding the formula; a powersource stronger than the Sun is needed for it to work. I was like 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳?? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵??

A wall that convinced me to  temporarily stop my experiments until I find that energy source.

Speaking of walls, since every wall in this department was made of glass, I can literally see everything around. That's when I realized I wasn't alone. There was someone lurking around inside Hardware Innovations Department.

I looked closely. It's a girl.

Her hair was partly colored with some golden-brown highlights. She was wearing an oversized lab gown. Which shows either she was fond with oversized clothing or she was in a hurry and just grabbed any lab gown available from the department's lobby. Eitherway, it doesn't matter. Although the department's called Research & Development where one was supposed to find goal-driven and enthusiastic people working in, in contrary, most employees there were just mere employees. I saw no passion in their eyes for what they were doing. They were just there for the money they get every fifteenth and thirtieth. But this girl is working on a holiday. Although the building's fully air conditioned, I can see her wipe her sweat often. Then, one thing hit me. I realized I haven't made 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 friends while working at WCE. I was too focused on my goal that I forgot to get a life. Well then I thought that time would be a great start.

"Hi"

"fuck!" she quickly faced me and covered what she was working at using her body.

𝑜𝑜𝑝𝑠. 𝐼 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡'𝑣𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝒉𝑒𝑟.

"Hey, I um. I saw you the SD wing. I was curious on what are you working on a holiday. From the looks of it, it's none like any incoming products from for this company. Am I right? By the way, I'm Joe. I'm a company inspector" I lied. Haha! I couldn't wait for her reaction.

In WCE, it was prohibited to use company resources for personal matters. Especially in our department where we were supplied with the latest and most advanced technology. Thus, those things cost a fortune but Mr. Zellwinger believed that innovation was what brought WCE to the pedestal that it was on that time.

"Um, I.." She stuttered.

"Please step aside, I need to check that one." I could see her sweat dripping and for sure her heart was thumping at that point.

And she did and and I saw this black box. It's like a generator. At least it sounded like one.

"Seems this is definitely not a WCE product" and I definitely got her to really believe.

"Please! I beg you. Please don't expose me. Please. I can't lose this job. My mother's sick. I'm the only one she got. Please, I'll do anything for you. Anything."

If it was another guy, she would've been taken advantage of. Good thing it was me. I couldn't do such a thing. I have a mom and a sister looking down on me. I can't fail them again. Moreover, I was in that place because of them; because I want to bring them back. Yes, I figured that the formula had something to do with time relativity and time vortex, Layman's term: Time travel. I was working on a prototype of a time machine when I saw her.

"HAHA! chill. I'm not an Inspector. I'm---" I realized I needed to stop and yep I was stopped.

My nose numbed and my vision's blurred. It was then I realized that I was punched when I saw blood came out off my nose. 𝑾𝒐𝒘! 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍'𝒔 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒆𝒓.

"Woah! hey." I said as I backed away from her tackles.

"Why'd you do that??"

"Suits you well" and even rolled her eyes.

"Really? What if I tell you I'm the kind of employee that can fire Company inspectors?"

She stopped and stared.

"W-What?" now she regret it.

"I'm Joe Madrid. I live literally with the Zellwingers. Edward Zellwinger is my best friend and Mr. William Zellwinger treats me as his son. He even calls me son." For the first time, I blew my cover. I felt really bad being punched in the face but due to my moral values, I could never fight back. That was the least I can do to fight back.

Her eyes bulged as if they were about to burst out. Her mouth opened and froze by the moment I told her who I was. But then,

"kidding. Haha! You really think I'm that easy to fool huh? Get lost Mr. Joe whatever" She really had the guts to con me.

"Hey Ed! Where you at? There's a new restobar in town that'll open tonight, My treat. You free?" I called Ed and put speaker phone on.

"I'm with dad. We're on a Meeting with Zenshin, one of our semi-conductor supplier. We'll end up by 4PM. I'm free tonight so let's go get some drinks." I don't really have any idea of any restobar that's opening that night but it satisfied me having to see her reaction as Ed was talking.

"So, you--"

"Yes. I am."

"Oh My God! I'm so sorry, I-I thought you were just bluffing." She dropped and knelt to the ground begging for an apology.

As a punishment, I stayed quiet for about ten seconds.

"Hey, get up. What's your name?"

"Y-you're not mad anymore?" She asked as she got up.

"Not anymore if you tell me who you are and what is this you're making"

Her eyes glowed in joy as she introduced me to her work. It was a machine that could remove impurities in the air within a room and releases fresh cold air. It's an aircon and a vacuum cleaner in one. It worked a bit but it wasn't that good for a prototype. I believe that with the right push, she could really make it. Her invention could really be useful to households.

"I'm planning to join the Annual Science & Technology convention in Davao this coming December 2022. They got serious cash prize for the winner: P1,000,000. I thought it could really help me with my mother's hospital bills." I was moved and then I too was inspired to help her. 𝑰'𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒎𝒐𝒎.

"Well, that's interesting. Do you need help?" although I do have my own job to do. I felt the need to help her. After all, that kind of passion was what the company needed. It would be a waste if she won't succeed.

"You'll help me??"

"of course"

From then on, we started to work together on her invention. Every after work hours we stay. Company inspectors often check but there's really nothing they can do. I'm a part owner of the company and besides I befriended all of them so there were no problems with it.

I made the software adjustments while she handled hardware stuffs. It wasn't that easy. We failed for about 15times and after a month, our first prototype was born. It was a Saturday afternoon at 1PM.

"𝚟𝚟𝚟𝚟𝚟𝚟𝚑𝚑𝚑!!" from the generator sound to a sound of a printer printing continuous pages. It was giving off cool air and sipping every dust around it.

"wow, we did it."

"Yeah" she said as she couldn't believe that it was really working.

"So, what do you think we should ca--"

She rushed into me and hugged me so tight.

"Thank you!" she was in tears

even though we still weren't sure that that little machine could cut it in the competition.

"Truth is, that day when you saw me working on this project, I was about to give up. I had very little knowledge of how to solve its proper algorithm for it to work properly."

I was genuinely happy for her.

"Nah, that's nothin'. You already got a name for it?"

"Yeah. I think I'll name it ML. My initials."

"Nice. This is a cause to celebrate! What do you say?? Drinks on me." I was really glad we made it.

"Rich kids be like. HAHA! sure. Pick me up at 8PM later. I'll send you my location."

"Fair enough" We smiled and I went ahead.

[𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍]