Ariel's Day Out (IV)

When Ariel returned, Yume made a gasp, put his hand over his chest, and knelt down on one knee.

"My Princess!"

Ariel giggled and ran over to Yume. She twirled around happily and asked, "Do I look pretty, Uncle Yume?"

"You look very pretty, Rie," Yume replied honestly.

Ariel stood still and smoothened the skirt carefully. Her dark hair, which was naturally wavy, had been curled slightly and it cascaded on her shoulders like gentle waves.

She wore a blue headband that had a small bow that mirrored the slightly bigger blue bow on the waist of the dress. Her shoes were also blue, and at the button clasp, was a small bow.

Yume stood up and offered Ariel his hand, "Shall we go back to Sir now?"

Ariel nodded, smiling happily; her cheeks rosy. She couldn't wait to show Daddy.

"Bye-bye Sister Bell. Thank you," she said politely then turned to face the rest of the Diamond team while waving at them.

"I go now," she declared, "Be good."

Hearing Ariels' usual goodbye greeting, they took it without surprise - though Edward was trying hard not to laugh. No matter how many times he hears it, he still couldn't help but want to chuckle at it.

It was as if Ariel was trying to be a grown-up though Edward knew it wasn't so. She was just copying and mimicking what was said to her all the time, and it only just made her so much more cuter than she already is.

[A/N Yes, I know. Cuter already is 'more' cute but in this case, though it's grammatically incorrect, it is still right! *stubborn Author speaking*]

"I want to show Daddy!" Ariel was saying excitedly, holding her skirt and swishing it.

Then she saw Yume with his hand towards her, palm up. She pouted a bit but took his hand, knowing the rule that she could not walk unattended. She had to always hold an adult's hand.

But it spoilt the Princess image.

"Sir is in a meeting right now," Yume told her as they went to the elevator, "So you'll have to wait a bit."

"Auw," Ariel said dejectedly, her shoulders drooping and the corner of her lips going down, showing just how unhappy she was.

"But does the Princess want to look at the Castle?" Yume asked.

"Castle? What castle?" Ariel asked back, looking at Yume in puzzlement.

With his free hand, he waved it around him, indicating the area.

"This entire building is the Castle," he said, "Sir is the King, you are the Princess so this is the castle, is it not?"

Ariel put a finger on her chin, thinking hard, and then nodded, "Yes, you are right!"

"So shall I show you the Castle while Sir is in a meeting?"

"Okay!" Ariel replied, smiling.

"What do you want to see first?" Yume asked.

"Everything!" Ariel declared.

Yume stifled a laugh, not wanting to dampen her excitement. He pretended to think very deeply then with a regretful face, he said, "But Princess, the castle is really huge. You may not be able to see all of it in one day."

"Oh," Ariel said, blinking innocently, but nodded in understanding, "Then wherever Daddy goes, I want to see!"

Yume scratched his head.

That was a tough one as well because Sir would occasionally make spot checks all over the building. It caused their Diamond Team a bit of a headache, truth be told, as it had the risk of making certain brain-dead people fawn over Sir even more.

They didn't want another Sarah on their hands.

It was impossible to screen out people who would fall for Sir, but they could keep them at bay. When Sir went on his rounds, however …

Yume shook his head out of those thoughts and had to consider Ariel's request. Instead of taking it literally, he would choose the areas that Sir would most likely pass by most of the time.

Which meant Yume had to be creative as Sir really did try to be low-key at the office. So he would always use his private elevator to go up and he only 'left' his 'cave' (aka office) when there were meetings or guests.

Bringing Ariel to Sir's workplace would not be suitable as it can be disruptive.

So, Yume decided the common areas were safe enough.

"Let's start with the reception area on the ground floor, shall we?" Yume said, pressing the 'G' button on the elevator. He still used Sir's elevator, which could only be used by those registered in the system.

There were several methods in order to use the elevator, and it depended on the security level of the person and his or her frequency of use.

One of the security features was that the keypads on the elevator buttons also doubled as a fingerprint scan. As a member of the Diamond Team, that was all that was needed for him (and Sir with Madam, of course).

Upon recognition of the fingerprint, the camera would scan the body and confirm that the fingerprint matched the person, and only then would the elevator move.

Lianne should also have this level of clearance but it was Lianne herself that did not want it. She insisted on an additional level of clearance as she did not want there to be more gossip than necessary.

It wasn't that she was bothered by such rumours. She just didn't like giving fuel for such meaningless gossip.

Ariel, who knew nothing about such security features, was happily following Yume and then asked, "Uncle Yume, don't people work here?"

Yume looked at Ariel and answered, "Of course there are."

"Don't they walk about?"

"Of course they do," he answered patiently, not knowing why she was asking such questions.

"Then why is there no one around?"

Yume couldn't understand the question, "What do you mean? Isn't there me? And earlier, there were a lot of people about, right?"

"Yes, but I mean …" Ariel said, hesitating and struggling to explain, "But I haven't seen anyone walking from one place to another. It's always empty here."

"Ah," Yume said, understanding dawning on him, "That's because this is a special elevator."

"What? Really?!" Ariel gasped, looking about then frowning.

"It doesn't look special," she mumbled, staring at Yume.

"It's special because only special people can use this elevator," Yume told her, "Everyone else uses the normal elevator and it's full of people."

'Oh," Ariel replied, not really convinced.

After all, she hadn't seen any other elevator nor people crowding about.

Yume just smiled, and figured that the best way was to show her. The elevator wasn't just special - in the sense that only certain people could use it - the location was not with the other common elevators or common area.

It minimised contact.

Sir could go in and out of the building quietly, and no one really knew if he was in or not until they went to his office.

Which meant they would be on their toes all the time.

Or…

The 'fans' would be looking forward to each day, hoping that was the day that he'd suddenly turn up.

As long s it didn't affect productivity, the Diamond Team didn't really mind.

✿ Author posts on WN and neovel ✿

And so, Ariel's little tour of the place certainly caused a sensation.

Partly because she was so cute but mostly because she was Kyle's daughter.

This was the first time she was seen in public as the Smiths were very protective over their children. No media nor pictures of them could ever be found - be it in print, or online.

Whilst she was making her rounds, people did take pictures of her; but would discover much later that such pictures could not be found in their phones.

Courtesy of Edward and Lucka, who were busy monitoring the entire situation.

Akira, who was watching them furiously clacking over the keyboards with their eyes glued on the computer screen, asked Edward, "Why the heck do you guys do that? Wouldn't the program and bots you and Kay created enough to automatically delete the pics?"

"To make sure," Edward mumbled, "You can't trust gadgets or tech too much."

Akira snorted, "Techs are more reliable than human beings."

"It can break down," Edward pointed out, "We're just making sure everything is in working order."

It was then that Akira realised that his brothers weren't deleting the pics, but making sure the program and bots were not malfunctioning. He pursed his lips, then went back to his work.

Zero, seeing his brothers hard at work, went back to his own task.

While everyone was focused on their own duties and work, one pair of eyes were eagerly locked onto the cutest little girl that she had ever seen. If only that little one was her own.

The thought was so strong in her that she could even imagine it being a possibility.

Just needed to get rid of the biological mother.

Figuratively, of course.