24. Getting Paid

Having rested for roughly three hours on the bike, Sophia was mentally less exhausted but her body was still tired as f*ck. She was hungry and her body was also f*cking injured. Thinking about all the trouble that she had to go through in just one night, Sophia couldn't help but curse herself slightly and letting out a helpless sigh.

Carefully leaning up, Sophia watched the scenery rush pass her eyes as the motorbike sped through the last highway road. Her hands were resting on the handlebars for support and to stabilize her position so that she didn't bleed out more than necessary.

Lush green trees lined the highway sides and there were barely any cars on the road since it was so early in the morning. The sun was just rising behind Sophia as she made her way through the smooth road.

Half an hour later she had gotten off the highway and turned many streets to navigate her way to NG headquarters. It didn't take long for her to do so and she pulled up at a cafe two blocks away from the building.

It was only six in the morning but considering the fact that the USB was an important item the people at Ng headquarters were probably waiting for it wide awake all night. Even if she had come at three in the morning, they would've been happily coming to her, so Sophia wasn't worried about anything at all.

Having found a seat in the corner, Sophia, who still had her mask on and her jacket covering her wound sat in a corner seat. Though it was still within the camera range, she turned her body so that when she was to take out and hand over the USB, the camera wouldn't be able to capture her movements.

Taking out her phone, she contacted Mr. Jack. His number was given to her by Mr. Park on the note. Mr. Park was also being cautious so he went as far as to tell her to confirm his identity before handing over the USB.

Clearly, this Mr. Jack has been waiting up all night long for the USB as he showed up at the cafe within less than five minutes! His face was haggard and he looked like he really needed to wake up for his morning work.

When he entered, he glanced around the shop casually before making his way to the counter and ordering himself some coffee. If one didn't know him, they would actually think that he was a regular white-collar worker that had just spent the night working and was getting some coffee to restart his day.

When Sophia looked at him, she was rather impressed.

It takes roughly four hours to get from Niya City to Angel City and even if there was traffic ,it wouldn't take more than five to six hours. Sophia sat off from District 41 at three in the afternoon and there was no news of Sophia or the USB since then.

He had to wait for around sixteen hours without any news. Clearly, he was tired and mentally exhausted, but he was calmly getting his coffee instead of rushing over to her. Then again, to be able to become the Vice-President in NG headquarters he would naturally have to be adept, or else he wouldn't have made it so far.

Getting his coffee, Mr. Jack made his way to the corner like it was the most natural thing to do. He was about to sit down when he saw Sophia and clearly taken aback he seemed to have woken up.

"Oh my... I'm really sorry about this miss. I usually sit here and came over. Please forgive my rudeness!"

Sophia raised her eyebrows slightly and decided to play along. "it's alright."

Mr. Jack was quite taken aback by her calm response but he caught himself in a rather awkward position. He looked like he really wanted to sit in his favorite seat but he didn't want to be rude. He just stood there contemplating his choices when Sophia spoke up.

"You usually sit here?"

Not expecting to get caught, Mr. Jack flushed a little before nodding his head. He opened his mouth to say something when Sophia cut him off.

"If you are alright with it, you can share the table with me."

Mr. Jacks' eyes glowed up like a little kid who was praised by his parents. He innocently nodded his head and sat down quickly as if he was afraid that she would change her mind. Still, he didn't forget to thank her. "Thank you, miss!"

Mr. Jack sat down and started sipping on his hot coffee while Sophia lowered her head and started typing.

'Show me your ID.'

Mr. Jack looked up from his coffee and stared at Sophia. "Miss, what's your name?"

Sophia had no interest in giving out her name but to confirm his identity, she needed to play along hence she still replied to him.

"Don't you know it's basic knowledge to tell your name first before asking for others'?"

Feeling a little sheepish, Mr. Jack nodded his head in agreement seemingly having just recalled that such a thing existed. He reached into his pockets for his business card. "My name is Jack Roy. I work in NG headquarters. Here is my business card."

As he took out the little business card holder, Sophia saw his ID plastered on the back. Even when he leaned forward to give her one of his cards, Sophia was able to see the ID and confirm that he was indeed Mr. Jack.

"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Jack, but I don't like to tell strangers my name. Please enjoy your coffee."

With that, Sophia stood up from her seat. She was ready to leave. Mr. Jack also rose from his seat wanting to bid her off.

When Sophia took a step forward, she almost tripped over her own foot! Luckily, Mr. Jack rushed forward to help her out by holding her hand. As she stabilized herself, Sophia slipped a little box in his hands and thanked him for helping her. With that done, she shook off his hand gently and made her way out leaving the "innocent" Mr. Jack pouting his lips like a kid whose toy got taken away but still refusing to admit defeat.

Nonetheless, Sophia left the cafe and made her way to a nearby pharmacy to order some first-aid items. While she waited, she heard her phone ring and took it out to check and saw the message. Just then, another message popped up.

Looking at them, Sophia's lips curled up slightly. She really liked people who were smart and could see through the surface.

On her phone screen were two messages from Aji-pay. The first one was a payment of 300K forwarded by Sugar Honies. The second came directly from Mr. Jack's number on Aji-pay. He had given her a bonus of 50K.

Considering how important the USB was, a 50K bonus was nothing in his eyes. In fact, if it were up to him, he would've given her another 100K! Alas, he couldn't make that decision nor did he have that much money to give to a complete stranger.

The bonus was originally going to be only 20K but when he was at the cafe, he smelled a thick scent of blood. He was going to ignore it, but when Sophia "tripped", he saw the big wet patch on her top covered by her top. He could naturally guess what had happened that caused the delay in the delivery.

He had his phone with him along with a USB adapter. After Sophia left, he switched his seat to sit where Sophia had been. Under the cover of the table, he took out the USB and connected it to his phone. Once he had confirmed that it was the original one, he immediately made the payment.

He also didn't forget to give her extra money because she risked her life to get the USB to him! To him, it didn't matter much because he was still going to give a large bonus but he felt pity that she was injured on the job. Even so, rather than feeling that she was incompetent for getting injured on the job, he had respect for her.

She had gotten the USB delivered safe and sound despite the enemies that came at her! Her loyalty to the job was one he admired. The company funds only allowed him to tip a maximum of 40K for this specific job but he felt that was too little for the hard work that she did. Thus, he transferred the 40K to his account before forwarding a total of 50K to Sophia. 10K being from the private savings that he kept from his wife.

* * *

This is the last daily update for the time being. I'll be going back to 4 chapters a week. The next update will come on Sat, 6/03/21. I will update on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays @ 7 AM EST.