ALL THE WAY TILL SUMMER

This pattern of work repeated itself week after week after week. My consolation was the fat paycheck at the end of each month. Like Mr Philips used to say, I was single, I had a lot more free time to work. Sigh.

From Mondays to Fridays I would go to work in the morning, and Mr Reid the cat and I would work on various projects and papers. There were a few rather large accounts that Mr Reid took care of personally, but in the CEO's office, most of the work was "packaging" the investments, planning, and reviewing which included a stringent audit of all the account reports. Mr Reid was not the type of guy who cut corners or let himself take things easier just because no one was looking.

By around 2pm, Mr Reid would leave the office, but not before allocating enough work to last me the rest of the day. The bright side was that I could leave the office at 6 sharp.

Consolidation was made every week instead of every month. But the total amount we worked with was about the same as Philips Sercurities' monthly consolidation. So I realised that it was best to set the consolidation timeframe regularly based on the amounts than the actual fixed timeframe.

I was learning new things here, and enjoying it.

I bought my own apartment at the start of summer. Mr Reid was the one who recommended it. One of his clients was the head developer and had highly recommended it to him. Mr Reid also introduced me to a banker who gave me a good housing loan and insurance package for the property. Marco said I got it at a steal.

My new home was a studio apartment with a loft space. I fell in love with the way the sunlight filtered into the tall building and the large fireplace on the side. It was pricey though, but given its location one street from Reid's building, and the silver of privacy it got right in the middle of the city, it was a gem.

At first, I didn't want to move out, I just bought it as an investment, but then Mona and Frederick started going out, which was great... But it's hard to be the fifth wheel all the time with all my best friends coupled together.

And Mona really didn't hold back on the PDA, which was just uncomfortable for everybody, even Fred. Hahaha.

In the end it worked out well because my cat insisted that his sister had her own room. So Clara took over the quarter of our shared rent. Clara used it as her crafting room and wardrobe. Clara turned out to be good at cooking, and sewing, and arranging flowers... I told you she was a Princess.

Weekends were spent in my studio from as early as 7. The sun was rising earlier this time of the year, and the cat would appear earlier too. He never knocked or rang the door bell. He would just wait outside my front door till I woke up and opened it for him. Then he would go straight to my dining table and open up his laptop without a word.

It has come to a point where I would open the door for him in my pajamas. I wouldn't even bother to brush my teeth or comb my hair first. I mean, I did do those things, but I worried about my neighbors noticing the tall dark and brooding man outside my door... Especially the ones who woke up early on weekends and had nothing better to do than gossip. So I would get out of bed, open the door, and turn back to the bathroom. The cat was able to shut and secure the door behind him on his own. He was very well trained.

Weekend work revolved around dealing with planning and scheduling for the next week. And then he would help me with the housework or fixing up new shelves or connecting the TV to the WiFi. My cat was pretty handy around the home.

And my cat, as I've come to think of him, lived a double life, the way most domesticated cats did. Work in the day, or in his case, half a day, and then he would go back to his pack, past the forest, deep into the restricted parts of the Green Packlands.

I remembered Clara said he was the Captain of the Lycan army there. I'm not sure what kind of work that involved. The war was long over, but I guess werewolves were always in some kind of war.

I also remembered Clara said that her brother was like a tom cat with women. Maybe I should be a responsible cat owner and get him neutered. Hahahaha.

But I had never seen my cat take any notice of the women around us. He was like a small granite mountain, his expression cold, and his focus unmovable. It was always work.

I still joined my friends once a week on Friday nights to watch dog fights. They liked to watch it at my place. It was always stocked with good alcohol... Which actually belonged to my cat. My cat liked a glass of hard liquor when we worked late. And only drank one particular brand of beer that Marco also favoured.

If my cat noticed the missing alcohol, he never said anything about it. I took it as rent for parking his drinks in my kitchen cabinet. He was also prone to leaving his tie, his watch, his jacket, or whatever else behind sometimes. One day, I'll strike jackpot when he leaves his wallet. Hahahaha.

In Gate City, they had a channel dedicated to the Golden Arena's Dog Fights 24/7. Friday nights, they ran the live shows followed by the weekly highlights. They called it Arena Performances here, and the wolves who fight here weren't slaves. They were professional fight celebrities.

Sometimes the fights were quite complicated, and included musical performances, and motorbikes, or obstacle courses with hidden weapons and traps.

The world was changing... It felt like every year something would be invented or discovered or upcycled into something new. Gah, I felt old. Maybe at 27, I was getting old.

The new girls that I passed in the HR office were starting to look really young to me. I wondered if that was how I looked when I first started work.

They whispered among themselves... "Is that our new Vice President?"

Because yes, I got a promotion. I was now the Vice President of Reid Inc. Unbelievable. A week after my promotion, my new name cards arrived, and I spent the whole day staring at it.

Mr Reid just decided that it would be easier to change my title so I can manage the projects and sign off certain papers on his behalf in the afternoons. It would also help him a lot if he should have to take a prolonged absence from work.

Since when did he ever stop work?

"It'll happen. My first priority is my pack." He said.

I swallowed and nodded. He suddenly sounded a lot like Harvey.

Speaking of Harvey, I hadn't seen or heard from Harvey for months either. I did text him a thank you for introducing me to the job after the first week and offered to buy him dinner.

His reply came quite late that night, polite as always, he said I was very welcomed, he was happy for us, and that the Captain already treated him to dinner earlier that week.

Who's the Captain? Oh right. My cat.

The wolves thought my cat was their army captain. Hahaha cute. Real cute.

Anyway, my life had just turned around after I took the dive and tried a new job. And now it felt like easy sailing in the summer. If I didn't stop and think or feel anything, I could just enjoy the moment, the smell of fancy chocolates without the calories, the feeling of having made it in life. It did feel good, and I had made plans with the others to go back home for a nice two week summer vacation.

We joked that Mona's lies in a bid to show up Shelly the last time we were there were prophetic. Marco now had a gorgeous live in girlfriend, Fred and Mona were happily in love, and I... Well, I'm the career girl who made it.

"The next time you see Shelly, please tell her I'm working in the CEO's office now." Marco joked.

Actually, not all the lies came true. Didn't Mona lie that I had a hot boyfriend? Hahaha that didn't happen. As usual, my love life was a direct and opposite correlation to my career success.

Since my career took off so well, I guess I'll be single all my life. Certainly, I already have my own place... OMG I even have a cat, abeit on timeshare.

And honestly, it also felt empty. At night, I would sit at the bay window of my studio apartment and look out at the moon. And I would think about the picture of that girl in the ancient lycan book I bought for Christa's birthday.

No, don't stop, don't think. I stepped away from the window. I should just go to bed.