THE OWNER AND HER SON

Santina tried her best to make herself sound convincing but Mayor Valir's expression remained bleak.

His face was stone cold, and even without him expressing it directly through words, his eyes, however, had their own way of communicating and it was as though it was telling Santina that she was not fooling anyone in that room.

"Err., you know, we are hoping to get a good recommendation, as you see..."

Santina added after a while.

"Oh, well... you know what? I remembered meeting that Anton guy. So why is he not with you by the way?"

Mayor Valir asked all of a sudden and Santina was not ready for that.

"--- The boy was busy meeting with potential donors,"

Mikael interjected before Santina's silence could even turn suspicious.

"I expect he will come to see you about this in a few weeks too."

He added afterward.

"Hmmm."