Newbie (5)

"Why am I the first one to say it?" She asked as she got a bowl of chicken soup that was handed to her by Daniel.

"Why? I won't deceive you." He casually sat across from Nida and ate the chicken soup elegantly, as if he was shooting a TV commercial.

Nida narrowed her gaze towards her office-mate.

"It is impossible to deceive you. We worked for the same company. Where else do you think I'll run if I try to trick you?" He convinces the doubting Nida.

"Fine, okay. I'll tell you first." She took a sip of the soup first before starting her story. "In junior high, I was attacked by a werewolf. He killed a lot of people that night, but they thought they'd altered my memory, but I kept it. Recently, I met him again. He's the safety officer of our company. "

"Oh Randell Lobo? That wolf has great control over his power. What did you do that made him attack you? " Daniel commented without looking at Nida. He was just leisurely enjoying his soup.

"You know Randell's identity?" she asked, jolting up in shock.

She didn't mention a name, and there were three safety officers in their company. She wondered how he knew it was Randell.

"Not just Randell, but I know every wolf employed in our company. But don't worry, I have no connection with them. I am just a keen observer that ends up knowing about their identity."

"I-is our company full of wolves?"

Because of the goosebumps, she rubbed her arms.

"No, I will only tell you this, and don't share it with others." he lean forward to imply that she should never tell a soul.

"Eighty percent of our company employees are human. and the majority of them are hiding it, most likely because some of them are half-"

Nida let out a sigh of relief that the majority of them were still human, but she frowned at the thought that there were still great numbers of wolves.

"Twenty percent are wolves? That is still a lot. "

"Nope. One percent are wolves. "

"Then what about the nineteen percent?"

"Variety of other beings."

She gasped and looked very shocked.

"Why are you so shocked when werewolves and bats exist? Why else not? Anyway, they're harmless and it's okay to work with them. "

"You've got a point."

She ends up being convinced.

Though only werewolves are the only other extraordinary beings that she encounters, she knows that the earth is huge and the possibility of other beings' existence is so high that she suffers from anxiety years back about the thought that 'What if the world is dominated by extraordinary beings, camouflaged as humans.'

That thought scared her so much that she had months of sleepless nights.

"Back to your story, is it his first berserk?"

"What do you mean first berserk?"

"Modern werewolves became irrational and blood-hungry beasts at their first berserk. That is why their family isolates their children to avoid casualties or massacres. It will only happen after their first transformation. On the next transformation, they will have their own rationality and control over their power. "

Nida stood up and moved closer to Daniel.

"Does that mean his massacre at that time was against his will?"

Daniel shoved Nida's face with his hand because Nida was talking too closely.

Now that she has bathed, her face is much more radiant and alluring. which made Daniel's heart skip a beat.

Tsk, he clicked his tongue, as he realized that his heart had betrayed him and skipped a beat towards the unhygienic beauty.

"Yes, if it was his first transformation. Anyway, did you get bitten or get clawed by him?"

"Yes, why?"

"That is why you can smell, and see them even in their concealing powers. That's what happened to me too. "

"you get attacked by a wolf too?."

"Yes"

"Huh? If this is the usual effect of being clawed. Aren't the wolves aware of this? "

"They're probably not aware of this."

"How come?"

"Probably because anyone they attack or claw with their sharp claws will surely become a cold body. They're claws have something in them, like a poison, you know. I really don't know what it is composed of, but I am sure that it will make sure that anyone they claw will die, even if they survive the wound. It's rare to have a survivor that explains how they are not aware of it. "

"Then how did I survive?"

"I don't know? Maybe you're lucky or you're not human?"

"then how did you survive? Did you say you were attacked by a werewolf too? "

"hmmn." He took a sip of his soup first, before looking at her with a bitter smile. "The werewolf that attacked me died."

"How is that helping you to survive."

"Wolves have this core inside them like a heart. They have a heart that pumps blood, but this core is like a life-force for them. If you take them out and eat them, all the wounds and limbs that you lost from the werewolf attacks will instantly heal. It will also serve as an antidote."

"Wow! That's pretty amazing! but I didn't eat that kind of core either! "

"Then something else made you survive. yet I don't know what that is." He shrugged his shoulders and finished the soup in one gulp, of course, still looking elegant.

Daniel is fascinated by Nida, but she appears to be oblivious to everything that has happened to her, so he has chosen not to pursue her case further.

"Eat your soup, it will get cold soon."

"Then tell me your story while I am eating." So she started scooping the potatoes to eat.

"I already did."

"Did what?"

"I already told you"

"What? quit playing." she frowned.

"Like I told you, I was attacked by a werewolf and was on the verge of death. Then I eat a werewolf core and survive. "

"Which part of that is your sister?"

"the werewolf."

"Werewolves are males, sir." She rolled her eyes as she still believed that Daniel was kidding around.

"Ah, hereditary werewolves are always male, with lycanthropy passed from father to son. My sister was forced to become a werewolf when she was-" he paused for a moment before continuing with a different statement, "She tried to kill me, so I killed her first." He stood up and showed her two picture frames. One is of two kids with identical appearances, and the second one has two teenagers who still have the same faces but one is wearing a skirt.

"You eat your own sister's core?" Her jaw dropped in disbelief.

"What's wrong? She almost killed me. It is better to kill than to be killed." He responds without any kind of emotion showing in his face, like he is talking about a casual thing. "We really love each other, too bad she transformed into a wolf. "

"You got wolf blood?" She reasoned that because her sister had transformed into a werewolf, he, too, might have done so.

"No." he paused and seemed to think whether to open up to Nida or not, then continued, "That's a long story, but like I always tell you, I am human."

Even though his statement is so vague, Daniel continued to look serious, which made her stop questioning him. She is more wary that she might enter a werewolf house.

Daniel noticed Nida's anxiousness and brightened his expression to assure Nida that she was safe at his home.

"Don't worry, I am not a werewolf. How can I live here with a lot of bat neighbors if I do?"

The room filled with silence, and she could no longer eat the cold chicken soup in front of her.

"Want me to reheat the soup?" he asked.

"No, it's alright." she responded, gloomy.

[I thought I had experienced the worst nightmare, but I didn't know that someone else had experienced worse.]

She looked at Daniel while thinking how painful it was to kill his own sister or to be killed by his own family.

"Oh? Do you pity me?" He asked without much expression. His face remained stoic, which made her think that she could not see through this person in front of her.

"Of course not."

She doesn't pity him, she just feels bad about what happened. She wants to ask for more details, but she doesn't feel right about it.

"Then that's alright." He then smiled at her, which made her more confused about his way of thinking.

....

Monday...

Yaaaaaaawwwwnn!

Her office-mate yawned loudly beside her.

"Oh, I hope it's Friday soon."

She lightly sneekered in response.

"Sir, it's still Monday."

"yeah, right. It's still Monday, but I feel tired already." She looked at her office-mate, who seemed lethargic on Mondays.

"Anyway, Ms. Mildea, please go to the safety and insurance department."

By just hearing the department where Randell is, she feels chills at the back of her neck.

"W-why sir?" She inquired awkwardly of the manager, who appeared sweaty despite working in a fully air-conditioned office.

"Ah asked them if we really needed to follow the 50kph speed limit. Ask them if we can run over 70kph in the express lanes. "

She wants to complain and doesn't want to go, but she cannot decline the orders from her lethargic seniors.

"C-can't we just ask that through the phone?" She tried to find an excuse not to visit his department.

"Why do you have a lot of things to do?" She has her manager peek at her desk, and she awkwardly covers it since she doesn't really have anything else to do.

"It's not like that, sir."

"Then go there, bring this and ask them not to penalize us for past over-speeding. Why do they need to be so strict about over-speeding when in time we need to catch up with OTD's." Her manager grumbled while handing her a thick pile of papers.

She looked at it and it was a list of over-speeding penalties.

Her jaw dropped from the severity of the penalties, which she couldn't discuss over the phone. She really needs to go there personally.

Dragging her own feet, she reached Randell's department's office.

She stood behind the door for a moment without knocking. She gathered courage and calmed herself first.

inhale

exhale

inhale

exhale

She calms herself first while hugging the documents tightly.

"What are you doing?"

flinched!

The familiar voice echoed in her ears, making her drop the papers she was holding.

"Ah! Sir Randell! Good morning!" She awkwardly greeted him and proceeded to pick up the scattered papers that she dropped.

Her heart beat wildly due to mixed feelings of nervousness and fear.

[I ran away from him yesterday. What kind of excuse should I use?]

She regrets that she didn't think of any excuses before coming here. Her mind became chaotic as she picked up the papers.

Randell helped her and said, "Yesterday, you saw me that—"

"It's okay to love the same gender! Don't worry, I won't tell a soul!" She cut off his statement.

She decides to act like she misunderstood that Randell was hitting on another man since she saw him on top of the wolf.

She was aware that the two were fighting and that they ended up in a position like that.

However, the reason why they're fighting is something she doesn't figure out yet, and she wasn't curious at all.

"No! It's not what you think!" he shouted.

Fortunately, there's no one else in the hallway.

"Don't be ashamed, sir. Be proud of your love!"

She finished picking up the papers and also grabbed the papers that Randall picked up.

"I'll be going in first, sir." She hurriedly went inside the department and left Randell frozen outside.

"Good morning! I am from the trucking department, I am here for over-speeding concerns." She asked the assistant at the front desk and showed her the messy papers she had.

"Oh, over-speeding? Wait for a safety officer." The assistant looked past her shoulder and said, "Oh! Sir Randell. She has an over-speeding concern."

The assistant, called Randell, had just entered the room absent-mindedly.

Nida cursed internally,

[shit! out of all three safety officers why it gonna be randell!]