"May I say, you smell so heavingly, is that your natural scent?" He asks, his wide smile and sharp canines on full display, bringing my hand to his nose, he sniffs and purrs.

Luckily the elevator stops and I pull my hand away from him, I look at him, fully at him, and he smiles like he's flattered or being complimented.

Yeah, he has a screw loose, "behave professionally or you'll be hearing from human resources," I warn him before walking away from him.

Unfortunately, he follows behind me and lingers around me even while I'm working, time passes, and employees started arriving and he's still there, babbling to himself about nothing in particular.

My ears are sensitive, it's already hard enough to live through the daily noise I have to listen to, whether outside or here, the splitting headaches don't help either.

Ignoring Noir, and Seeing that the employees are here, I decided to give back the files they left on my desk, yesterday.

I went by their cubicles, per each file I had on the reject pile, "honestly I'm shocked that this is the quality of work you've been producing for this company," I said as I dropped the first file on a sloth's desk, "seriously, with such outdated data and copyrighted materials," I drop the second file, "no wonder the company's business portfolio has not improved," then another, "want to use references? Strengthen the case of your proposal ideas. go ahead," I said as I dropped two more files at one desk, "but reference your data properly, and don't get me started on your spelling mistakes, a fifth grader would've spelled inchoate correctly," I said, dropping the last five files, "the others will be passed to Mr. Raynard to review and process," I said as I walked away and back to my desk were Noir was sitting in my chair, looking amused.

"Seriously, either go back to your office or go wait inside Mr. Raynard's," I tell Noir who slides the chair away, making room for me to access my other pile of folders.

"And miss all the fun? No way!" He says standing, and following behind me into Mr. Raynard's office.

I arrange the files on Mr. Raynard's desk, along with the pile that made it through with their proposal.

I water the plants, and because of a nuisance, I'm so off my schedule today, I put back the watering can, and turn around just to walk into Noir, who gleefully wraps his hands around me.

"Seriously, Mr. Noir, cut it off," I warned, as I tried to push him away from me.

"But your smell," he argues, taking a deep breath.

Before I can say anything back we're interrupted by a cough and a gag, "what the fuck is this smell?" Asked Mr. Raynard covering his nose.

"Nothing," I said, while Noir, who is now holding my hands again, being mindful of my burns, takes another deep breath and says.

"Heaven."

"For the love of Luna, I said let go of me!" I stepped away from him.

"Heaven?!" Mr. Raynard wasn't on excellent terms with the smell, nor Mr. Noir's description, "it smells like fish in here," Mr. Raynard said as he opened the windows.

"Heavenly fish," Mr. Noir sighed.

"Fish?" I asked.

"Yeah, did you even shower today Puma?" Mr. Raynard frowned.

"I did,..." I was offended by his insinuation but then a flashback to Mr. Maverick, and the elevator accident makes me realize the source of the scent, "excuse me, sir, I'll go wash my hands and come back real quick," I said to Mr. Raynard.

"NO!" Argued Noir, grabbing my burnt hand tightly, making me groan in pain, then he instantly let go of it.

"Oh god! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to grab your burnt hand," he apologizes.

I compose myself, I've given him too much leeway, "it's fine," I said giving him a fake smile that made him step back for real this time, "but since I've made myself clear multiple times, expect that I'd be notifying HR with your behavior," I said and turn to walk away, to be stopped by Mr. Raynard.

"By the way, Puma," called Mr.Raynard.

"Yes, sir," I paused.

"Just so you know, Noir is the head of the HR department," he clarifies.

"And?" I asked confused by this information, "I'm pretty sure Mr. Noir will treat my case with the level of professionalism like he'd treat other cases of workplace harassment," this piece of information will not stop me from filing a report with HR.

Noir looked guilt-ridden, while Mr. Raynard looked ticked off.

When no one said anything back, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be back shortly," leaving the office to wash my hands.

I don't take long, I knocked on the door before walking in, while Noir looked dejected, Mr. Raynard looked slightly relieved.

"So it's not your scent?" Noir asked, his shoulders slumping down.

"It is not," I rolled my eyes, "I'm an Owl, a bird, why would I be smelling like a fish." I didn't ask, I was talking about common sense, but I guess common sense is not that common anymore, since Mr. Raynard actually replied.

"Maybe you slept with one," he gave his two cents, not looking up while going through his files.

I didn't say anything and decided to ignore his assumption.

Noir though didn't, and seemed even more interested, "did you?" He asked leaning forward in his seat.

"Please refrain from making comments, or asking questions about my personal life," I asked nicely.

Noir rubbed the back of his neck, "Sorry, I'm not usually like this, but the scent that was lingering on you wasn't like any other scent I've sniffed before," he looked nervous, "I thought... you know, that you were my fated mate," he said shyly but kind of sad as well.

Mr. Raynard looks at Noir like he grew two heads, and I get lost in thought, is Mr. Maverick really Noir's fated mate? What do I do with this information? Isn't it better not to get involved? It's not like I know Mr. Maverick, I can't just go to him and say, 'hi, so there's this man, whom you've never met before, he says you're his fated mate, so, would you like to meet a stranger, introduced to you by another stranger?' I don't see how well would that go, I barely talked to the man in the few years I've lived next to him.

Fated mates. Ugh, this sentence is such a cringe, it makes my feathers spike.

I don't believe in fated mates, I think it's bullshit. Some made-up tales that have been marketed to all types of human hybrids from a young age.

I can't even imagine having a fated mate, statistics have shown that most Owl human-hybrids end up together or married to each other out of convenience. It's the safer choice, the comfortable choice.

I shake these thoughts out of my mind, ignoring what Noir had said, if they're meant to be, luck will bring them together.

Luck. Not fate. Luck.

It's none of my business anyway, I don't want things to get too personal and then blow up in my face.

"So I booked a Jeep Wrangler, we can pick it up once we land," I informed him as I sent his flight details and car rental details to his phone.

"Okay," Mr. Raynard said, "can you find me a present for Ms. Bernard? Something platonic," Mr. Raynard asked.

How can you pick a present for someone you know nothing about?

I thought I said that to myself internally, but from Mr. Raynard's annoyed and sarcastic reply, I probably didn't.

"I don't know, use your common knowledge," he said referring to my answer yesterday.

"What about Mr. Aardwolf, would you like me to schedule another meeting with him?" I asked shifting the topic away from Ms. Bernard.

"No, that won't be necessary, I've decided not to pursue business with him," he waved off.

"May I ask why?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Let's just say, he's not the type of person I'd like to lay in bed with," he answered. I think because I'm still confused about his use of words.

I hum, then ask, "is that all for now sir?"

"Yes, you may leave," he says dismissing me.

I excuse myself and head to my table, I look up Ms. Bernard again, still, the results are the same as earlier, nothing much was said about her.

There are a couple of videos about her, I guess I'll watch them, I connect my earphones then lower the volume, nothing of importance is said here, same information on the Internet but in a video format.

Should I dig deeper? But I can't do it here, I'll have to wait until I get home, I'll have to come up with an excuse for Mr. Raynard, how about I look for platonic gifts for now?

A couple of hours go by between doing work and research, lunchtime comes and I get up to check on Mr. Raynard, knocking before I open the door, "It's lunchtime sir, are you eating out or would you like me to order something for you?" I asked.

He looks up from his files, sighing and rubbing his eyes, "no, I'll pass on lunch".

"Alright sir, I'll be heading out for lunch, do you need anything else before I leave?"

"No, you can go."

"Okay, if there's something urgent text me, " I said before slipping out of his office.

I quickly grab my things and head to the courtyard level, I don't want to delay my leave and get called to do something that could wait until I return from lunch.

Lunch hour is very precious to me, usually, it's my time to take a breather, I eat my food slowly not to savor the taste, but to savor the lunch hour.

I pretty much use all of it.

It's my quiet-ish time, I can still hear sounds, but it's not like being in an office, with the constant keyboards clicking and the constant talk behind my back.

Once I walk inside the courtyard, I take a look around me, looking for a place to sit and have my lunch, there was an empty bench on the left, and there was one on the right, but the one on the right was closer to two human-hybrids smoking.

And since I absolutely hate the smell of smoke, I sat on the left bench.

I take my things out and start eating while admiring the view.

I had made sandwiches, usually, I'd make a much better meal than this, but I'll be holding off on the heavy cooking for a while until my hand is in a better condition.

I've been applying the cream every couple of hours, and I'm thinking of taking some painkillers, but I'm worried they'll make me feel sleepy.

I finish my meal in silence, the smokers have left from the first time they looked over their shoulders.

Once done I pack my things, I have a  few minutes left but the trip back to the office floor should cover it.

Inside the elevator lobby, I noticed the vending machine, while waiting for the elevator to come down I check whether I can find some snacks.

Great! They have protein bars.

I put my bag on the floor and grab my wallet, taking some notes I get three different flavored protein bars and a bottle of vitamin water.

I put them inside my bag and hurried to the elevator before it closes.

Once the elevator arrives, I walk down the hallway to our section, people avoided looking at me, and some looked tense.

Did something happen?

As soon as I walk into the line of Mr. Raynard's eyes, he calls out to me calmly, and I heard it.

"Come to my office, Puma," he says leaning back in his seat.

I knock before entering, "yes, sir?" I asked as I approached his desk.

"You sure took your time," he says.

"It's called a lunch hour sir," I pointed.

"Don't be a smart ass," he warns, "when did you do these?" He asked as he pushed a pile of files towards me, from the sticky notes I can tell it was yesterday's pile.

"Yesterday, when I came back from the hospital," I answered.

"You went back to work?" He asked.

"Yes, I wanted to make up for the lost hours," I said and he sighed, "is something wrong, sir?" I asked frowning, "was I supposed to bring all these files to you first? If so, I apologize for acting without your permission first," I apologized, I did act without receiving orders first.

"It's fine, these were garbage anyway," he said pushing the files pile away from under his nose, "you seem to have experience with these kinds of projects," he pointed.

"Yes, sir," I did, since I'm a short-term contractor, I usually work at three to four different places per year, from fashion to tech, to the food industry, I've done various assisting jobs.

"Alright then, first, please schedule a meeting with the team outside for when we come back from the trip," he orders, and I take a mental note of it.

"Then I want you to prepare a business proposal for our meeting with Ms. Bernard," he says, oh well, this is a first, no one has ever asked me to prepare a business plan before.

"Do you have an idea of a business plan, or would you like me to think of something on my own?" I inquired.

"Hmm, can you do both?" He asks.

"Um, I'll do my best," It's a challenge since it's my first time, but as I said, I'll do my best.

"Alright, make a business proposal for the merging of her oil company with the oil company Fox Holdings have acquired last year," he said.

"Okay," I nodded.

"And for the second one, think about it carefully and bring me a proposal worth my time," he said giving me the green light to creative freedom.

"Alright sir, anything else?" I asked.

"No, you can get back to work," he waves off.

Looking down at the lunch bag I'm holding, I remember what I bought, "oh, I almost forgot," I said making Mr. Raynard look up at me with a raised eyebrow, "I got you these since you skipped lunch," I said as I stepped closer to his desk, fishing for the protein bars, then taking them out, "I didn't know which flavor you liked, so I got you one of each," I said, "I also got you some vitamin water, make sure to drink it," he looks between me and the vending machine merchandise, "don't worry, I didn't make them, they're factory made," I assured him, "but just to be safe let me check the expiry date," I quickly check all of them, "yeah, they're good to go," seeing his hesitation, "you don't have to push yourself to accept them, I can take them back if you don't want them," I reassure him.

Some people feel burdened accepting things from Owl human-hybrids, so like with the coffee yesterday, I like to give people the option to reject my offerings, hence the glass of water I served with it.

"No, it's alright, I'll take them, thank you," He says going for the Berry flavor first.

"Alright, I'll be taking my leave then," I said then excused myself out of his office.

Going back to my desk and to my load of work. I quickly squeeze a meeting with the staff into Mr. Raynard's schedule, then sent an email to alert each staff member.

Then I begin working on the first business proposal Mr. Raynard requested.

I have a lot of reading to do, I'm a fast reader though, I do make sure my screen brightness is adjusted for my sensitive eyes.

I have to read about both the company Fox Holdings acquired last year, as well as, Bernard's Oil Tradings.

So for the next couple of hours, the only thing I focused on was research and planning, pulling out the company's files, and reading through the documents.

The end of the day comes, and people started leaving, I work for a while longer making sure I got all the information I needed from the hard files before putting them back in the files room.

I copy the files I need in the flash drive the company provided, I had added an owl key chain to it, to avoid mix-ups, then I take my leave as well, Mr. Raynard had taken his leave a while before the day ended.

I'm going to finish my work at home, I have some dirty digging to do.