"I don't know," I said as I stood up, "it's not like I'm an expert on legal matters, but sometimes all you gotta do to separate a needle from a haystack, is burn the fucking haystack," I said before leaving Mr. Raynard's office to print the modified documents.

I had sent the documents to the printer already, and now I'm standing by the printer for the papers to be printed.

Focusing on the printer sounds I found myself lulled to sleep, I stand there in the printer room alone, eyes closed for what I thought was a short moment, the printer being done goes unnoticed by me.

I can hear a voice, it's far but it feels like it's getting closer, "Uma...Puma, PUMA!" Mr. Raynard calls startling me awake.

"Wha... what happened?" I said as I looked around me, my heart thudding in my ears.

"You fell asleep," Mr. Raynard said frowning at me, "c'mon, grab your things, I'll drop you off, it's already late," he said taking the printed papers from the printer's tray and walking out of the printer room.

"What about Mr. Akita?" I asked as I followed behind him.

"He already left, he has work to do, he's coming back tomorrow, you were taking so long, that's why I came to check on you," He explains.

"Sorry," I apologized glancing around me, the floor was empty, and everyone had already gone back home.

"Don't worry about it," he says as he walks to his office, "c'mon, grab your things and let's call it a night," he says before walking in, collecting his things, and closing the laptop I've been using before he got out.

I turned off my PC and grabbed my things, there isn't much, to begin with, since I was too tired to think about bringing anything with me today except for my coffee.

We leave together, spending the elevator ride down in silence, but before we get to the parking, I decided to give him a way out.

"You don't have to drop me back, I can go back by myself," I said then pointed out, "also, your home is in the opposite direction,".

He glances at me and back at his phone, "did you say something?" He asks.

I sigh, "nope, I didn't say anything," I shook my head and turned my face ahead.

If he wants to go through the trouble himself, then let him be, he's free to do what he wants.

Once we get to the parking, I follow behind him, watching him as he approaches a sleek black car.

He unlocks his car and opens the door, saying "get in," before getting in himself. I get inside and fasten my seat belt, "where to?" He asks.

"The Abyss," I say nonchalantly.

"What? Are you serious?" He looked shocked.

"Yes, I mean you're still free to pull out of dropping me off, if you're not comfortable with it," I give him the opportunity but he doesn't take it.

"No, that's fine," he says before pulling out of his parking space and driving off.

I  thought he might go back on his words since no sane human-hybrid would willingly bring themselves to the Abyss.

The Abyss is a district full of lower-income human hybrids, a district full of crime, even cops don't bother to control it, crimes are happening in broad daylight.

There're a lot of homeless human hybrids here, especially the owls, there are shelters but they tend to kick them out because other hybrids are uncomfortable around them, so you see them roaming the streets a lot.

"Key in your address," Mr. Raynard says, to which I did.

After that I settled in my seat and relaxed, looking outside the window, I'm not sure how much time passed because the next thing I know I woke up to Mr. Raynard calling my name.

"Puma!" I jolt upright, blinking my eyes and looking around me, dazed and confused, "we're here," he announces.

I look outside the window, this is not my building, but rather the one across from it, "Okay, see you tomorrow sir, thank you for the ride," I say before I got out, stumbling on the curb, "oof!".

I hear the seat belt, and the car door open, turning behind me, I see Mr. Raynard about to come to my side.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I said, holding my palm up and stopping him from coming closer, "get back inside, don't leave your car unattended or they would steal it," I warn him.

"Are you sure you're alright?" He asked, hesitant to get back inside his car.

"I'm fine, I accidentally missed the curb," I said as I closed the passenger door.

"Okay, if you say so," he says and gets inside his car.

I walk around the front of the car, looking right and left before crossing the street, going inside the building, taking the elevator, and reaching my apartment.

I drop my things aside instantly, laying down on my couch and sighing, I feel so tired, I've been laying down for a couple of minutes when my phone starts vibrating.

I sit up and take my phone out, the caller ID showing Mr. Raynard's name, I frown did I forget something?

"Hello?" I say upon answering.

"Are you alright?" He asks making me confused.

"Yes?" I said looking around me kind of wary of my surroundings.

"Did you get inside?" He asks another question.

"Yes, I'm in my apartment," I answered, then stood up.

"Oh, okay then, I didn't see any light go on, I thought you might have fainted in the elevator or something," he explains.

"Ah!" So he was waiting to see if I got in safely, I walk to the window pulling my curtain aside, I can't help but laugh, "I'm a nocturnal Owl, Mr. Raynard, I can see in the dark," I explain as I smile at him from above.

"You live in the dark?"

"Mostly Yes,"

"Isn't it scary?" He asks, and I can hear the frown in his tone.

"No, it's rather comfortable," I do prefer living in the dark, other than turning the lights on while cooking or doing my makeup, I live in the darkness, I also have blackout curtains, to block the sunlight during the day.

He hums, then says, "Okay, see you tomorrow, good night, Puma,"

"Good night, Mr. Raynard," I wish him a good night then he hangs up, I wait by the window, watching him as he drove off before closing the curtains back.

I set the alarm for tomorrow whilst the phone is still in my hand, just in case I oversleep.

Then I just crash on the bed and fall asleep.

I woke up at five am, well this is progress, it's still not what I was looking forward to, but it's good enough rest nonetheless.

I got up and decided to shower since I didn't do it before bed, then I make myself breakfast, and lunch then I had breakfast and got dressed then left on time.

Today Maverick beats me to the elevator first, "Hi, you look better than yesterday," he greets me.

"Hi, yeah, I had some sleep yesterday," I greeted back.

"That's great, umm, I was wondering, do you wanna grab some drinks together sometime soon, say our next day off?" He asked as we got inside the elevator.

"Yeah, sure, but I'm going on a business trip this weekend, so maybe after the trip," I agreed.

"Cool, do you wanna exchange phone numbers then?" He asks as he took his phone out.

"Okay," I took his phone and put my phone number in, saving myself under Puma.

Giving myself a call so I can add his number.

"I'm looking forward to elevating our relationship from elevator buddies to drinking buddies," I said as we stepped out of the elevator.

"Yeah, me too, see you around, Puma," he says before both of us took our separate ways.

I receive a text as I walked into the company building, it was from Maverick, attached with a selfie of him in front of a mirror, with his phone up blocking his face, he was topless and sweaty, even his muscles have muscles, from his background I can tell he was at the gym.

- "Maybe we can be gym buddies too? ;)".

I couldn't help the gasp that escaped me when I opened it.

"What is it?" Asked Noir as he tried to look at my screen, when did he get here?

"Dude, privacy!" I said as I locked my screen.

"Oh, someone is flirting with you, who's the hottie?" He asked.

"What? No way that's flirting," I shook my head.

"Are you dense? No one sends shirtless selfies unless they're intentionally trying to give you a hint of what you could get if you are down to fuck," he explains as he gets into the elevator.

Is this why he asked me to grab some drinks with him? No way, knowing that he's Noir's mate, I can't let him go on.

While Noir is busy typing away on his phone, I quickly type a reply to Maverick.

- "Thanks for the offer, but I'm not really into exercising,".

I quickly snap a selfie with a clueless Noir and send it to Maverick.

- "by the way, say hi to my work elevator buddy,".

"What are you doing?" Noir asked confused.

"Doing something I shouldn't do," I said as I watched the bubbles pop.

Noir frowns and starts looking over my screen, "is he?" He asks nervously.

"Yeah," I say honestly, no point in lying.

"Maveric, Maverick,..." Noir says, testing his mate's name on his tongue.

We anxiously watch as the bubbles pop and disappear, then pop up again.

- "he's cute,".

Maverick sends to which I sigh in relief, and Noir blushes red.

But then he follows it with:

- "but you're way cuter,".

And my heart drops as I saw how pale Noir turns. See nothing good comes out of my involvement.

He takes a step back, leaning on the elevator handrail, he looks like life has been sucked out of him.

But once the elevator doors open, he straightens himself and steps out, mumbling, "what a shitty way to start my day,".

Oh god I feel incredibly guilty, I quickly shoot Maverick another message asking

- "Are you blind?".

To which he replies:

- "No, I have perfect eyesight,".

Oh, this idiot.

- "You're an idiot,".

I send the last text and get to work, Noir has gone ahead and settled himself in Mr. Raynard's office, other than the incident this morning the day goes by fine.

This was a lie by the way.

Mr. Akita stops by with a huge grin on his face.

"What got you in such a good mood?" Mr. Raynard asked.

"Thanks to your lovely Assistant, I came up with an idea to get rid of that fucking rapist," he explained.

Noir, who was still in Mr. Raynard's office said sarcastically, "yeah, he sure knows how to do that,".

Oh, his true colors are showing.

"Are you comparing my friend to a rapist?" I wasn't emphasizing my friendships with Maverick, but rather Maverick himself, his mate.

And I know he didn't mean that Maverick is a rapist, but rather he meant that my involvement caused him to lose his mate.

But if he's trying to put me in a difficult spot, I'll do the same.

He gets flustered, and quickly corrects himself, "I didn't mean that," he was about to explain himself but I cut him off.

"Save it, I don't want to hear it," I said putting my hand up, "we should get back to work,".

Other than the awkward glances we got from Mr. Akita, and Mr. Raynard, we continue to do our work.

We finish everything we need for our meeting with Ms. Bernard, and by the end of the day, I got to leave on time.

I was outside the building when suddenly a determined Noir comes up to me, "is there a problem?" I asked the tall cat hybrid.

"We're gonna go drinking," he states.

"No," I refuse.

"Come with me, please," he begs.

"Why?" I ask crossing my arms.

"I need to get it off my chest, I don't like being mean to you, it's out of character for me, so today, can you just be there?" He asked scratching the back of his head.

"Nothing good will come out of it," I warn him.

"Don't worry, it's not like you have worse luck than me today," he reassures me as he drags me along with him.

We go to a bar, Noir doesn't hold off on the alcohol, he drinks to his heart's content.

"I'm sorry," he apologizes, "for what I insinuated earlier, I was out of line,".

"Okay," I didn't know what to say, I don't usually receive apologies.

"No," he shakes his head and index finger right to left, "it's not okay, but you know what's okay though?" He asks as he leaned over, "it's okay if my mate likes Puma, it's okay,..." he repeats, "it's okay he whispers as a tear slides down his cheek, he wipes at it quickly with the back of his hand, "seriously, it's okay, I don't know why this is happening," he says as presses his hands to his eyes trying to stop the tears from falling.

"Noir," I called.

He whimpers in response, hands still covering his face, "I'm sorry," I apologized.

"Why are you apologizing? It's my fault, I built up my expectations, I shouldn't have, what was I thinking?" He sighs, then he signals for the bartender for another round of drinks.

"Don't blame yourself, it's not like you did anything wrong," I said.

He chugs his glass, then he says, "Yeah, I didn't," he nodded his head, his eyes had a determined gleam In them, "I'm gonna get over it, Raynard was right, fated mates is just a load of bullshit," he declares, then for the rest of the night he continues to drink his ass off.

I only had a glass, It's not like I like to drink alcohol, and I have to be careful, if Noir is planning on getting drunk, one of us has to stay sober, also, tomorrow is still a work day I can't just get comfortable and have a hangover during my first week of work.

"Noir," I called as I shook his shoulders, "what's your address?" I asked so I can drop him off.

"Home? I don't know, I'm sleepy, let me sleep," he pouts and goes back to sleep.

I sigh, this is why I didn't want to go drinking, I pay for our bill and carry this tall feline on my back, his legs are almost touching the ground.

I guess I'll have to take him home.