I was lost in thought while the tap water was running, suddenly the bathroom door opened and inside walked Crawford with clear intent in his eyes and steps.

He was pissed.

He doesn't touch me but he gets so close to me, I wanted to back away so badly. But I can't, I can't let him think I'm intimidated by him.

"Do you have a problem with me, Crawford?" I asked the tall Craw human hybrid.

"Who do you think you're to throw your work at me?" He said calmly and in a quiet angry voice.

"What are you talking about?" I asked pretending to be confused, when I knew what work he was referring to.

"Your boyfriend's project, I don't like people getting ahead in their careers through connections, and neither getting someone else's rejects."

I sigh and turn around to close the water tap, "he's not my boyfriend, he's just someone I had the misfortune of meeting," I said before grabbing a tissue paper to wipe my wet hands, "and technically you're not getting anyone's rejects, it's not in my job description to do your work, the work was yours to begin with, Mr. Raynard offered it to me because I live in the Abyss, I have no plans of doing any extra work outside of my job description again. It is a huge project, and my time here is short and I'm not planning on staying here longer." I explained.

He takes a step back, and then he grunts.

He's probably not convinced but it's not my problem to solve, he's not doing the job for me, he's doing it for Mr. Raynard. I dump the wet tissue paper in the garbage bin and turn to face him.

"I've told Mr. Raynard that I'll help assist you if you need assistance with the Abyss, but I'd like to get one thing out of the way first, Crawford," this time it was my turn to step closer and get all up in his personal space, "pull something like this again, and I'll destroy you," I refer to his intimidation tactics. He scoffs, but I don't budge, I don't even blink, I look at him intensely, "I may lack the physical strength, but I have my ways of making things vanish... or appear, so," I smile a promising smile, "don't test me again, you won't like the outcome," I promised the man before sidestepping and leaving him standing there alone.

Don't get me wrong, he has every right to be upset, but I don't appreciate that kind of approach.

It'd not have killed him to talk to me like civil human hybrids.

I go back to my cubicle and sigh, I look at the time, the day has just begun and already I feel like each one of them sucked a little bit of my soul.

The day goes by, and when lunchtime comes I excuse myself to the little terrace courtyard. I enjoy every minute of it and go back to my desk on the dot.

As soon as I show up in Mr. Raynard's line of vision he calls me into his office and gives me a few tasks to do.

This time he asks me to read a bunch of files and summarise them.

I do so until three pm, then join Mr. Raynard with his three O'clock meeting.

Mr. Raynard sat at the head of the table facing the TV screen while, I sat to his right, Crawford occupying his left, and the other employees of the marketing department all around the meeting table.

The meeting was about discussing the rebranding of the fashion brand FeLine. With a new face, a first ambassador, and a new vision, aiming at new demographics, blah, blah, blah... blah, blah... blah, blah...

When the marketing team was discussing making Dyveke the new face of FeLine, I couldn't help the eye roll.

From how sweetly they described her to be, I thought my ears would rot.

"A top model with a great presence and great following on social media. Does a lot of charity and volunteer work. Stays out of scandals. Has a great reputation in the industry..." and the list went on.

I might have made a face because Crawford interrupts the meeting to ask, "Do you have something to say, Puma?" The bastard is putting on me on the spot.

Mr. Raynard who was listening to the presentation intently, raises his eyebrow.

"Nope," I say and turn my head back to the presenter, who shuts his mouth when Crawford asked again.

"Are you sure? Because from your expression earlier, you seem to disagree," he waves his hand at his face.

"Just thought that she was too good to be true," I shrugged and turned again to look at the presenter, but Crawford cuts him off again.

"I-"

"You shouldn't speak badly of someone you don't know," he tries to school me like I'm some kind of ill-mouthed degenerate.

"And you shouldn't speak kindly of someone you don't know, you insisted on wanting to hear my opinion, I gave an objective one, so why are you feeling pressed about it? Perhaps, are you a fan of hers?" I asked putting him on the spot for once.

He turns red, and fumbles with his words, "And you're not?!" Ugh.

"Please, I have better taste than this" I roll my eyes and turn to the presenter, "My apologies for interrupting, please keep going," I diverted the conversation away from us and back to the topic at hand, leaving Crawford to fume in his seat.

The rest of the meeting goes by without further interruption from Crawford.

While walking back to his office Mr. Raynard asks, "So, who do you like?"

"What?" I asked confused by his sudden question.

"Who are you a fan of?" He asked referring to the meeting.

"No one," it's true I'm not a fan of anyone.

It's not like I indulge myself in movies and social media.

"Do you need anything for your five o'clock meeting?" I asked Mr. Raynard changing the subject.

"You're not coming along?" He asked as he sat behind his desk.

"No, I have somewhere to be," I said as I adjusted the watch on my wrist.

He raises his eyebrow, opening his mouth to say something then shakes his head, "No, you're free to go." He says.

I nod my head, "The car is parked in the lobby," I informed him, then turned around and said over my shoulder, See you tomorrow, sir," before I closed the door to his office behind me.

I still had around forty minutes before the end of my day, but Mr. Raynard will have to leave now to avoid being stuck in traffic, and being late for his meeting.

After Mr. Raynard left, I focused on the task he gave me after lunch and quickly finished it before it was time for me to clock out.

I packed my things and went out, I had plans to view a couple of the listings in the Abyss, and due to my schedule, the real estate agent agreed to show them to me after work at one of the listings since it was the closest to the subway station.

I arrive at the address and I'm met with an Alligator human hybrid, the hybrid was tall and muscular, I introduce myself and so does he, and then he proceeds to show me the apartment.

The apartment was on the upper ground floor, which is, unfortunately, a huge no for me, being close to the ground means more noise and I can't handle it.

Once we were done viewing the apartment, we walked together to the next one, the next apartment was in an old building, with no elevator, it is what you'd consider a walk-up apartment.

For the third apartment, we had to wait for forty minutes inside a cafe while the current resident comes back from his work.

During this time, the real estate agent showed me a few other apartments that I might be open to viewing.

However, something entirely different caught my eye. It was a house on acres of land in the middle of a forest, a few meters shy of the lake, surrounded by mountains.

This is my dream home.

I may have ogled the house a bit too long because the agent asked if I was interested.

"Yes," I answered truthfully.

He proceeds to tell me about this listing, while I listened and wrote down the information.

"You would need a car to get from and to the nearest town, it can be cold in winter, and you would need to chop wood ahead of time,..."

As for the car, I don't mind buying it, I can also fly.

I don't mind the winter, but if it gets too cold, no fireplace will be lit, an upgrade must be done.

Time passes by while we talked, and before we know it, he receives a call from the human hybrid we are waiting on.

The apartment is okay, on the fifth floor, the elevators are working, and not too close but not too far from the station.

The resident said that the apartment will be empty in eight weeks. Which is close to when my contract with Fox Holdings will end.

Outside of his apartment building, Eli and I stood.

"You didn't like the apartment?" Eli the Alligator hybrid asked.

"It was okay," I shrugged.

"But it wasn't like the forest House," he smiles knowing that I'm still hung up on the house of my dreams.

"Yeah," I said dejectedly.

"Tell you what Mr. Puma," he begins, "how about we go and view the house over the weekend? I'll schedule a time with the current owner, then pick you up and drive you there." He suggests.

"Really?! You'd do that?" I asked completely delighted by the offer.

"Sure, It's a few hours' drive, but nothing to worry about," he waves off.

I know it's his job to sell properties and get a commission, but at this point, I don't care, if he's willing to help me buy my dream home, I'll accept his help.

"Then we have a deal," I said as we shook hands.

We parted ways afterward, and I walked home with a tiny smile on my face.

*Vrr... Vrr...* on the way home I felt a vibration in my pocket, it was a text notification.

>> Mr. Raynard created a group chat and added you.

>> Mr. Raynard:

"Good evening everyone, just wanted to let you know that the meeting went well with FeLine's marketing department, they've agreed on finding Dyveke to be a suitable FeLine brand ambassador, so our next meeting tomorrow morning at ten am will be at FeLine headquarters, we will be meeting with different departments to plan the next step for FeLine, as well as sit down with Dyveke and discuss her future to the brand and what she can add to it."

By the time I finished reading his text, Crawford had sent a reply.

>> Crawford:

"Knew they would pick her, looking forward to tomorrow!"

I didn't reply, and just left his text on read.

Let's focus on the positive, the dream of owning a house by a lake is becoming close to reality. That's what's important.

Let's not let unimportant people ruin important things.

By the time I arrived home, it was past nine o'clock.

From the early hours of the morning until the evening. I was swamped with parasites.

I lay in bed thinking about tomorrow, unfortunately, there's no escaping it.

One would think tomorrow is judgment day, I thought sarcastically.

I rolled over and closed my eyes, I shouldn't overthink, I'll deal with tomorrow's demons, tomorrow.

Feeling exhausted from today, I fell asleep quickly. Then woke up at five am like usual.

Instead of doing chores, I decided to start my day with a bit of research, I looked up the house I'm interested in, I wanted to know more about the area and more about the town closest to it.

I should visit the town and see what I'd be facing if I end up purchasing the house.

After a while, I get up and make my breakfast, I normally make lunch, but I'm not sure if we would be back from the meeting by lunchtime.

Once I had my breakfast, I shower and leave my apartment.

Today, along with my sunglasses I wore a face mask.

I don't want to breathe in all the toxicity from people's mouths when they open them later.

The trip to the office was uneventful as usual.

I arrive and do a few things around the office, I was watering the plants in Mr. Raynard's office when he arrived.

"Puma?" He called.

"Yes?" I answered, turning around for a second to address his presence.

"Are you sick?" He asked, pointing to the face mask.

"Allergies." I gave him my carefully thought answer.

"Are you ready for the meeting?" He asked while he checked the new pile of files on his desk.

"Yes."

"Did you finish summarising the files I gave you yesterday?" He's pretty chatty today.

"Yes."

It's not like I intended to give one-worded answers, but it came out that way.

I put the watering can down and turned around and paused in my step when I noticed Mr. Raynard staring at me.

"Are you sure you're not sick?" Mr. Raynard asked.

"Yes."

He sighs and asks me to check if Crawford is ready, so we can leave.

I nod my head and leave his office.

I approach a tired-looking Crawford, "ready?" I asked.

"Yes," he answered as he stood up from his chair, then he said while he followed me to Mr. Raynard's office, "Are you sick? If you're, keep your distance from me."

I ignore him and grabbed my bag, before knocking and entering Mr. Raynard's office.

Crawford and I stood by his door waiting for Mr. Raynard to join us.

He grabs a few of the files, and then we left.

The trip to FeLine was quiet, I sat in the front passenger seat, while Mr. Raynard and Crawford sat in the back.

Mr. Raynard occupied himself with the files he grabbed earlier, while Crawford scrolled through his phone.

The closer we got to FeLine the more anxious I've become, but I can't show that inside.

I have to stay calm and expressionless, the face mask is a great help though.

When we arrived, Crawford, the excited bastard, was the first to get out of the car.

I followed after him, and then the three of us went inside the building.

Someone was already waiting in the lobby to greet Mr. Raynard and show us to our destination.

They welcomed Mr. Raynard very warmly.

I quietly stood behind Mr. Raynard and listened attentively to the conversation between Mr. Raynard and the CEO of FeLine, as well as the head of the marketing team.

From the company files I've read during my research for Polar Opposites Organisation, usually after Fox Holdings takes over, a restructuring of the company happens after the first quarter of the year since the takeover.

So I'm not at all surprised by the kiss-assing that's happening.

When we arrived I could hear people talking and whispering between themselves, at first they were talking about Mr. Raynard. How young he's, how handsome, and how rich and powerful he's.

Now they started to whisper about the arrival of Dyveke. How their group chats are buzzing with the news of her arrival.

"She's going up," one employee said.

"She's in the elevator," another said, both reading from the messages on their phones.

We were standing inside the meeting room, so I excused myself and went outside to the corridor.

I took my phone out and scrolled through my small list of phone numbers.

I found the number I was looking for and dialed it.

On the first ring, I notice Dyveke coming around the corner of the corridor and her noticing me standing at the end of it.

On the second ring, I see her noticing the phone call, and the caller ID, she frowns and looks at me quizzically.

I pull my mask down and mouth to her to "pick up."

She does.

Greeting me with a mixture of excitement and confusion in her tone, "Hi...P-" I cut her off.

"Don't say my name," I didn't bother greeting her back, "Act like you don't know me," this shouldn't be hard, after all, she's a good actress, "One single word, one single mistake and I'll destroy you," I warned as she turned pale, her assistant stood beside her with clear worry on her face.

"..." She doesn't say anything but I can hear her release the breath she was holding.

"Got that, Paloma?" I asked my twin sister.

"Yes." She replied dejectedly.