May 22nd, Thursday.
The alarm clock went off at eight o'clock, which made Natalia Arlovskaya look up from her breakfast of hot draniki and cold coffee. She had completely forgotten that she had set the reminder, and as Natalia reluctantly left the dining table, she wondered why she had set an alarm in the first place. The woman was never one to lay idly in bed on regular mornings, and the tedious spring Thursday was definitely a regular day for her.
With the machine's beeping turned off, Natalia went to finish her breakfast, and then to dress for work.
Having left and locked her apartment and finished the elevator journey down to the ground floor, Natalia hailed a taxicab to work. It was a partly cloudy day in the city of New York, but there was still enough space between the drifting clouds and towering buildings to send beaming rays of sunshine onto the her sullen face. The taxi driver was a man with neat, silvery blonde hair almost the same color as Natalia's. He had rolled down the glass between the two when she first stepped in for the address, but hadn't rolled it back up. Instead, the man (who introduced himself as Tino) spent the majority of the cab ride talking about subjects that Natalia didn't care for.
Namely, himself.
"...My husband told me that I shouldn't be feeding our dog so much fish, but I searched online, and the internet says it's fine. I also took Hanatamago to her vet last week, and he says that she's in great condition."
Natalia's hand was supporting her head as she leaned against the interior cab door; the woman herself only half listening to the man's chatter, only interrupting after something he said bothered her.
"What kind of name is Hanatamago?" she asked irritably, her indigo eyes glaring at the back of Tino's head. Tino laughed, making a right turn.
"I wanted her to have an original, creative name. What do you think?" he asked, peering into the rearview mirror as they slowed down to a halt in front of a red light to let a pack of tired-look tourists to cross.
The woman went back to staring out the window. After a minute, she finally answered.
"I think you should talk less."
Tino sighed, but didn't say anything after that, which was a blessing to Natalia's ears. The rest of the ride carried out in silence. When the taxi arrived at her work location, she paid the driver and walked out.
The building where she worked was actually a tall, modern-looking structure with almost every floor containing a different business. Some floors held offices, others had restaurants and shops. The entire building was 53 floors, and Natalia worked on the 46th floor. It was named "the World", and because of this, some tourists confused it with the old newspaper publishings.
Her occupation as a paralegal only sounded impressive to someone who was unfamiliar with the term. Her boss, a tall and serious man named Ludwig was a skilled lawyer who was apparently very well known in his home town of Dortmund. Whether or not these rumors were true hadn't been confirmed, but Natalia wouldn't be surprised if they were. He was always swarmed with clients, emails, files, messages and paperwork. According to his flatmate Roderich, Ludwig only ever slept on weekends and bank holidays. She wouldn't be surprised if that were true either.
He was a workaholic, and even with two paralegals and a secretary, the man never stopped laboring at his desk. Natalia rarely praised anyone, but she did respect his no-nonsense attitude.
A doorman in a smart blue uniform opened the front door for her, and she walked briskly past him without a word of thanks. The ground floor of the building held a lobby and a large directory, as well as a guide for any visitors, the gold marble floors and artificial lighting making the room seem warmer and friendlier than it was outside. Here, it was easy to distinguish who was who. Businessmen spoke to each other in hushed, honey coated tones; tourists talked loudly and wandered around.
However, there weren't any businessmen or tourists in the lobby when Natalia entered the building. By the time she had reached the elevator, the only other person she had seen was the lobby clerk. Pressing the 'up' button on the metal panel, she hoped that the elevator would be empty of anyone else too.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for her to see that her wish hadn't been fulfilled. The large copper-colored doors slowly slid open to reveal a very short young man with curly light brown hair in a red uniform standing off to the side with the buttons.
"Good morning, Miss Arlovskaya." he said nervously, subconsciously fidgeting away from her as she walked into the lift. Natalia grunted in reply.
Raivis Galante was a seventeen year old on his gap year before college, and was terrified of almost everything. Natalia held a special place in his mind full of fears because she actually tried to scare him. He had taken the job as the liftman for 'valuable life experience', but ended up more terrified than educated.
"What floor?" he asked her, trying hard to put a friendly smile on his face. The blonde woman's scowl deepened as she looked over to him.
"Well, idiot, I don't recall changing jobs overnight. It's the same floor as yesterday." Natalia snapped. Raivis let out a nervous, slightly hysterical laugh.
"R-Right! I'll, um, press the thing!" he said, his voice getting higher and higher as his trembling fingers pushed the '46' button. The doors slid to a close, and the elevator lurched before moving upwards at a snail-like pace. They had passed the first five floors when Natalia spoke.
"Why do you even work here? I don't need anyone to press buttons for me. I can do it myself. What, were you so pitiful looking that they made up a job for you? We didn't even have a elevator operator before you." she said. Raivis shuddered at her harsh, stinging tone, trying to collect himself enough to answer.
"Well, Miss Arlovskaya, t-the job of a liftman isn't a new thing, really…" he muttered. His chestnut colored blucher shoes scuffed the floor as he looked down, doing anything to make himself disappear from her line of sight.
"Wait. I know why they hired you. Maybe you're more like an experiment and they're trying out how long a man can last in an enclosed, suspended space without suffocating or falling. Yes, that must be it. No wonder they haven't had the lift inspected since you've started working here. They must want you to fall. No one really needs a boy to push buttons, anyways."
Raivis let out horrified squeak. His combined anxiety of heights, death and Natalia made it impossible for him to respond, so he simply sputtered out incoherent words until the door opened on the 23rd floor to admit Arthur Kirkland.
He unknowingly terrified Raivis even farther with his ruffled sand colored hair and his haggard, exhausted face. As he leaned over the shorter man to push the '48' button, Raivis positively collapsed in fright. Arthur didn't notice this and stepped away from him, his attention focused on the newspaper he was reading. After a few minutes, he looked up from the paper and realized that Natalia was in the carriage as well.
"Morning, Miss Arlovskaya." he said curtly.
"Morning." she replied. He went back to reading. Thankfully, neither of them enjoyed small talk, and the elevator continued to move upwards. Occasionally, Arthur turned a page of his newspaper, and when they reached the 34th floor, a silver-haired intern stepped in with them.
Emil glanced down at the unmoving body of Raivis, but seemed relatively undisturbed by him. With cardboard trays of coffee balanced on both hands, he carefully stepped over Raivis to lean against the lift wall.
"Mr. Kirkland, do you mind? I'm going to floor 37." he said, indicating with his head that his hands were full. Arthur hastily put aside his newspaper to fulfill Emil's request.
"Oh, yes, of course. There you go." Arthur said, hitting the '37' button with enthusiasm. Emil nodded his gratitude.
Natalia scoffed at Arthur's obedience to the younger man. It was well known to her that Arthur was a struggling author as well as a critic for the local newspaper. The Englishman was desperate to publish his first novel, and Emil was an intern for a well-known publishing company.
The doors opened again on floor 37 to the publishing firm. Arthur bid the young man a rather hearty farewell, and the doors closed and resumed upwards. No one else joined the trio in the lift after that, and Natalia suspected that it was because the fast large glass elevators near the south of the building were more appealing than the small metal one with an annoying liftman. She never took it because it was too bright and crowded.
She rolled up the sleeve of her white blouse to check the time on her small silver watch. 8:51. The indigo eyed woman cursed under breath and fixed her sleeve. She wasn't the type to be care much about wasting time, but a 30 minute lecture from Ludwig wasn't what she wanted in the morning.
Natalia briefly wondered if pushing the unconscious Raivis out onto the next floor (level 42) would lighten the carriage and make it go faster, but she decided against it. She could tell that Arthur was getting anxious as well; the newspaper crumpled in his hands and his green eyes darted around the lift impatiently.
After an eternity of ascension, the elevator finally stopped at level 46. Kicking Raivis' arm aside, Natalia walked out of the cursed lift. She heard Arthur murmur a goodbye, but didn't bother responding.
The moment she stepped out, Leon rushed over to meet her, grabbed her wrist, and very solemnly dragged her over to her desk. Natalia tried to pull her arm away from the Hong Konger's grip, but he had grabbed her weak left arm. Natalia growled when he stopped at the cubicle.
"You better have a damn good excuse for harassing me, becau—"
Her co-worker interrupted her in the middle of her grumbling .
"Bossman's already super cranky this morning, so I wouldn't get all whiny if I were you. Apparently that big-shot client of his who called him like crazy decided to switch attorneys, and now none of us are getting paid for the case we wrote for them." Leon said sourly. Natalia's brows furrowed as she took in what he had just said.
"So, the hours I spent on that stupid legal document was for nothing?" Natalia asked. Leon nodded hesitantly, seeing the disgusted expression on her pale face, tinted red with frustration.
"Yeah, you're not the only one angry. Mathias had to cancel his lunch plans with his sister who flew in to visit him from Copenhagen, and he's been here since seven AM to help Ludwig reschedule his appointments. The client scheduled over 5 appointments in the next seven days, and now they've left a huge hole in Ludwig's appointment schedule; now they have to rebook and notify like, a hundred people. Mathias keeps saying that he and Ludwig don't need help, but he's been frazzled all morning. Annoying, right?" her co worker said, clearly ticked off. Leon shook his head, his usually neat dark brown hair rumpled. Natalia noticed that everyone she had seen today was either upset or exhausted. This couldn't be a good omen.
"Well, what does Ludwig want us to do if Køehler doesn't want us to help him? He's such a brat." Natalia groused.
"Right, now I'm cleaning and organizing Ludwig's meeting room since I don't have anything else to do, and I can't leave work. Mathias' been muttering about silent calling the irritating client to piss them off. And I feel like a maid. You can...make us some coffee." The heavy-browed young man suggested. "I'm not happy with being a cleaning lady, but if we do anything else, Ludwig will yell at us."
Natalia grimaced. "Fine. Don't bother telling me how much sugar and cream you all want."
Leon nodded again, and then turned and headed to Ludwig's meeting room, plucking a container of citrus-scented multi surface wipes off the filing cabinet as he walked away.
With a sigh, Natalia set her purse down onto the desk and slipped her navy blazer off. She went to find the coffee machine. The sun was high in the sky, it was 9:15, and the workday had just begun. A very normal day.
Ludwig's coffee machine had been a housewarming gift from his (now deceased) older brother when Ludwig had moved from Germany to New York five years ago; it was a old but hardy thing that made coffee with a reminiscent taste of paper. Natalia didn't mind the mild, watered down blandness of the coffee, but she did blame the drink for being too weak to keep her awake sometimes.
Taking the glass coffee pot, she filled the reservoir with water from the fridge and plugged it in. Dumping in the cheap coffee powder; she set it to boil. It would take a couple minutes for the water to start bubbling, so the woman headed back to her cubicle.
Natalia's work space was surprisingly neat considering how she kept her apartment, but maybe it was because her coworkers were very tidy; Leon and Ludwig were both extremely organized and they often cleaned up after her and Mathias. The spiky-haired Danish secretary was even messier than Natalia, but for now, the entire office was sparkling clean.
Natalia was very proud of her desk. It was cherry wood, and had been polished to a gloss by Leon. A blue vase holding a wilting sunflower sat on the upper left corner, and a small plastic drawer on the upper right. A plain metal picture frame was placed proudly in the middle, displaying the most recent picture of her family. Everytime she saw it, Natalia couldn't help but cheer up very, very slightly.
In the very center of the photograph was her older sister Iryna, smiling and wearing her favorite satin blue headband. On her eldest sibling's right was Ivan, dwarfing his two sisters. His ever-present grin was on his face, his scarf still draped over his t-shirt. On Iryna's left was Natalia, giving the camera an awkward half-smile,half-grimace that made her look a little menacing, especially next to her cheerful siblings. Behind Ivan and Natalia stood their parents, both beaming happily. One could assume that in their family, the youngest one certainly looked like the odd one out.
This picture, the picture of her family that was most recent had been taken three years ago. Natalia hadn't seen any of them ever since she had flown in to visit her sister during Iryna's wedding back home in Alaska; she also rarely called them. She had tried several times over the past years to save up enough to buy airplane tickets, but was always either short on cash or too busy. But oh, how she missed them…
Suddenly, a loud beeping interrupted Natalia's nostalgia. Leon stuck his head out of the meeting room.
"Hey, go get that." Leon said before ducking back to his cleaning duties. Natalia frowned at the place where his head had been a second ago. He really seemed intent on ordering her around this morning. It seems that her normally quiet colleague was only voluble when it involved pushing everyone around to fulfill his requests or complaining.
Walking back toward the shabby coffee machine required her passing by the door that connected the offices and meeting room to the waiting area and Mathias' desk. Even through the heavy wooden door, Natalia could hear his loud voice talking to one of Ludwig's clients. His normally cheerful voice sounded strained; no doubt from the extra work required of him today.
The loud, annoying beeping of the coffee machine wasn't stopped when Natalia flicked the "off" switch. It didn't silence when she jiggled the short electrical cord either. It seemed to be stuck in the socket. Her phone's email alert rang adding to the loud annoyance, and she put it on the counter to check later. There was a loud thumping on the wall.
"Turn the coffee machine off, Natalia. I'm on the phone!" Mathias called through the walls, sounding slightly agitated. Natalia huffed. Didn't he know that she was trying? Were her attempts to unplug the cursed thing not enough for the brat? With an extra hard tug, the woman strained and managed to pull the plug out of the wall. However, she had used too much force and the short distance between the cord and the machine gave her arm very little space to move; her elbow nudged sent Ludwig's beloved coffee machine off the marble counter and crashing to the floor. Coffee spilled onto every nearby surface except for Natalia, who jumped out of harm's way.
The coffee machine was done for. It was over five years old and had already been on the brink of machinery-death when Natalia had used it. Now, there was no repairing. The exterior casing had cracked open to reveal near broken wires. The glass pot had split into shards and the plastic handle the only thing still in one piece, lying next to—
Oh, god.
Natalia's phone was completely ruined. The screen was cracked in multiple places, and the pool of coffee around it meant that it was surely waterlogged. The momentum from her pulling had caused it to fall off the counter with the coffee machine. Using two fingers, she delicately picked it up. She pressed the home button, and then nearly dropped the phone again. On her thumb was a small, bleeding nick, cut into her skin by the cracked glass.
"Shit." she muttered, surprisingly calm for someone who had just broken two things beyond repair. There were rapid footsteps and Leon appeared next to her, panting from his hurry. His thick brows furrowed as he took in the mess.
"Did you break Ludwig's coffee machine? His brother gave him that." he said needlessly. Natalia rolled her eyes.
"I know that.I've been working here longer than you have." she groused, wiping the blood off her finger onto her blazer. Leon took in a sharp intake of breath and stared apprehensively at the ruined jacket. He didn't exhale for a minute. "Snap the hell out of it, Wang. It's just clothes."Natalia said.
The dark haired man blinked a few times from shock and glanced around the mess. He opened and closed his mouth like a fish, then groaned.
"Just go and dump the coffee machine onto Ludwig's desk. I'll clean up." he said, reaching for his Lysol wipes. She narrowed her eyes.
"Why would Ludwig want an old, broken machine? The wires look like they could start a fire. Just throw it away." Natalia said, picking the pieces up not-so carefully. Leon shook his head.
"You should tie it up and drop it off at his office. You know how important anything relating to his brother is to him." he said, sadness creeping onto his usually emotionless voice. His brown-eyed gaze shifted over to her phone. "You need a new one."
"Obviously." she said, looking at the broken screen, coffee dripping off of it as Natalia tried to shake it dry in one last attempt to salvage her phone. It didn't work. Leon brushed past her and walked toward the storage closet to get a mop, leaving her to put the coffee maker pieces into a bag for delivery to Ludwig.
Natalia held a plastic bag in which the pieces of the coffee maker lay. Despite Leon's explanation on how precious it was to Ludwig, she didn't see why anyone would still want a broken machine. Even if it was from Ludwig's dead brother, there was no reason to keep rubbish around. She knocked on the door to her boss' office. There was no answer; Natalia wondered if he was off in a conference, or if he was with Mathias frantically rearranging his schedule.
She reached for the door knob and twisted it, pushing the door open. The lights automatically turned on when the woman entered. Natalia had been in his office many times before, but she had never had the time to actually look around. Upon further examination, she realized that Ludwig actually had quite a lot of pictures around his otherwise plain office.
One of the pictures on the wall had young-adult Ludwig standing with a white-haired man. His eyes were upturned, and they were a strange brown that made them almost seem red. Natalie guessed that this was Ludwig's older brother, Gilbert. In the photograph he was in mid-laugh, one arm on Ludwig's shoulder (he had to reach up because his younger brother was taller than him,) and the other around a girl. She too had bright white hair, her eyes closed in a smiling expression. Often times people had commented on Natalia's platinum blonde hair as an almost snow color, but the picture girl's locks were a true, dazzling white. Ludwig's hair was down instead of being slicked up and he looked almost to her unrecognizable without his neatly combed coiffure.
The trio was standing in a airport terminal in Germany judging by the sign hanging behind them. Ludwig was holding a carry-on suitcase in one hand and had a jacket slung over his shoulders, but neither his brother or the girl had any luggage on them. This must of been the picture taken right before Ludwig's departure for the United States, and if Mathias' rumors were true, a month before his brother's car accident.
She stared at the girl's cheerful expression, and then over to Ludwig's anxious but excited expression, and felt something close to pity. Natalia had never felt it before, and didn't enjoy the feeling very much. She forced herself to look away and saw another photo, this one with the trio again, looking significantly younger. Ludwig couldn't have been older than ten. The colors were slightly faded and a corner of the picture was torn off. Ludwig and his brother were wearing dark green polo shirts and khaki shorts, both squinting at the camera because of the sun. The girl was wearing a pleated green skirt and a yellow blouse and was undoubtedly the same girl, even if her hair seemed more yellowish.
Natalia realized that every picture on his wall had his brother in it. Sometimes Gilbert was with Ludwig, sometimes he was by himself, and sometimes there were some other people with him, but it was always Gilbert. She sympathized with her boss. Ivan was very dear to her after all, and she couldn't imagine what she would do without him. She hadn't even messaged him in ages. No doubt that he must think her an unreliable younger sister now.
She heard someone walk toward the office door and open it. Natalia turned around and saw Ludwig himself, dark circles starting to form around his eyes. He looked surprised to see her in his office.
"Arlovskaya, what are you doing in here?" he asked sharply. "And what are you holding?" Natalia realized that she still had the plastic bag on her arm, and she walked over to Ludwig and shoved it toward him. Ludwig undid the knot she had tied with the handles and peered into its contents. He looked back up, his blue eyes intense with emotion.
"Did you break my brother's coffee machine?" he asked quietly. Natalia nodded. She dully wondered if he was about to start yelling at her, or skip straight ahead to firing her. Instead, Ludwig calmly tied the bag back up and placed it onto his desk. He took in a deep breath before talking to her again.
"Miss Arlovskaya, please return to work. I don't appreciate your slacking off." he said authoritatively. "If you must get coffee, go downstairs to floor 34 and buy a beverage. Actually, if you do, buy something for everyone. Mr. Wang told me that he would like something to drink. "
"Fine," Natalia snapped back, her voice harsher than his. He had employed her as his paralegal, not his servant. Was the loss of a client so important to him that Natalia now had to change her job description?
Ludwig ignored this, so Natalia brushed past him and left his office. On her way out of the offices, she brushed past Leon, who was at his desk bent over his computer. He didn't look up as she walked past his cubicle, but she did hear him mutter "Get me a yuanyang."
"I'll spit in it for you." she hissed as she opened the door to the waiting room where Mathias' desk was. He was calling someone on an old fashioned rotary phone, bent over the desk. By his tone, he was bordering on full-blown anger, and Natalia knew how rare that was for the optimistic man. He was talking in a rushed, frustrated manner.
"Listen, Miss Lucia. I don't care how rich you are, or how much stockholders you have in Eosos Inc.—actually, no. I take that back. I care about how rich you are, and how you're not paying us for our work. No, I'm being perfectly reasonable right now. You were Mr. Ludwig's client for a month, and you haven't paid any of us for that time—"
Natalia walked past the man and his angry phone conversation to go to the elevator and pressed the down button. She looked at her watch. 10:41 AM, and her work day had gone exactly as she had thought it would. A morning starting out normally, and then the day slowly spiralling into hell. When the elevator 'dinged' again, she noticed that no one else was in it, not even the liftman. Hopefully, Raivis had quit. The idea of it cheered her up, but only a little.
The ride down to level 34 was faster than the ride she had taken this morning. No one else got in with her and there were less floors to go through. It was surprisingly calming, soft music playing as the lift made its way down. The air inside was still musty and dank and the lights were still flickering and dim, but it was so much better to be alone. She leaned against the metal walls and stared into space. Natalia remembered she had received an email earlier. When she got back to her PC, she'd have to log in and check her account. Maybe it was just spam.
The doors slid open and she stepped out into the food court of the World building. At lunch time, the black marble floors would be unbelievably crowded, people walking here and there. Now, there were only around a hundred people mulling around, occasionally pushing a metal chair back or getting up to buy something. Most of the people seemed to be students or interns, and Natalia once again felt insulted by the work Ludwig had given her.
There were over 20 different restaurants, bistros and cafes on this floor. It took her a minute to find the coffee shop. It wasn't hidden behind any other eatery, but the green and brown color scheme didn't stand out from the black floor or the dark-grey walls. Natalia silently cursed whoever had chosen the café's color palette.
It was enclosed, dark brown wooden walls separating it from the rest of the food court. The door was made of glass, and as Natalia opened and walked through, she noticed that there was rather annoying jazz music playing on the speakers. Some students sat at the metal tables, typing on their laptops and drinking coffee. Some were talking in warm, hushed tones as they lounged around. There was a very comfortably cozy feeling about this place, and she hated it. Natalia almost considered walking away and back toward the elevator. However, she desperately needed caffeine, so she begrudgingly dragged herself to the counter.
A peppy girl who looked the same age as the student customers was at the cashier's. Her long, wavy black hair was tied into a high ponytail, and a pink flower hair clip was pinned to her visor. Natalia thought it looked like a peony. On her apron, a plastic nametag with the name "Liying Ling" etched into it.
"Hi, and welcome to Starbucks! What can I get for you?" she asked. Natalia looked up to the menu for a second.
"Espresso Macchiato. Large. That's all." Natalia said, handing the girl her debit card. The dark haired girl smiled at her bemusedly.
"Did you mean grande?" Liying asked taking her card. "We call large drinks "grande". It's supposed to sound cooler that way. You can say it with me: grande." A muscle in Natalia's jaw jumped, and she took her card back quickly after Liying swiped it, not saying anything.
"Okay, here's your receipt! You're order number 86. Do you want to hear about our limited-time only punch card?" Liying asked.
"No." Natalia grunted back. Taking her receipt as well. The barista sighed, waving on the next customer.
"Have a great day, ma'am!" she called out as Natalia stalked away to the pickup area, ignoring the annoyingly accommodating cashier. She had come down here to get coffee, not to make friends. Soon, her number was called and she got her drink, but he paper cup they gave her wasn't enough to hold in the heat, and it burnt the pads of her fingers. Natalia ignored this too.
The elevator trip upstairs was a bit more eventful than the one down. Vash Zwingli,a banker, stepped into the carriage on the 39th floor and went back out on the 40th, both floors owned by a chain banking company. The lift stopped again on her floor.
She got out and was once again met with Mathias speaking sympathetically into the rotary phone to another client. He sounded a tad more calm; perhaps it was because he was no longer talking to the person who had caused all their pain.
"Mr. Karpusi, I'm sorry that I can't book you for tomorrow, but the issue with Eosos Inc. is delaying everybody in my firm's schedules by several days. No, I can't book you for Saturday either. This office is closed on weekends. We've gotta rest, you know?" he said into the mouthpiece, drumming a red pen onto the desk. Mathias waved Natalia over, then put the pen down and plucked a orange post-it note off his secrétaire. He handed it to her, still talking on the phone. "No, yeah, I totally understand. You've got a pretty big problem with that, yeah? Still, the earliest time I could rebook you to is next next Wednesday. Yeah, June 4th. Is that okay? Perfect! I'll need your email address again."
Natalia took the post it from him. It read "Miss Arlovskaya: Meet me and Mr. Wang in my office at exactly 12:00 PM. - Ludwig."
She wondered what he would want from them. He couldn't possibly be holding a conference just to talk to about the coffee machine, could he? No, maybe his intent was to talk about something else: schedules, work habits, pink slips...All very likely.
As she pushed the door to the offices open, she wondered why Ludwig hadn't asked to see Mathias too. The woman walked past Leon's desk again. His computer monitor had a note stuck to it as well, no doubt bearing the same message hers did. His right hand supported his chin, fingers covering his mouth slightly as his other hand typed away on the dark-haired man glanced up for a second as she walked by, but didn't move from his position to say anything.
Her purse was now hanging on a hook attached to the plastic grey cubicle wall. Someone had probably put it there while she was getting coffee downstairs. Putting the drink on her desk, she dug through the contents of her wallet to make sure that everything was still there. She wouldn't put theft below her co workers, and her cynical brain didn't let her lower her guard. Natalia pushed her chair back and started up her laptop. As she waited, she took a sip of coffee and wrinkled her nose. There was far too much steamed milk, and it was so frothy that it was more like drinking air than anything else. The cream was too heavy and too sweet; it made her drowsy. She blearily stared at the foamed milk and dryly wondered if the chipper barista had poisoned her for not being friendly enough.
Figures. The nice ones couldn't be trusted either.
Her computer turned on with a musical chime, the loading bar changing into the login screen. Natalia set the coffee down on a paper napkin coaster, used both hands to type her username and password, and logged in. Instantly, a web browser opened. She clicked the link that led to her email inbox.
"You have three (3) unread messages, Natalia Arlovskaya" A pop-up read, flashing on the screen. Natalia closed it and glanced over the mail she hadn't seen yet. Two of them were spam messages from a company that claimed to provide pills to enlarge a certain appendage that Natalia lacked. She debated forwarding the message to all the men she knew, but reluctantly decided against it. Although maybe she would send it to Toris later; he was very fun to torment, after all.
The other message was from Elizabeta Héderváry, one of the only friends that Natalia had. When she clicked the message, she realized that it hadn't been sent to only her.
Girl's night out?: from lhedervarygoodtime to n_arlovskaya, mllachance and bellemanon:
Helloooo! I was wondering if we could all get together on Friday the twenty-third? I miss you all very much. Why don't we meet up at my work place? Don't forget, it's called the Power bar! See you guys there at six o' clock! -Elizabeta
Re: from bellemanon to all:
ahhh, yes, i'd love to go! ty veri much! we'll probably give you a lot of tips, LOL :3. this will benefit you so much. is an event happening or somthin?
Re: from mllachance to all:
Yes, I'd like to go visit you. Thank you for the invite, Elizabeta.
An invitation to a bar? Natalia had never really gotten invitations from friends to do anything. Elizabeta and her were close enough, yes, but they had met in college, and had barely stayed in touch since. Manon Clovis was nice and all, but Natalia was even less familiar with her. They had taken one semester of Law in her senior year of college, and that was it. She knew that Manon worked at some bistro downtown, but that was all. And Monique...the younger cousin of Francis Bonnefoy (one of the most irritating men on the planet) who somehow turned out to be decent. Natalia's eyes wandered over to her broken phone lying on her desk and the orange sticky note next to it. Maybe a drink would be alright.
Sighing inwardly, she started typing her response to Elizabeta.
n-arlovskaya to all:
I'll go. You pay.
She sent the email. It wasn't a long response at all, but she couldn't think of anything else that would need saying. Would dragging out the reply be better? Probably not. Natalia logged out of her email and checked the time again, it was 11:20 on the dot. There was still some time before her meeting with Ludwig. Her usually overflowing in tray was mercifully near-bare today; the only paper in it was a document from Leon which was nothing more than two sheets of paper stapled together. At first Natalia was surprised—there was still some work to do, even with the lack of cases and activity?—but the shock quickly vanished and was replaced with irritation when she saw what it was.
Instead of actual work printed on the papers, one sheet had a crude drawn picture of what Natalia made out to be a cup of coffee and an unhappy face scribbled in blue ink. The other was a short paragraph of Cantonese writing, signed by Leon. She couldn't read Cantonese, but she could guess that it was about Leon not getting his yuanyang, and threw the papers away. Honestly, she had a hard time telling if Mathias or Leon was the bigger prankster in this office. They were both different levels of irritating.
Natalia spun in her chair lazily, mulling over what else could be done. The mess with the coffee machine had been presumably been cleaned up by Leon, the pieces now with Ludwig. Leon could be heard vacuuming his cubicle, and would probably be cleaning the rest of his desk until the meeting time. Mathias was still on the phone talking to people; out of the three of them that worked under Ludwig, as he was the only one outgoing enough to talk to people on a regular basis without getting frustrated. Ludwig hadn't given her any instructions besides "Wait until one o'clock."
She checked her watch again. 11:26. Still plenty of time left before the meeting. Natalia considered leaving for an early lunch break, but decided against it. She didn't have much of an appetite, and her coffee was more than enough for her to digest at the time. Reaching over for her drink, she noted that it had cooled down to the point that it was amazingly somehow even less appealing than it had been when she first bought it. She held the cup in her left hand, taking slow, unenthusiastic sips. Her right hand's finger pad were bright red, still burnt from the same coffee earlier. Natalia rubbed her right hand against the cold metal armrest and jerked her hand back abruptly when she felt a sharp pang of pain burn under her skin; she'd have to find a more effective way to soothe it later.
"Natalia." someone said suddenly, causing her to jolt up and nearly spill her drink on herself. She plunked it back on the desk before she looked up to see the speaker. The woman scowled when she saw that it was Leon once again.
"Are you going to moan about not getting your goddamn coffee? Well, you should thank me. The café downstairs is shit." Natalia grumbled. Leon frowned slightly.
"No, but I did notice that you threw my drawing away. I spent time on that," he quipped, taking a seat on her desk. "Seriously, do you know what Ludwig wants?"
Natalia shook her head. Leon lifted the flower vase off her desk and held it close to his face, examining it half-heartedly. He continued talking, showing off his special ability to somehow be monotonous and whiny at the same time.
"Honestly, I just want to leave. My older brother made this hotpot for dinner, and he's a good cook. I never thought I'd miss work, but it's so pointless now. I feel like I'm wasting my life."
"You are." she replied. Natalia wasn't putting much heart into the sad excuse for a conversation either. Instead, she was attempting to braid her long, straight hair into and failing, putting more attention into her silvery blonde locks than her co worker. He didn't seem to care.
"You're super endearing, aren't you?" Leon asked sarcastically, setting the vase back down onto the table. The ceramic and polished wood met with a clicking noise. Natalia glared at him, squinting slightly as if he was something to bright to see.
"I'm a paralegal, not a hooker. If you want someone to sweet talk you, hire an escort. I don't have any obligation to talk to you about anything not relating to work. You complaining about work is the exception." Natalia said, dropping the strands of her hair that she had be playing with. She shifted in her chair, straightening her back to appear more intimidating. When they were both standing, Natalia was actually an inch taller than the 5'2" man, but he seemed strikingly poised when he was raised above her. It was annoying.
"How old are you, 30? No matter you care so much about work. It's all old people like." Leon muttered. His head was facing the other way so she could no longer see his expression.
"I'm 26. But I guess I'd seem old to you, because you're probably five years old," she snapped, grabbing the armrests and made to stand up. "It's amazing that you can count to 30, though. So, kudos."
What he had said was lighthearted teasing, but she didn't take it as such. Leon turned slightly and upon seeing her expression, scrambled off the desk.
"I was joking, geez. Old people can't take jokes now, can they?" he said, still intent his gibe. Natalia let out a growl and bared her teeth, standing up.
"I CAN take a joke!" she hissed, fists clenched. Leon put his hands out, blocking her from walking any closer. He didn't look very fazed, but his movement suggested that he wasn't as calm as his expression made him out to be. Before either of them could say or do anything else, Ludwig's office door opened and out stepped the man himself.
His hair was freshly gelled, his jacket looking perfectly tailored as always. Ludwig's ice blue eyes stared coolly at Natalia and Leon, who stared back, caught like a pair of deer in headlights. After what seemed to be an eternity, he spoke.
"Well, I was going to wait until midday, but it seems that you two are eager to talk. My office, now."
Ludwig went back into his office. Glaring at Leon, Natalia walked briskly to his office, quickening her pace whenever she heard him catch up. She pulled the heavy door open and walked up to Ludwig's desk, pulled out a chair and sat in it. Ludwig was sitting at the other end, hands folded across the table. Leon took the seat next to her. Natalia felt like she was at a grade school principal's office, powerless and little to any choice he made. It was an awful feeling for anyone.
"Well," Ludwig said after a long moment of silence. "We will not be discussing what happened out there except for that I hope you two both mature. Now, down to business. I haven't yet explained the situation with Miss Lucia and her company, Eosos. Now, Eosos is a high-end makeup company based in Sicily that got into a spat with one of their models. Last month, a model sued them for using one of their images for something not mentioned in their contract. I do believe that Eosos is at fault, but Miss Lucia hired me to represent her in court. However, I disagreed with her methods and personality, and eventually she pulled out of our agreement together this morning at 6 AM. She's refusing to pay us for our work, and has already hired another lawyer. Mr. Køhler is currently rescheduling all my clients to fill in the holes in my agenda, and I have been trying to contact Miss Lucia all morning."
Leon raised his hand, and Ludwig nodded for him to speak.
"What will Natalia and I be doing?"
"Excellent question, Mr. Wang. The simple fact is that I don't have anything for either of you to do. Our plans have completely come to a halt. For the next week, I will not require any help from my paralegals. You need not show up for work tomorrow. I won't need you for the rest of the day either." Ludwig said. He seemed bitter to give them a break from work, and so was the life of a workaholic. Unable to stand a vacation. Natalia though about what her boss had just said.
"Is this a paid leave?" she asked.
"You will be paid for today, but other than that, no. It will be sent directly to your bank accounts. Any other questions?" he asked, eyes traveling from her face to Leon's. Leon muttered "no" and Natalia shook her head.
"Excellent. You can both leave at once." Ludwig said, pushing his chair back. "I'll see you next Thursday at 9 AM as usual. Until then, I wish you two well."
Natalia was ushered out of the room by Ludwig, slightly shocked by what he had just said. No work for a week? Without any source of income, she might as well start living off instant noodles, and to think that she might have dreamed of buying round trip tickets to Alaska to visit her family.
It didn't take long to put her belongings back in her purse. She took one last sip of the coffee but the drink was now nothing more than a watery mess, and Natalia gave it a resting place in the trash can. She kept the broken cell phone with her, wrapped it in a tissue to lessen the chance of her getting her fingers hurt again and put it in her purse. Leon walked up to her again and she looked warily at him.
"What?" Natalia asked, clutching her purse. Leon sighed.
"I just wanted to say bye. And sorry, I guess. So, bye." he said, repeating his words. The man waved an awkward goodbye to her and sped away, eager to leave work. It seemed he didn't have any second thoughts about being temporarily suspended from work, probably because he had the luxury of living with his siblings. How annoyingly enviable.
Zipping up her purse, she took the other route to the lifts.
The trip back home was uneventful. Her taxi driver was the normal, grouchy variation and she was thankful for that. The elevator back up was quiet and empty of elevator men, bankers, and struggling authors.
She unlocked her apartment, and was surprised to see that she hadn't been robbed. The way her day had gone, it wouldn't have been unexpected. The plate of breakfast scraps still sat in the sink and the bed still neat and tidy, the curtains were still closed. Exactly as she had left it.
Natalia turned the T.V. on, wandering through the channels until she found something suitable to be background noise as she did the dishes and made a dinner of crackers and pre cooked packaged ham. She read the updates on Pravda on her laptop. When the sky over New York began to darken, she poured herself a glass of something with spirit (although she wasn't exactly sure what it was) and spent the next five hours staring blankly at the white noise on a no-longer running channel, still holding the glass which had long since been emptied.
When the channel resumed its night broadcasting at 11 PM, it jerked Natalia awake from her idleness. She set the glass down onto the coffee table to be cleaned up tomorrow (or whenever she woke up) and stretched her arms, wincing as always when she bent her left arm a little too much. But it was alright. Her conditions were better now.
Yes, this was the way life should be for Natalia: in solitude, without any annoying people and distractions. It was nice, she thought, after climbing into bed and drifting to sleep. It was quiet, peaceful, liberating and…
Lonely.
Very, very lonely.
Hello, Bubble here!
It's been a long time since I've written Fanfiction for any fandom, so I do hope that I've gotten the characterization close to Canon. Below is a character name list for everyone that appeared or was mentioned in this chapter. Thank you for reading up to here!
Natalia Arlovskaya—Belarus
Tino Väinämöinen—Finland
Roderich Edelstein—Austria
Raivis Galante—Latvia
Arthur Kirkland—England
Emil Steilsson—Iceland
Leon Wang—Hong Kong
Iryna Williams—Ukraine
Ivan Braginsky—Russia
Mathias Køhler—Denmark
Ludwig Beilschmidt—Germany
Gilbert Beilschmidt—Prussia
Liying Ling—Taiwan
Vash Zwingli—Switzerland
Elizabeta Héderváry—Hungary
Manon Clovis—Belgium
Monique Lachance—Monaco
Francis Bonnefoy—France
...I think that's all! Once again, thank you for reading.