Chapter 9: Back to Normal
An entire week. It has been a week since Rufus and I went on a date. A week since he kissed me and then kissed me again and then again. A week, and I haven't heard from him at all or seen him. I'm actually looking forward to our next meeting with the others just so I can see him and have an excuse to talk to him.
I mean, I do have an excuse to talk to him now. We've already crossed a line, and I don't think that it can ever be uncrossed. What if that was it? Just a passing flirtation, and now it is over? I suppose I should find that satisfying, given that I know it couldn't have ended well, but I don't want to give in to returning to normalcy.
I know it's dangerous; I know that it is inappropriate, but it is also a rush. I like the attention. And...he's a really good kisser.
I keep expecting something to be different every time I come to work, to find Rufus sitting on my desk ready to whisk me off on another night on the town, or maybe even I don't know, charter his private jet and take me to Wutai for an exotic vacation together. Maybe a vacation on a yacht. Or at least for something to explode or perhaps to be executed on the spot for breaching protocol.
Surely there has to be a rule against fraternizing with the boss of all bosses.
Surely.
And yet, nothing out of the ordinary happens. In fact, it is almost too normal after all the flirting, the date, the kiss. Well, everything isn't normal. I can't seem to look Tseng in the face these days. I feel like he knows something. That he knows that I kissed Rufus and liked it.
Why would he care?
I may have a crush on Tseng, but I know the feeling isn't mutual. How could it be? He rarely even talks to me unless there is business to be discussed. I'm always the one sniffing after him and nipping at his heels. And even if it was, if he was interested, he knows how to keep it professional. Good ole professional Tseng. I could learn a few things from him.
Even now, I'm hoping something will happen. That I'll see Rufus today and maybe he'll visit the Turk floor.
I'm on my way to the lounge on our floor to get some coffee and a doughnut. ShinRa's way of saying, "Thanks for risking your lives for us, so here's some doughnuts and coffee for free."
I push open the door to the lounge; it swings open, and the sound of conversation meets my ears before I even cross the threshold.
"...about time. I was beginning to think those idiots had gotten away from us." Reno's voice is the first I recognize.
"...of course not," Rude says.
"...we'll find out later," Tseng's voice joins the conversation.
They're talking about Avalanche. Definitely about Avalanche. This could be my chance to fix my mistake the last time I met up with Cloud and his friends. That moody blond made a fool out of me at the Mythril Mines. What was I thinking sharing confidential information with him like that? I'll be damned if I'm not invited on this mission.
I cross the threshold into the lounge.
The first thing I realize is that the lounge has been 'remodeled' again by Reno. The two arm chairs and sofas now sit in their own little area along with the coffee table. They are near the window and are now set up like a living room. The coffee machine is sitting on a table that runs along a wall. Next to the machine is a basket of snacks and a box of donuts. The snack machines and drink machines sit against a wall near the window. Then there is the gleaming, silver fridge, with our personal things—and endless supply of bottled water and sodas—labeled and marked. I hardly ever put anything in it, since I never bring my lunch. In fact, the only people who actually seem to bring food from home are Rude and Tseng.
I'd bring food if I could cook.
The conversation has stopped and three pairs of eyes fall on me. I instantly feel paranoid.
"Look who it is."
The speaker, Reno, wears a lazy yet smug look on his face. His tall, lanky frame is leaning against the table that holds the coffee machine and he is nursing a cup with steam floating out of it. His blue-green gaze lingers on me for a moment before being distracted by his coffee.
I raise an eyebrow and wait. There is also something more to come of this 'hmm' of his. There usually is.
"Good morning, Elena," Rude says. Rude is leaned back in a very comfortable looking dark red armchair that was part of a set. His boots are propped up on the coffee table and he too is nursing a cup of coffee. Though I can't be sure, because he wears sunglasses all the time, I think his eyes are closed. He seems like he did not get much rest last night.
What did Reno do to him that made him not get any sleep? I'm sure there is a funny story behind it.
"Good morning Rude, Reno." I smile brightly at them, making a beeline for the coffee and doughnuts. "Good morning, sir," I say, directing the greeting to Tseng. Suddenly, I feel shy.
Tseng is leaning against a painting on the wall and pressing buttons on his cellphone. He looks up briefly from it and acknowledges my presence before returning to texting.
"So what were you talking about? We've gotten news about Avalanche?" I'm not asking anyone in particular. I'm at the coffee machine, reaching for a mug only for Reno to put a hand on the stack.
No one bothers to answer my question, but Reno takes it upon himself to reach past me for sugar packets—a handful of them. He rips open all of the packets at once by putting them in line in one hand and ripping the tops off with the other, then he turns the packets upside down and pours the little white sugar crystals into his tall, cup of coffee. After a moment, I realize I'm just standing there, hand resting on my favorite blue coffee mug, watching as he grabs another handful of sugar packets and does the same thing again.
After a moment, he looks up at me from beneath his eyelashes, a small grin crossing his lips. "What?"
"Are you sure that's healthy?" I ask, still not making a move for my coffee mug.
Reno scoffs softly and dumps yet another 4 packs of sugar into his coffee. "I get shot at for a living; this is the least of my problems," he says, and then he grabs a plastic spoon and stirs the drink and takes a sip. "Hey Tseng!" he calls over his shoulder.
"Yes, Reno?" Tseng asks in a wary tone from his spot leaning against the wall near a window. He doesn't bother to look up from his phone.
"Why does ShinRa have such crappy coffee?"
Tseng chuckles lightly. "Not my problem, Reno."
Reno waves Tseng off and turns back to me. "You see what I have to deal with?"
I grin, shaking my head and reach for the blue mug, meaning to pick it up and start a brew with our instant coffee maker. Reno slaps my hand away.
"Hit me again and I will lay you out. I don't care if you are my superior," I say through clenched teeth, trying to seem as threatening as possible. The truth is, I like when he gives me a hard time—most of the time.
Reno grins, "Try me, Laney. Last time we went toe-to-toe, you ended up in a heap on an elevator."
"Children," Tseng says in a somewhat motherly warning tone. "Behave."
"Sorry sir," I say.
Reno snorts and relaxes again, clearly enjoying his morning entertainment.
"Maybe caffeine for you isn't a good idea," I say innocently.
"I'm gonna let you have that one," Reno says, poking me on the forehead. I attempt to grab him only to miss his hand.
Reno finishes off his drink and pours himself another cup. I watch in amazement as he dumps several spoonfuls of real sugar into the cup, then cream, then finally thirty packs of the other packaged sweetener. He's gonna crash so hard when that works its way through him.
"Alright, chick," he stirs his drink. "How was your date the other night?"
I knew this was coming. He hadn't gotten to ask me about it because he'd been on assignment with Rude all week and this is our first time seeing each other since my date.
"Um—" I start, but Reno cuts me off.
"Has our Laney been deflowered?"
"What?!" I nearly drop my coffee mug.
"Maybe we should find him and kill him," Rude pipes in from his spot in the chair.
"Guys!"
"Definitely, Rude," Reno says, "Elena's like a little sister to us." Reno blows into his cup, causing the smoke to disperse.
"I feel so loved. And it didn't come to that. And why do you even figure that I'm not already—"
Tseng coughs, loud enough for us to realize he's still, in fact, in the room and that this is not a workplace conversation. No no, definitely not a workplace conversation.
My face grows warm. "Either way," I say, "My date was fine. Leave me alone about it. He was fine. It was fine. The dress was fine. I looked good. He looked great. Whatever."
I pick up a spoon and dispense coffee from the coffee maker.
"You wore a dress?" Reno asks, skeptical.
"Stop looking at me like that. I can wear a dress."
"Sure you can," Reno says with a shrug, "So who was the lucky guy?"
"Palmer," I say before I know it. The spineless, sniveling head of the Department of Space Exploration.
"Bahahaha!" Reno shouts with laughter and leaves my side, heading over to the couches and chairs where his partner is sitting. He rests his long, slender frame on a couch across from Rude and balances his drink on his chest. "Seriously though."
"Er...no one in particular." I bring my drink to my lips and take a cautious sip. "No one in particular."
Reno is quiet for a moment. He sits up slightly, peering at me from across the room.
"You're full of it," Reno says, "Rude, she's lying to us."
When Rude doesn't reply, Reno picks up a pen off the coffee table and throws it at him. Rude catches it without even trying and throws it back at Reno, hitting him squarely in the chest. Reno picks the pen up and throws it back at him. Rude casually dodges the pen, and it hits the wall behind them and falls to the floor.
"She's lying to you, not me," Rude says. "You're the one giving her the third-degree."
"Rude's right. It isn't your business."
"Like hell it isn't," Reno says. "What if he's a spy?"
"He's not a spy. Why do you guys keep saying he's a spy? Why is that even a thing?"
"One Turk dates a spy, we all date spies, Elena," Reno says in a darkly serious tone that I almost take seriously. Almost.
"What does that even mean?" I say, taking another sip of my coffee. I refuse to get all shrill and defensive here—that's what Reno wants and he's not gonna get the satisfaction of embarrassing me in front of Tseng.
"It means what it means, Laney," Reno says. "Who is he?"
"He's no one. He's no one," I say, trying to adopt his careless demeanor.
"You're such a liar!" Reno says, laughing.
"Besides, Reno, how can you tell if I'm lying or not?"
"Oh my dear, sweet naive rookie, you repeated yourself. That is one of the key signs that someone is lying. And then your voice has this way of getting a little high-pitched and squeaky when you're hiding something," Reno says.
"That doesn't mean anything Reno," I say.
"Means a lot. Who's the lucky guy? C'mon tells us. It's not any of us in this room, so who is it?"
"And how do you know that?" I counter, stupidly. Of course he'd know if Rude was seeing someone, especially if I was the someone Rude was seeing, so by saying this, I'm putting Tseng in an uncomfortable spot.
Reno sits up on the couch, draping his ponytail over his shoulder. "Rude was with me Friday. Tseng was here late being a workaholic moron...so that leaves anyone else but me, Rude and Tseng. Try again," he says with a wink.
The workaholic moron comment gets a 'tch' from Tseng.
"It's not important," I shrug and take a sip of my drink. The truth is, I'm starting to doubt we even went on a date. Things have been so normal, too normal, after getting so much attention from him.
"It so is. You're one of us. We've gotta have your back," Reno says, taking a sip of his coffee and lying back against the couch. "You can't be dating anybody. He could be a spy or worse."
"First of all," I say, fully aware that Tseng has stopped texting and is attentive to the conversation. "He isn't any ole body. Second of all—seriously, everyone isn't spy. And I don't need your help. I can handle myself."
Reno makes a face. "Sure you can, I'm sure you can lay him out if he tried something, but still."
"What were you gonna do? Chaperone?"
"If that is what it took," Reno said, winking.
"Yeah right," I snort. "I'm a grown woman, twenty-one, not twelve. And I'll have you know, I wore my gun on my date. It was strapped to my hip. He thought it was very attractive that I wore it. He had one on too in his suit."
"Oh..really now?" Reno sits up again, put his mug on the table and leans forward. "Do tell."
"Stop asking me Reno. I don't want to tell you who he is because then he won't want to see me again because you'll be all mean and give him a black eye and stuff," I say, turning on my patented Clueless-Elena routine, peppered with exaggerated innocence. "He's soo defenseless and not capable of taking care of himself." I bite my lip and make my eyes get really big.
I used to use Clueless-Elena to get my way a lot with people who didn't know me very well. Especially during my brief, ill-advised stint as a bartender in the Midgar slums.
Reno laughs out loud, complete with an eye roll. "You expect me to buy that innocent routine? That isn't gonna work on me," he laughs. "He's probably a secretary."
"Yep," I nod while taking a sip. "He's a secretary for Reeve."
"All of the Urban Development assistants are women. You're so full of shi-"
Whatever I'm full of Reno doesn't get to finish saying, because Tseng interrupts us.
"Okay, if we're done discussing Elena's personal life," Tseng says, "You all can meet me in the briefing room to go over our assignment for this evening."
"Why can't we just talk here?" Reno says.
"I like routine," Tseng remarks, walking towards the door. "Be there in five."
With that, Tseng leaves the room, leaving the door open into the hall. I stare at the door, wishing I'd had something more to say to him.
Reno rolls his eyes. Rude gets up from his spot and puts down his mug and heads out of the door. It's just me and Reno left in the room.
"I'm gonna find out who it is," Reno says, coming over to me and draping an arm across my shoulder. "You better believe it."
"Why do you care?" I ask, allowing him to steer us into the hall.
"Because why not care?" Reno flashes a grin at me. "This is entertainment for me."
The truth is, I don't mind if Reno pesters me about it. I like the attention. I don't know where it will go, but hopefully I won't mess things up too badly, right? What's a friendly, inappropriate affair with the man who signs your paychecks and oh, I don't know, practically controls the interests of the entire globe?
No big deal.
The conference room isn't a very large room, and most of that space is taken up by a long, glass table surrounded by leather rolling chairs that always squeak when you sit in them. There is a large screen mounted on the walls at either end of the table, and there are no windows in this room. The ShinRa logo is mounted on glass on one wall.
When Tseng said he liked routine, he meant it. This room is meant for 20, maybe 30 Turks, not 4. Every time we go into this room, I imagine my sister sitting at this table, listening to Veld, the former Turk commander, going over some big assignment they had to do, or handing out the smaller assignments that required only 2, maybe 3 Turks. Reno probably was still a smart ass at those meetings just like he is now during ours. Feet propped up on the table, leaned back with an unlit cigarette in his mouth while his partner, also leaning back in his chair, actually seems attentive behind those dark shades.
And me, sitting upright, rigidly, in the chair closest to Tseng, as he goes over our assignment.
If we see Avalanche, we're supposed to apprehend them—so there's the possibility of a fight. Scarlet was going to be with us, going to the ruins of the reactor that was there, so all four of us are going to make sure we don't lose an important ShinRa executive in Gongaga.
We have two hours before the assignment.
I stand up from my chair when the meeting is over, pumped. I'm going to do better this time. Tseng will be proud of me. If I see Cloud and his stupid friends, I'm going to take them down without trying. Let them see exactly why I had high marks in hand-to-hand combat at the Academy.
I repeat these sentiments to Tseng, stopping him as he's making his way out of the room. Reno and Rude already left, talking about going to grab lunch.
Tseng looks at me, nonplussed by my enthusiasm. "Elena," he says lightly, "just don't try too hard. When you aim for perfection, that's exactly when you'll make your biggest mistakes."
"Right, sir," I nod, feeling just a little silly. I expected him to say he believed in me or something.
"See you in two hours," Tseng says, as serious as ever. I feel warmth creep up into my face for no apparent reason—a common reaction when Tseng and I are alone together anywhere.
Without another word, Tseng turns on his heel and leaves the room with his sheet of silky black hair swaying behind him.
I watch him go. I just finished a really incredible evening with Rufus ShinRa only a few days ago, and I still can't shake this thing, this silly, impossible foolish girlish thing, that I have for my commander.
Heading out of the conference room, I head down the hall. Tseng's door is closed. I head past Reno and Rude's offices and go to my own, which is across the hall from Reno's. His door is open but he isn't in it. Remarkable how it always looks so messy to say he is hardly in it.
I go into my own office and sit down at the desk. I'm barely in there five minutes, and considering if I should call Rufus and tell him that I had a good time—maybe there's some kind of unwritten dating rule I'm missing? Isn't this what I wanted though? For Rufus to not hit on me? Now that I haven't seen or heard from him though, it bugs me.
I'm reaching for my phone when I hear a knock in the hall. I look over my shoulder, expecting to see someone in front of my door, but instead they're across the hall. It is a woman, her back is turned. She's rather tall, has a long black ponytail snaking down her back and is in a black lab coat and a long gray skirt.
"Sierra?" I get up out of my chair and head to the door. "Sierra?" I repeat, louder this time for her to hear me.
She freezes for a moment, as if she's been caught somewhere she shouldn't be. She turns around slowly. "Elena!" She says, her eyeliner-lined brown eyes widening.
"Sierra? What are you doing up here?"
"My card access allows me on this floor," Sierra shrugs in a way that is supposed to be careless, but she doesn't quite pull it off right. She's tense and she can't quite seem to look directly at me. Beneath her golden brown skin, her face gets just a tad bit red.
"Yeah but...what are you doing up here?" I say, taking a step forward and crossing my arms.
"I was um..." Sierra glances at Reno's open office door. "Looking for you!" She brightens, smiling at me. "Want to go to lunch?"
"Well, that's Reno's office," I say. "My office is over here."
Sierra pushes her bangs out of her face. "Right."
"You ok?" I ask, stepping forward. "You look really...weird."
"Thanks a lot, Elena. I'm good. Just stressed. Long, hard day at work. Scarlet was being a complete—" she cuts herself off, looking down the hall towards Tseng's closed-off office. "She's unreasonable sometimes. That's all. I run the department practically, I make the plans, I do all the work and she, she gets all the credit. The only person that seems to realize that is the president—but that's neither here nor there," Sierra says, exhaling softly. "So...lunch?"
I pause for a minute. She is lying, that's for sure. Not about the Scarlet part though. If she'd been looking for me she would've called or texted. She was looking for Reno. I don't call her out on it, because lunch sounds good and I can't be a bad ass on an empty stomach.
"Sure, let's go," I say. "You pick the place."
Sierra takes me to a cafe a few blocks from the ShinRa building. It's quaint, filled with little round tables and a staff wearing green aprons and pleasant smiles. There are a lot of people from ShinRa in this café. I almost expect to spot Reno and Rude here, too. We're in a corner booth near the front window with a great view of the sidewalk and the overcast sky above.
Sierra seems distracted, so I fill the void with rambling on and on and on and on and on about my date with Rufus—without ever saying who the date was with.
"Sierra?" I say midway through the part where I jump off the fountain. "Are you ok? Scarlet got you down?" I pull a slight smile and lean forward. For the past five minutes, she'd been staring at her fruit salad without blinking.
"Just..." Sierra looks up at me with a half-smile. "It's silly. He's right. I really shouldn't let work take so much of my life, you know?"
"Hah, Reno told me the exact same thing once. That anyone who gives up themselves for a job is a fool," I say, poking at my half-eaten sandwich.
Sierra scoffs softly, "He told you that?"
"So...why were you really up on the Turk floor at Reno's office?" I ask. No time like the present, right?
Sierra frowns slightly. "I don't know, it's nothing."
"Seemed like it is something."
"I don't know what it is," Sierra says, "It's...nothing."
She waves it off, and we fall into silence for a moment, but then she starts up again. "I've been with ShinRa 10 years now, only a teen when I started. I was barely 17. I've reached the top of the chain already—y'know other than being the department head...and I've just been thinking. Why am I so serious? Do you think I'm too serious? I guess it doesn't matter does it? I'm just...what am I doing? All I do is work it seems. And for what?"
I'm floored. I wasn't expecting this at all. I don't know how to deal with people and their personal crises. I can barely deal with my own. I'm never the person people come to for advice. What do I know? I barely know her—but does this mean we're friends? No? I've never really been good at making friends, especially female friends. Not because I'm not social enough, just because people don't seem to get me.
How am I supposed to answer that?
"Uh..." I say, taking a bite of my sandwich just to have something to do. With a mouthful of sandwich, I reply, "Nooo you're not too serious. You're really smart, you're an inventor for goodness sake. You make these incredible weapons and stuff."
"But that's all I do," Sierra says, leaning back against the booth, dejected. She pushes a strand of her dark hair out of her face and regards me. "I even take work home. Well, not the diagrams—of course—but I'm thinking about it at home. I lose sleep over it. I even work on my weekends. And I hear Scarlet's voice in my sleep and her terrible laugh. He's so right."
"Who is?"
Sierra is quiet for a moment. "Just something your coworker said to me the other day. He tells me I should relax a little."
"He says that to everyone, if you're talking about Reno," I offer her a smile. She returns it, bleakly.
"He's probably right," she sighs. "Thanks, Elena. I really needed that," she says, smiling.
"I...uh...you're welcome?"
I'm not sure exactly what I did, but she seems to be feeling better. I guess that's something, right?
Sierra, in an attempt to lighten the mood, asks me to finish telling her about my date. So, enthused, I do, reliving every moment as I retell it to her. She doesn't ask who he is, so I don't tell her. It is only fair. It seems that I'm not the only one keeping secrets. There is something going on with Sierra, and I think Reno has something to do with it. I won't pry though. She'll tell me if she wants to.
After we're done eating, we make our way back to the ShinRa building. We take the elevator together, and I get off with her just to keep talking until she enters the entrance to the Weapons Department.
I don't head back to the Turk floor immediately, I have a bit of time before I have to meet them on the roof. Instead, I wander the halls, trying to get more acquainted with the building, given that unlike other ShinRa employees, my security access allows me on every floor in the building.
Somehow, I end up on the Urban Development floor. The floor is mostly quiet, people in their glass offices working hard on what looks like models of Midgar and plans for other cities. I take a turn down a hallway, and halfway down the hall, I stop short, my breath catching in my chest and my heart speeding up.
Rufus ShinRa is in this hallway, but he's not alone. He's in the middle of a conversation with some other employee that I don't care to recognize at the moment, even though I knew they had to be important if Rufus took the time to actually talk to them. Or maybe he was just in a good enough mood today to talk to them. I mean…he talked to me.
I approach Rufus and the employee quietly.
My palms are beginning to sweat and a rush of scenarios flash through my mind. How should I walk past? What if he expects me to say something to him? Should I say hello or would that be unexpected and would that rouse suspicion in the other guy's mind? Bah!
Closing my eyes,; I take one sharp, deep breath and map out my plan before leaving the refuge behind the corner that I am peering around. Just walk by and say hello and smile and go on about your business. Don't be so obvious.
I take a step forward, hesitate and then push myself from behind the wall.
I walk. My eyes stay focused on what was ahead of me. Out of my peripheral vision, I can see that I am nearing Rufus and Guy-I-swear-is-familiar.
"...if we could only find a way to fix that, President Rufus..." The Guy-I-swear-is-familiar is saying. His back was turned to me but I am sure he has something of a goatee of sorts.
Rufus' eye catches mine before I can look away. I pause momentarily before realizing that I am not moving anymore. His gaze follows me. A small ghost of a smirk plays on his lips. I feel the heat rising in my face as my own eyes forget how to blink. I stand there even after his conversation with Reeve was drawing to a close. He breaks eye contact with me.
"...look into that, then," he says. Reeve, the head of Urban Development, nods and takes his leave. I say a very small hello to him, to which he nods in recognition, and watch him leave me alone in the hallway with Rufus. Then I turn my attention to him.
"Hello sir," I smile slightly and find myself putting my arms behind my back. I feel myself drawn to him like there is a magnet between us.
"Hello, Elena," Rufus says in reply. The smirk on his face becomes more pronounced. "How are you?"
I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out. I'd imagined what I'd say to him when we saw each other again. Either to tell him that this was inappropriate and that we shouldn't go out on anymore dates, or...something. But now that we're here, right now, I can't seem to get my head on straight.
We haven't spoken since our date. Is it silly that I expected some type of follow-up? A text, a call, a how-do-you-do?
"Elena?"
"Um. I...I'm ok," I say with a nod. "Just...came back from lunch with Sierra Lorcan, you know...the lead designer from Weapons. Whatever."
"I'm aware of who she is," Rufus says.
"Yep. About to go on assignment. Gongaga."
"I'm aware," Rufus says, watching me, his face revealing nothing.
Silence.
"Well, I'll leave you to it," I say.
"It was nice seeing you Elena," Rufus says.
Instantly, I feel myself blush a full on level 10. So much for professionalism. "Um...it is nice to see you, too."
Rufus doesn't say anything for a moment, he just studies me. Then, a slight smirk materializes on his face. He seems oddly satisfied with himself. "I'll see you later, then," he says in his usual cool tone.
"Later?"
"Perhaps."
"Hold on," I say, stopping. Rufus stops too. I close the space between us without completely invading his personal space. "Sir, it has been a few days, you know."
"I'm aware," Rufus says, looking down at me.
"So?" I ask, searching his face. My heart is beating painfully against my chest.
Rufus smirks ever so slightly. I feel the warmth of his hand slip beneath my chin for a brief, skin-tingling moment as he tilts my face up toward his. For a wild second, I think he's going to kiss me, but he doesn't. "So, I'll see you later, Elena," he says, withdrawing his hand in one smooth motion. For a second, I wonder if he'd ever really even put his hand beneath my chin at all.
"Right. Later."
"Later," Rufus says.
And with that, Rufus turns and walks away from me, down the hall to the elevator.
I bite my bottom lip, shoving my hands into my pockets, and watch him disappear into the elevator. I want to be a little disappointed, but then I remind myself once again that this kind of distance is appropriate at work. What did I expect? For him to make out with me in a maintenance closet?
Besides, I have an assignment. I have work to do.
Work.
As soon as the thought crosses my mind, my phone starts ringing. I fish it out of my pocket and answer it. It is Tseng.
"Elena, where are you?"
"I-" For some reason, I feel a little guilty to be talking to him after what did or didn't just happen in the hallway.
"We're waiting on you on Helipad 9."
"I'm sorry, I'm on my way."
Tseng hangs up without another word.
I have to focus. This assignment is how I'll redeem myself after the Mythril Mines incident. Rufus can wait. I'll worry about him later.
