The next morning, I was gratefully able to sleep another hour or so before I had to wake up, since Diana had called the night before to let me know she would be back at work. She had asked me why I hadn't been at church, to which I replied I simply didn't go to church, and she didn't ask about it further. When there was a break in the flow of customers, she turned to me.

"Hey dear, Phil and I were wondering if you would like to come over tonight to hang out for a bit. He wants to talk to you about hiring you to work at MNU." she was beaming, and I forced myself to smile, as I often did when someone mentioned MNU.

"I'm sorry, I already have plans for after work." I replied, mentally sighing in relief.

"Oh. Tomorrow, then." she replied, still beaming. I wanted to say that I didn't want to work at MNU, but she had to help a customer, so I had no further say in it.

After I had finished work, I went back to my apartment and knocked on Tyler's door. When he answered the door, he smiled in a way I couldn't resist but react to with a smile just a bright.

"Hey, just get of work?" he asked, as he brushed his dark hair out of his eyes.

I nodded. "Bit of drama though...my boss's husband, who's an MNU agent, wants to talk to me about working for them." I said, sighing as we walked downstairs towards his car.

"What? How did you react?" he asked, his shock heavy in the air.

"I told her I was busy today..but she just said I'd come over tomorrow,then." I replied. "I am definitely not going to work there..." I muttered. I knew from looking out my window how they sometimes treated the Poleepkwa, and I wanted no part in it.

"How do you think she'll react?" he asked, as we turned onto a street that had only one or two houses on it.

"No idea. She seems really happy all the time...I've never seen her in a bad mood." I answered as he pulled into the driveway of a small but cozy looking house.

"Well, on a lighter note, we're here." he said, as he turned the car off.

I nodded, and climbed out of the car, noting that there was only one other house down the street that had no sign of anyone living there.

"That house is empty, in case you're wondering." he said, answering my question.

"Well, that's good...we won't have to worry about any neighbors freaking out." I said softly, brushing my hair back as we walked into the house.

It was bigger inside then it looked on the outside, but it was very cozy. There was mismatched and overstuffed furniture in the room I could see, and a fireplace. I walked around the house a bit, to find that every room had a very cozy feel to it. It reminded me of the house I used to live in, before my stepmom made us move, and I felt tears prick my eyes when I thought of my mom. Wiping them away quickly, I walked back to were Tyler was waiting.

"So, what do you think?" he said, smiling in an odd, quirky way, as though he knew what I was thinking.

"I think it's perfect..." I replied, smiling back at him. He stood up from his spot on the couch, and glanced around the room quickly. "I could get better furniture for here if you want." he said, as I shook my head.

"The mismatched furniture adds to it's coziness." I replied, and he nodded before he headed towards the door.

"I'll make a copy of the keys for you tomorrow, so you can come here without me if you want to."

"OK, thanks." I replied, standing behind him as he locked the door and headed towards the car.

A few minutes later, he dropped me of at my apartment, saying he needed to go to the store. I nodded, and waved as he pulled away, before I headed upstairs to post on my site about the meeting.

When I checked my email, after updating the site, I saw a message from Diana. The subject read 'tonight', and I could guess what she was messaging me about.

Dear Victoria

Dear, I know you said you had plans for tonight already, but I'm hoping that you will be home to receive this. It is 4:30 P.M., and if you aren't busy, I'd like to send Phil over to pick you up. He will be coming by your apartment at 5 to see if you are there, and he will call you to find out were you are if you aren't home. He really would like you to be on the MNU team, so we can help keep the prawns in order.

From,

Diana.

For a moment, I sat staring at the screen, shocked by the fact that I was going to be going over that night, whether I wanted to or not. Since I had no choice, I walked defeated into the bathroom, and brushed my hair before I braided it, and made sure that my bruise was still covered. I was tying my sneakers when I heard Phil knock on the door, and I pasted a smile onto my face, unaware that by the end of the night, I would want to sob.