Chapter 12
London city was extremely lively and vibrant, constantly crowded with people whom were often seen carrying no less than 5 shopping bags in each hand. Sticking close to Zachary, Haine took the chance to look around at the city and observed the people around…
"Are you listening?" asked Zachary suddenly, and Haine shook slightly in surprise, replying, "Sorry what did you just say? I was kind of distracted just now…"
"I asked if you were hungry, it's already slightly over lunch hour and we haven't had anything to eat since we alighted from the plane…" said Zachary.
"Yea, just a little…" answered Haine. And so, both of them went into an Italian restaurant nearby and took a seat. After Zachary had placed his order on a plate of seafood pasta, he asked Haine, "Anything caught your eye?"
Haine stared at the desserts corner, and after about a minute or so, she decided on a Tiramisu, a Neapolitan ice cream sundae, a Genoise cake and 8 Italian ice, each of different flavours- cherry, lemon, blue raspberry, pineapple, coconut, blueberry, orange and chocolate.
Feeling slightly astonished, Zachary asked, "Desserts only?"
"Yup! I always eat mainly desserts for my meals since I am such a glutton for sweet snacks. Back in Sydney when I worked in the café I was in charge of eating up all the leftover cakes everyday!" replied Haine joyfully.
And so after their lunch, they started heading towards the mansion and finally, after about 20 minutes of walking, Zachary and Haine arrived at its gates. The mansion was much larger than what Haine had expected. In the front yard there was a colourful garden filled with roses and a small pond filled with water lilies. And in the middle of the garden was an elegant and huge white fountain spraying up shiny pearls of water at the surrounding plants. It showed two baby angels playing a harp each.
"Come on let's go…" said Zachary as he entered through the front door, with Haine following behind him, still feeling awed at the sight of the mansion.
The moment Zachary had entered, a girl with light brown hair in her early teens came running towards him.
"Amber told me you were going to be back 3 days before today! What happened?" the girl asked.
"Sorry Sarah," and Zachary gave an apologetic look, "I had to bring someone over so I came back a little later than expected. Where is Rufus?"
"In his office now," the girl replied, and suddenly noticing Haine behind Zachary, she asked with a grin on her face, "So you've finally got a girlfriend bro? As your sister I feel immensely proud of you!"
"Stop fooling around Sarah," said Zachary, "She is going to be a new member of the mansion here."
"Oh I'm so sorry," said Sarah to Haine, suddenly feeling embarrassed and continued, "I really thought you were…"
"It's ok," said Haine and she smiled, "You are Zachary's sister aren't you? I am Haine Amamiya, you can just call me Haine."
"And I am Sarah Taylor. You can call me Sarah. If there's anything you are not sure of in the mansion you can just ask me anytime!" she said cheerfully as she walked away.
"Don't mind her," said Zachary as he approached the 3 lifts and pressed the "up" button.
"You've got a bubbly little sister," said Haine as they both entered the lift which came and headed towards the 4th floor where Rufus's office was. "Is Rufus a scary guy? Like I am suddenly feeling really nervous right now…"
"Well he can be really scary when he wants to but on normal days he's just really laid back. But don't be deceived though," said Zachary suddenly, "He is a prodigy since young with an IQ of over 200. Though he seems secretive at times he really does care for us all. Oh and by the way he is a technopath…"
"Technopath?" asked Haine.
"That means he can communicate with machines directly," said Zachary. And in a blink of an eye, both of them were standing right in front of a door. Upon knocking it twice, a voice called out, "Please come in, Zachary." Taking a deep breath, Haine walked into the room with Zachary, and couldn't help but notice that the office had seemed more ordinary than she had expected it to be like. The sides were laid with bookshelves containing many thick and profound books and two squishy sofas was each at one end of the office. In the middle was a round carpet, while a desk which was laid with documents and a photo frame was on it, as well as a chair which was right next to the desk. A bespectacled person with light blond hair and a thin face was sitting on the chair. Like Zachary, he looked half Asian, half Caucasian and seemed to have the appearance of a man in his early thirties. He reminded Haine of a supermodel she saw on the cover of one of her friends' magazine at the café.
"That's my late wife, Elena," the man said as he stood up and walked towards Haine, noticing that she was staring at the photo frame on the table which held the photo of an extremely beautiful ash-blond Caucasian woman with impeccable grace. "And you must be Haine," he said as he held out his hand.
"Yes and it is a pleasure to meet you Rufus, er… I mean Mr Robinson!" said Haine, feeling slightly embarrassed while shaking his hand.
Chuckling slightly, Rufus answered, "Just call me Rufus, that's what everyone calls me around here. I heard your story from Zachary, Haine, and I still insist that you consider carefully about joining our organization…"
"I know I may lack the qualifications at some aspects but I promise to train hard!" Haine said eagerly.
"That's not what I meant," said Rufus in a slightly more serious tone, "I am sure Zachary has told you that what we are doing behind the mask of an electronics company is to spy on people, receive information and recover stolen goods at times and in some occasions, assassination missions are required as well. In other words, we kill people. Do you think that you will really be willing to do all that at any random point that you may be asked to do so?"
"Yes I am," replied Haine firmly, to which Rufus answered with a sudden inscrutable expression on his face, "You really are a strong woman, it's been a while since I have seen someone as strong minded as her… She had the most resolute of minds and yet the most beautiful of faces as well. A pity she has been gone for some time now…"
And after a few uncomfortable moments of silence had passed, Rufus suddenly said, "Zachary," and Zachary stepped forward, "Prepare Haine a room and give her the training schedule which starts tomorrow, as well as her office duties. For now just assign her the easy job of sorting out the documents from last month."
"I will," replied Zachary casually and just as he was about to leave the office with Haine, Rufus abruptly said, "Amber missed you when you were in Sydney, Zachary, do pay her a visit in her room later at night will you…" And as Zachary turned around and gave a brief nod to Rufus, he went into the lift with Haine and headed towards the basement level.
Apparently, the basement was an underground tunnel leading to the living area. And as they took the escalator up 2 levels and continued walking along the corridors, Zachary suddenly stopped at a door labeled 407. "This will be your room", said Zachary and he motioned for Haine to place a thumb on a slide next to the door knob. "It will open only with your fingerprint authorization from now on. Congratulations," and Zachary placed a hand on Haine's head, "You are now officially one of us."And as Zachary walked away, Haine gave a slight smile at him.
Entering her room, she saw that it had consisted of a super single sized bed, a book shelf, a desk with an alarm clock on it and a chair next to the desk as well as a small bathroom. Feeling exhausted from the plane ride, she lied onto her bed and thought about the tasks ahead which awaits her tomorrow, before drifting off into a deep slumber…
