After going through one hell of a day in frustration and legal papers, for Elena there's nothing better than retreating to her room in Block-C. She'd a stack of documents to check, all binded together and held under her now almost numb armpit. Sighing silently to herself, she reached into her white pants' pocket for her key card, at the same time trying to keep the weight of the heavy stack balanced.
The first thing I'll ever need when I get in there, would be a nice hot bath.
The green LED flashed almost instantly after she swiped the key card down the reader, and a faint click was heard, amidst the loud series of quick stomping footsteps coming her way. She turned the door knob and at the same time her head to the direction of the oncoming person, and as she pushed the door inwards, she realised that it was a sobbing Ken.
"Ken? Ken, what happened?"
The martian girl seemed to ignore her question, her pace not slowing down even by a bit. Trying to get a hold on what's happened to the XB runner, Elena instinctively placed her palm on Ken's forearm, giving her a firm but soft grip as a body language of 'wait a minute'. Her action, however, was not well received by the rage-ridden girl.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!"
Ken bellowed without even facing her as she swinged her shoulder hard in attempt to shake Elena's hand off. The notebooks Ken was carrying fell off her grasp, scattering on the cold tiles below their feet. Elena was shocked at her reactions, but her grip on her arm now tightened to avoid her from leaving without a confrontation.
"Ken-," Elena repeated her question, this time in a calm and soft voice, "-What happened?"
And it worked. Ken spurled, her hair flowing as she faced the co-captain. Elena could tell that she'd cried, but could not thought of what could've happened that would make her did so.
"Why'd YOU care!? Telling you what happened won't change anything, my pleas will eventually fall on deaf ears!"
This is a BIG thing...
"You earth people are all the same," she continued, disappointment showing itself in her tone. Elena could feel that she'd weakened, her emotions catching up onto her. Soon enough tears began to flow down her reddened cheeks.
"Try me," Elena replied, her eyes making contact with Ken's. Her gaze were deep and full of responsibility; that of a leader who would not lie to her troops. It was her aspiring leadership qualities that reassured Ken to submit.
"Come on in, we'll talk this over."
Feeling quite ashamed for her rash behaviour, Ken nodded slightly and lowered her head, breaking the established eye contact. That was when Alice, who'd been running after Ken arrived at the scene, with a seriously concerned look on her face. She was about to call over to her when Elena raised one of her hand silently, and giving her the universal 'O.K' sign.
Wow...That was quick.
It doesn't take long for Alice to get the message, and they'd both decided to let the senior do the job. Afterall, Ken had always been the one to ease her down when she was in the blues.
"Please, have a seat while I go get you a cup of tea."
Ken accepted the invitation silently as Elena closed the door behind them after picking up the fallen notebooks. While Elena was busy preparing their beverages, Ken took a moment to survey the room. It wasn't spacious, yet it wasn't a small room either. The light was set to 'night mode', the bulb emanated a soft, orangish glow that's comfortable to the eye. Looking further to the corners, Ken spotted a stack of files and folders lying in a mess on a desk, where a bright table lamp sat. Bringing her focus back to herself, she noticed that the senior officer had a cute and shiny crystal ornament on the roundtable in front of her that took the shape of a mouse.
Ha...'Kawaii'.
"Here you go."
Ken diveretd her attention towards Elena as she carefully lay the two cups on the table and sat on the couch next to hers.
"So now... mind telling me what's troubling you?"