Aiko laughs as she runs around her yard with Rina, doing different tricks and trying to climb trees and even the side of her home. Jeramy and Mark drink some tea as they watch the two girls have their fun.

"She seems to have brightened up over the last few days." Jeramy says as he looks at Mark.

"I'm not sure what happened, but I'm glad for whatever it is. She was getting really gloomy." Mark responds, though his eyes don't leave the two women as they get closer to some of his more dangerous pets who are napping.

"Well, I'm going to be away for a few days starting tomorrow." Jeramy stands, having finished his tea. "I'm going to get my things packed and ready."

"We'll miss you." Mark says as he raises his cup to his friend.

"Try to make sure no one poisons the lady while I'm gone." Jeramy says with a light laugh as he heads inside.

"I'll do my best." Mark takes a sip of his drink, then continues to watch the ladies, his mind drifting towards his work plans for the next few days. He sits there for a while, his surroundings becoming background noise.

"Mark." Mark jumps and quickly gets to his feet as Alex approaches him. "Are the orders ready yet?"

"Today's orders are ready to be shipped sir." Alex nods, then looks to the girls. "Rina!" Rina, who was halfway up a tree, stops her climbing and drops down turning to face Alex as she does so.

"Yes sir?"

"Have you finished your work for today?" He asks, his tone a bit bitter.

"Ah, n-no sir..." Rina quietly says as her gaze wanders down towards the ground and away from Alex's eyes.

"Then back to it."

"Yes sir." Rina quickly heads inside, and Mark takes this chance to leave for his greenhouse.

"You seem to be quite snippy today." Aiko says as she glares at Alex.

"You've neglected your work, and as well you're prancing about like a hopeless child. I've let you have your fun, but you need to get back on track." Aiko sighs and heads inside, knowing her butler is right. He follows after her. "You need to review the financing for the other branches, as well we've received several large orders today that you'll need to review and respond to."

"Nothing new." Aiko says as she waves Alex's worries away.

"Aiko, take this more seriously." He warns.

"Perhaps I would if I didn't have a particularly irritating and dangerous deadline looming over my head."

"Perhaps you should simply accept that deadline and start acting properly." Aiko glares at Alex but he shows no emotion. She then lets out an exasperated sigh. When they reach her office she finds several letters stacked upon her other papers, all of which have been organized for her.

"You were touching my stuff again." Aiko says as she walks to her desk and takes her seat.

"It was a mess. You'll want to work on that."

"I don't want to." She opens one of the letters and reads over it. "Lilies again... If all of these orders want lilies as their main flower then we may have to cancel some. They're in such popular demand for some reason right now, we're running out of them very quickly."

"If that's the case then it may be better to speak with these couples and attempt to persuade them towards a different choice."

"Maybe." She opens all of the letters, quickly scanning them for the important information. Alex stands there, watching as she works. "No, it looks to be fine. It was just the one order. We are low though. I hope this trend cools down soon or we really will have to cancel orders and meet with even more customers." She returns to the first letter and begins reading it in more detail. "Why did these come to me personally again? They are large orders, but they're far enough away that they should be sent out to their respective branches, not here."

"I'm not sure." Alex picks up another letter and reads it over. "Oh, at the..."

"Bottom, I see it." Aiko shakes her head as she sets the letter down. "These people all want me to personally be in charge of their flowers, and have asked if we offer any other decorative services."

"I don't recall this company offering wedding decorations." Alex sets his letter down.

"We don't." Aiko pauses a moment, then stands. "Alex, I want to go into town again and look into a few things. The more I think about it the better this idea sounds."

"Expanding the business?" Alex looks surprised. Aiko smirks slightly.

"Yes, expanding it." She heads for the door. Alex quickly gets ahead of her and opens it. "I want to look into decoration a bit more and see what sort of places are out there offering similar services. Take those letters and my other work with us."

"We aren't leaving now, are we?" Alex asks with a frown.

"Of course." Aiko smirks up at him. "My company can't afford to delay its responses to the people for too long. It would be preposterous for me to make them wait." Alex stops, allowing his master to go on without him. Finally he smiles. "Of course, my lady."