Chapter 14
Elena had found it difficult to get the memories of her sister out of her head that day. There was something bugging her about it, something odd about the way these memories were planted in her head.
"I think you should have started the job around someone other than me." Reno's distinctive voice said, bringing her back down to earth. Elena looked at him; not for the first time, she was not sure if he was being serious or not.
"What?" Elena enquired, putting her pen down.
Reno pointed at the paperwork. "You've turned lazy." He smiled.
"Oh… that." Elena looked down. She was trying to hide her sad mood, but she was never good at hiding emotions. As her sister always told her, she wore her heart on her sleeve.
"Don't worry about it." Reno shot her a lopsided grin. "I won't tell if you won't."
Elena couldn't help but smile. For some reason she felt her face reddening slightly as well. There was something about the strange smile on the red heads face that made Elena feel happy.
"Wait a minute…" Elena said, "What are you doing?"
"Me?" Reno looked momentarily slightly offended. "I'm doin' my job sweetheart."
"You're standing there." The blonde said bluntly.
"Ah, it looks like I'm just standing here, but you need to look deeper into that one. I'll leave you to ponder on it, 'kay?"
At that, he left Elena's office without giving her a chance to reply. However, even if he had have given her a chance, she wouldn't have known what to say anyway. He was certainly a strange card. She wondered vaguely if anyone who worked her understood him, or did they just let him get on with it? The only person who seemed to have come close to understanding him was Rude, but she guessed that would have taken years of work to get their partnership like that. He seemed like an extraordinary person however, so was it worth working him out?
Partnership… that got Elena thinking again. She was thoroughly enjoying working with Reno, but she knew that he and Rude were partners. What would happen when Elena was fully broken in as a Turk? Would she be left alone?
Elena sighed and picked her pen up again, deciding it was time to get to work, because really, when she thought about it, she wasn't happy about the idea of being compared to Reno.
"Coffee break." came a loud voice from the doorway. No need to even check who that was. Elena looked at her watch, seeing it was 4 o'clock. She could not see the point in a coffee break half an hour before they were due to go home, but she guessed this was just Reno's way of getting out of the last half an hour of work.
Elena looked up as the red head came in, carrying 2 cups of coffee. She smiled and took one from him.
"How ya doin'?" Reno asked, pointing to the papers.
"Nearly finished." Elena said, taking a sip of her coffee. It was slightly bitter, but for some reason, she liked it.
"Wow." Reno said. "Good for you. Ya know, I still got papers on my desk that have been there since the first day I was here…"
"How long ago was that?" Elena asked him.
"Uh… years ago… I dunno… I joined when I was 15." Reno said. Elena was amused by the thoughtful look on his face.
"How old are you now?"
"…22." Reno said. For some reason he sounded slightly unsure.
"22?" Elena repeated, shocked. She hadn't really thought about his age before, but if someone would have asked her to guess, she would have said 19 at the most. Maybe it was his hair, or his eyes… or his smooth porcelain skin, but he had that innocent look about him that only came with youth.
"Shocked, eh?" Reno said, laughing. "Probably malnutrition or somethin'."
"What?" Elena said. She knew what he meant, but she didn't know why he said it.
"Nothin'." The redhead glanced at the clock on the wall. "Hey, it's time to go."
Elena looked at her watch, and indeed, it was half past 4. Elena smiled to herself; this man was extraordinary. However far-fetched and ridiculous his logic seemed, things always seemed to go his way.