Days passed after the Health and Wellness Event at the Halifax YMCA. But at the break rooms, around the water coolers and between the dividers of the open-concept cubicles, people still talked about it well into the week. Fauna and most of the staff of Bread Dog saw it as a great success, despite their down-the-wire loss to North Elysium. Even Ina would bring it up to the patrons at the Tako Eats cafeteria downstairs! Only Kaela, who hadn't tabbed out of her mobile Minecraft session since the Sunday event, didn't think a thing about it.
Bae wasn't spared from that nostalgia. The thrills of the duel of the companies were still fresh in her mind. She won one of the events for Bread Dog, after all - and lost the second one right after. But it wasn't the sports that occupied the rat-girl's mind days after the event. Oh no. Bae's memories of the event were one-tracked and focused.
Man, Irys' swimsuit was something else, huh? She used to wear sissier stuff, didn't she? That stupid hot late bloomer, hrgh~!
Stuck in the confines of the conference room-turned-lecture hall, Baelz Hakos had her mind on Irys' tastefully daring black bikini swimsuit that hugged her immaculate form. The Nephilim's long maroon hair tied into a ponytail, still dripping wet from the shower. Her two-colored eyes that looked straight into Bae's startled but definitely intrigued soul. And the smile. That stupidly beautiful smile!
Damn it! Gahhh!
The rat-girl squirmed in her upholstered seat, feeling tingles all over her body whenever she remembered the majestic view she had that day. She was on Cloud Nine and the half-angel from heaven was wearing a swimsuit.
But alas, daydreams were meant to be awoken from. The instrument that would drag her back to the mortal realm, away from the Nephilim demigoddess of her dream, was a teacher's pointer striking her desk.
THWACK!
"OY, BAELZ!" Gura shouted, pointing the pointer at the rat-girl.
"Fuck!" Bae gasped, nearly jumping up from her seat. She clung onto her desk like she was holding on for dear life in the face of a tsunami.
Bae's delusions crumbled around her and she was back in the conference room-turned-lecture hall. Her shark-girl instructor and mentor folded her arms and tapped her penny loafers on the poured concrete floor, glaring sharp tridents at her.
"Is my lecture not to your liking!?" Gura asked, speaking with uncharacteristic formality and tapping her shoes more rapidly.
The temptation to say 'yes' crossed her mind. No matter how much she respected Gura, listening day in and day out about Life and Non-Life Insurance threatened to put her to sleep on a daily basis.
How in the world did Gura get through that exa-!
Suddenly, Gura's eyes sharpened. The tridents she glared at Bae now crackled with lightning. Bae's face went pale.
"I'm gonna pretend I didn't just guess what you were thinking just now." Gura snorted. She ran a hand through her short hair and sighed, "Listen, Baelz. These lectures are the worst part of the on-boarding, I know. But you're still being evaluated here." She trained the pointer on Bae again and commented, "You've got a good presence in your face-to-face client calls so far and you go the extra mile when the situation calls for it. But all that's gonna mean squat if you can't pass the licensing exam!"
"I-I'm not doing that bad, am I?" Bae asked.
Gura pouted and fished out her smartphone to scroll through her notes.
"You didn't submit your assignments to me - that's your report on your meetings with Tako Eats last week, and Citadel High School from Monday." Gura explained, still scrolling through her phone, "The online course requirements for last week aren't done yet. That's a pretty big one. You know you've gotta pass that online exam to write the actual exam, right?"
"Urk…" Bae shriveled up.
"Two and a half months are gonna become one and a half." Gura started, speaking with an unusual vigor, "Then, you're down to a week. Before you know it, you're sitting there in the exam hall wondering how the hell you got there."
She started to fidget, holding one hand in the other and feeling the fingertips. She remembered having a conversation like this with her academic advisors in her turbulent last year at her university in Australia. It made her guts knot into pretzels.
Bae lowered her head and turned away from Gura's swishing pointer stick.
"I'm sorry, Gura." Bae apologized, nodding her head to her mentor, "I'll clean up my act."
"I hope you do." Gura's expression mellowed. She pocketed her phone and put her hands on her hips, "The online course closes this weekend so hop to it, please."
Bae stood up from her seat and gave Gura a salute.
"YES CHEF!"
A smile formed on Gura's lips.
"At ease, soldier." Gura playfully returned the gesture, "I'm just looking out for you. That's all."
While the student and her instructor were saluting each other, the door of the lecture hall swung open. Irys poked her head in through the threshold.
"Sorry for taking so long - there was a long line at the bathroom." Irys apologized. She caught Gura and Bae mid-salute, so she raised her brow and asked, "What in the world did I just miss?"
Right on cue, the noontime cannon on Citadel Hill went off.
…
Downstairs, at the Tako Eats cafeteria, Bae recounted her story to Irys over lunch.
"Oh, Bae, Bae, Bae…" Irys sighed with a sly smile painted on her lips. She rested her elbow on one of the cafeteria's tables and cupped her cheek in the palm of her hand, "The smartest girl in our university's slipping in her studies? Are you distracted by something again?" She nibbled on a meatball sandwich and hummed, "Deja vu, much?"
"Just… shut up." Bae pouted.
She hid her face behind a coffee up and sipped dejectedly. Bae wasn't about to tell Irys that her demigoddess-like body in a swimsuit induces consistent lapses of judgment - unfathomable bouts of acting extremely and utterly unwise, leaving Bae spinning in her swivel chair in her tiny cubicle.
Irys watched the sheepish rat-girl and hummed.
"Well, I don't know what you're hung about this time, but I guess I was somewhat responsible for what happened to you at university back then." Irys admitted, setting down her sandwich, "The two of us are here in Nova Scotia to start a clean slate, so I want to make it up to you somehow."
"Making it up to me?" Bae asked, turning her eyes towards Irys'.
"Yeah. Think of it as my way of moving on from the past." Irys clarified.
Moving on…?
Those words made Bae shudder a little.
"Something wrong, Bae?" Irys asked.
"O-oh, n-not really." Bae stammered.
" Liar… " Irys whispered.
"Huh?" Bae tilted her head. She raised her brow.
Irys just smiled and carried on.
"So, right. I'm gonna make it up to you, Bae." Irys explained, "Come meet me at the parking lot after work today. I'm taking you somewhere."
Bae blinked twice. She pointed to herself, absolutely mystified.
"Who else am I talking about, dummy!?" Irys scoffed, "Parking lot. After work. Got it?"
"Y-yeah." Bae nodded.
…
And so, the rest of the workday came and went. Irys and Bae got their schedules for the rest of the week, clocked out and went to the parking lot of Purdy's Wharf together. Irys handed Bae her helmet and the two of them took Irys' Vespa out of their building. Bae held onto the Nephilim and the two of them rode onto the scenic streets of Downtown Halifax.
The summertime sun still hung high over the city even at five in the afternoon, painting the historical brick buildings of Barrington Street and the modern towers and construction sites of Spring Garden Road in its warm glow.
Then, at the corner of Spring Garden and Queen Street, they reached their destination.
"Whoa… what is that place?" Bae's jaw dropped.
She beheld a large, ultra-modern, five-story building made of glass and steel with a hanging fifth-floor cantilever that made the whole place look like the Shagohod from Metal Gear Solid 3 at first glance.
"It's the Halifax Central Library - the new building, apparently. Really funky architecture, huh?" Irys introduced. She drove her Vespa towards the underground parking lot and turned to Bae behind her, "I figured you needed to hit the books, so I thought I should study with you." Even through the visor of her helmet, Irys grinned at Bae, "You helped me study so many times in the past, so it's my time to return the favor, eh?"
Bae smiled back.
"You turning Canadian, eh?" She teased.
"Just shut up and accept my kindness." Irys snorted.
Then, the two girls laughed.
While Irys searched for an open parking slot, Bae hugged the Nephilim tighter. A fond thought ran through her mind.
Hmm… it's almost like we're back in university, huh?
…
Nowhere With You
Hit The Books
…
To Be Continued