ROOT POV
A gentle breeze brining with it the fresh smell of spring, as Root stands in line to enter. That was what she would have thought if she isn't in this city, the spring scent here smells like college frat's room. A far cry from the lovely spring smell in any another place and she can't say it's a charm of the city because the smell is truly nauseous.
In front of her is a swarm of elementary kids and their minders trying to herd them through the gate. She stares impatiently at the sight of the entrance to the Central Park Zoo with a sense of unsureness at the bizarre choice of location.
Su plans to celebrate the ledger of BitGold and BitCash going live here? Of all the places she could pick, she picked a zoo.
Root gets that Su enjoys visiting zoos to look at fluffy animals because it calms her down but come on, this isn't a place to be celebrating the release of a groundbreaking concept and software, that took both of them more than a year to create. Well, it would have taken them less time to complete it if they weren't busy with their own business. With Root continuing to do jobs for CSS, she finds fun, and her self-imposed task of finding a solution to Su's buggy code. Likewise Su does whatever the hell she does when she's not coding, which Root isn't even sure what that was, not from the lack of trying to find out, but it sure kept Su busy. As well as the general healthcare and support she tries to provide for Su when they're both free.
Looking at the rather pedestrian-looking zoo, it really isn't the best place. It's like she doesn't know how to celebrate or even party… scratch that, she more likely doesn't know how to do both of those things. Has she ever been to one in the past 16 years? Or has she just been doing nothing but killing people, work, and coding for the past 16 years? She knew if she ask Su, she'll get a non-answer, so it's better to ask Pauling whenever they meet again.
She needs to bring that stubborn mule to parties or a club or any kind of recreational fun… Maybe forego clubbing with Su… that's dumb, can't risk her having an episode and damaging the work she had done for Su seeing how much she has improved since they reunited. Root can still vividly remember the first time she saw Su experiencing a terrible episode, and it was not a pleasant time for either of them. Especially the flashbacks she got on that day of mom trying to harm herself. Thankfully, Su didn't try to harm herself as well.
Ah, finally they all went through the gate.
She gave a smile to the cute attendant after her ticket and went through the gate, stopping in front of the sign. Let's see, she texted that she's in the temperate territory to look at the red pandas. Weaving past the crowd of people and avoiding the occasional wild children running around while thinking of what she could do to improve this celebration, she reached the temperate territory.
Root spots Su by the fences of the red panda habitat, with a milkshake in her hand and surrounded by children. Surprisingly, Su seemed to tolerate the kids and isn't hissing at them. It's really a bizarre sight because she knew since they were kids that Su hates kids, and she wasn't sure of the mental gymnastics of a kid hating other kids of their age.
She couldn't help but smile at the sight of Su drinking that chocolate milkshake. Took her half a year of cajoling and outright being annoying to the other brunette so she would have a balance diet even though the shorter woman never seemed to have any appetite to eat anything. She wasn't sure if Su was eating again just to humor Root or not, but she can't deny the results. Her face is no longer gaunt as well as her body wasn't frail from the malnourishment and her skin is no longer deathly pale. It hasn't returned to the color from her memories, however it's a start.
All she has to do now is to help her to gain more weight and build muscle mass. That shouldn't be too hard, would it? Maybe another year of persuasion would do. What she would like to tackle was Su's sleep issue or the lack of sleep, but she isn't sure how to do that because it's most likely linked to her Su's buggy code and that will take a while for her to figure out how to fix. Well… she could try sleeping in the same bed with Su like when they were kids, but she can't do that anymore. It's too just intimate and they aren't always together.
Pushing aside the small humans to stand next to Su and tap her shoulder, who quickly snapped towards Root with a smile on her face. Root stopped Su saying something as she made a pointing gesture at her ear, which caused Su to widen her eyes.
"Oh… Hi." Su said sheepishly, as she took out her earbuds and pressed paused on her iPod.
Even though it's been more than a year since they reunited, things are still weird between them. It's like the both of them are walking on eggshells around each other, trying to not piss off the other too much or delve too deep into each other's emotions, and it made things a bit awkward. All they do is have shallow conversations or just mess with each other. Nevertheless, when it comes to work or when they were both talking about programming, nothing was off limits and it felt very comfortable.
"Hey, listening to anything interesting?" Root asked out of curiosity. She's been trying to pin down what's the other woman's taste in music is like for the past few months and it's just everywhere. From EDM, house music to rock to hip hop to pop to country and even gospel music. The last one really threw her off, and she wasn't sure if Su was intentionally fucking with her or not.
Su showed her what was playing on the iPod, and she said quizzically. "Taylor Swift?" Root was certain that she had heard of this person while listening to the radio as she drove. "Are you sure you're the targeted demographic for the songs?" Root said with amusement laced in her voice.
The shorter woman gave her a look that says 'seriously?' as she said. "Are you saying I'm old?"
Root let out an amused chuckle while getting closer to her and said. "Well… you did just turn 30 two weeks ago, which I'm still mad as hell that you vetoed, celebrating it again. Me and Pauling had planned an amazing girl's day out." Root paused and gave her a pouting look.
The shorter brunette gave an eye roll as she nudged Root by the shoulder and said. "Fine, we can do it next year."
Root had a victorious smirk on her as she continued. "But I can't really say you're old since I'll be admitting that I'm old as well and we're still two young women against the world."
Su gave her a small smile as she turned back to the sleeping red panda on the tree and said. "I wonder how soft those tails are."
"They look like soft pillows. Why? Thinking on climbing over this rail and putting your face into it?" Root said teasingly as she gave a glance at the sleeping creature.
"Getting my face scratched up sounds like a fun way to celebrate our achievement." Su said, smirking at her.
Ohhh… Look at her being a little adventurous in her suggestions. She might just be able to turn this day into something more fun. "We can't have scars on that pretty face of yours now, can we?"
Su let out a snort as she moved away from the railing and said. "Let's go."
"Got somewhere else in mind?" Root asked as she pushed herself off the railing.
"I wanna see if the gay penguins are back together or not." Su said offhandedly.
Root slowed down her pace in shocked and dumbfounded as she looked at the retreating figure of the shorter woman. Gay penguins? Was that a joke or was that a subtle remark about her?
Did Su find out about that? That shouldn't be possible, since she made sure that she kept it well hidden from her. However, from all the talks she had with Pauling, Su somehow could know a lot about people if she wanted to.
Not wanting to be left behind, she quickened her pace to walk behind Su. She felt her heart bursting in nervousness as she looked at the silent figure of her friend as they navigate the windy pathway and hordes of children.
Did Su figure it out from all the offhand flirting Root's been doing? She knew she should have reined in her tendency to be overtly flirtatious, but she just couldn't help herself. Even with their strained relationship with each other, being around the other woman brought back memories and feelings she had long buried.
What if she somehow found out about her nocturnal activities some time ago and now is confronting her about it? It adds up. With Su recovering her strength and with them completing the cryptocurrency, there's not much reason for her to keep Root around. What is she going to do if Su rejects her? There's a reason she didn't tell her mom or the Frey's about this and just bottled up her desires until she got the chance to leave Bishop.
Their mended friendship is rocky at best and strenuous at worst, but she won't trade it away, not after everything she lost. She felt her chest tighten at the scenarios flashing through her mind.
With her eyes closed and a deep breath, she tries to calm herself down. There was no reason for her to get this overly stressed out about this and not be rational in her conclusions. Thinking back, the past 16 months and when they were kids about this subject. Aside from her general lack of care about other people as well as the lack of care about rules and order, Su has always been conservative about how she acts, but it wasn't the product of her family upbringing or the south Texas environment that they both grew up in. As odd as it sounds, it's almost as if she was born with that personality.
Nonetheless, ignoring Su's general disregard for humanity, Root has never seen her be bigoted towards anyone before and she did say she was an asexual when she was 13. That should be a green flag for Root about this subject. Also… Like who figures out that they're asexual before having any kind of relationship and when their body is filled with teenage hormones? Su apparently.
As they reached the penguin enclosure and the both of them leaned on the railing, Root mustered up the courage and asked casually, trying to hide her agitation. "Why the interest in some gay penguins?"
"It just seems amusing to me that animals can be gay - it goes against the whole necessity for survival thing, like they have consciousness or are independent and I've been spectating them for almost a decade, but they broke up a few years ago when one of them mated with a female. Can you image the dumb drama about the split if they ever get back together if they could talk?" Su said while chuckling as she looked on into the enclosure.
Root gave the shorter woman a deadpan stare at the answer. Well… that certainly answers why she's interested in those animals, but that doesn't totally soothe her worry. At least Su doesn't know about her preference for partners or is choosing not to confront her about it. Maybe she could talk about this subject when she's certain in which way Su would swing about it…
Su gave her a curious glance and said. "Something wrong?"
"Nothing. Show me where's the gay penguins are." Root said smilingly as she leans closer to Su.
With a smile, Su points towards the group of penguins that's scattered and said. "The one in the middle is one of the pair and I can't see where's the other one is."
"How could you even tell? They all look the same suit wearing birds." Root look at the lone penguin standing by himself as the others are in pairs or in larger groups.
"Dunno. I guess after a few years, I just know what he looks like." Su said with a shrug.
As Root continued to look at the lonely penguin, she clenched the railing harder. She could imagine that feeling of isolation that the animal was feeling right now, and it melted her heart.
…
Why the fuck is she feeling sympathetic towards a flightless bird?
"There's going to be a financial collapse next year." Su said nonchalantly as she sips her milkshake.
Well, that came totally out of left field and threw a spanner into her existential thought.
"Aww Su, why didn't you tell me you had a crystal ball?" Root said as she pouts and flutters her eyes at Su, who rolled her eyes at the display.
"You wish. No, I created a software suite called capital clown that's able to analyze and review the data from the market, among other things." Su said, waving her hand like it wasn't anything.
When did she create that? Root knows Su has the ability to create such a thing, but to be able to crunch that amount of data, she needs a shit ton of processing power. There's something she's not telling her… Also, capital clown?
"Don't give me that look. It's a swell name." Su said defensively, but Root continue to give her a look.
"Ugh, the name isn't the point. The point is that the financial world is going to crash because of poor practices by insinuations and banks. There's a bomb waiting to explode. All it needs is someone to light it up." Su said with her devious smirk.
Her eyes lit up at the implications and said. "And you're going to give that little nudge to push the dominoes. When the masses lose faith in that system, they will look for a new one and our little project will look soo enticing."
Su snapped her fingers and pointed at her as she said. "That's why we're celebrating the inevitable success of our project today. When I have some space in my calendar, I'll take care of the marketing."
"You really planning to celebrate this momentous occasion in this zoo the entire day?" Root asked skeptically.
Su looked at her unironically and said. "Yes, when we're done here, we can go to the Bronx Zoo since there's more animals there. What else is there to do?"
Root stared back with her mouth slightly opened as it rendered her speechless for a moment but quickly recompose herself before saying. "Like anything else? We could throw a party, go on a bar crawl together, drink the most expensive champagne in the world, go to a concert or a club or go to one of those parties that this city always has. There's endless ways to celebrate this other than being surrounded by kids and animals."
The other brunette made a puking gesture and said. "No thanks. All of those things sounds like it involves alcohol, and I don't like to be surrounded by wild humans, especially if they're inebriated humans."
She couldn't contain the exasperated groan and muttered under her breath. "Christ on a stick. You're the most Christian Texan woman that doesn't believe in God in this world."
Su looked offended by what she said and was about to reply, but she cut her off by saying. "Your clothes are what a hundred-year-old would wear."
"There's nothing wrong with what I wear." Su said incredulously with a shocked look on her face.
She did a thinking pose on the railing while giving the other brunette a once over. "Yeah, totally… if it's 1907 and not 2007. Girl, if you want to cover your ankle, at least wear pants rather than that bulky thing. You can barely run in that thing, and you need to loosen yourself more." Said Root, as she barely suppresses the smile while trying to look serious.
The look of incredulity from Su slowly change to one with a small smile. "What can I say? I love reading period pieces. Have you not read Little Women? I imagine this is what they would wear, and I just love wearing this kind of long skirt. And I'm not taking fashion advice from someone who only wears black."
The fact that Su reads that kind of book threw her off a bit, but she isn't going to be deterred by that. She gave the shorter brunette a side hug that she used to always receive when she was younger. "Come on, let's go somewhere fun and embrace the adventure." Said Root as she gave a tug of encouragement with a mischievous grin on her.
The irony of this situation isn't lost to her. In the past, it was Su that would do this kind of thing to her and not the other way around. She still hasn't figured out just how much Su has changed. Maybe she's the one that changed?
Su let out an unconvincing sigh with a shadow of a smile on her as she said. "I really wanted to look at the cute monkeys, but ok, let's go. You got something planned?"
"Uhh… No, this is a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing. Wanna go to a theme park?" Said Su as she dragged Su away from the penguin enclosure.
"Ooo, that sounds fun. I've always wanted us to go to one together when we were little. Have anything in mind? Coney Island is the nearest." Said Su with her eyes brightened with excitement.
Root made a face at the thought of going to Coney Island, but deep down she feels more light-hearted. Maybe this is them recovering lost opportunities.
"I'm thinking more of a Great Adventure." Said Root with their arms linked as they made their way out of the zoo. "There's a Six Flags in New Jersey. That's just a few minutes away if we use your helicopter."
Su flashed Root a brilliant smile that pierces her heart, but deep down she knows her irrational feelings will never be mutual.
It's better for Root to tell her in person rather than messaging her. The elevator bell snapped her out of her thoughts as the doors opened. The second she left the elevator, the door to Su's safe house sawing opened, allowing her to move through with little hassle. She really should ask Su what she did to her facial recognition system, since it's been exponentially getting better in the past half a year.
Is Su in the living room again? She looked down the hall to see the doors were closed.
The sound of someone coming down the stairs caught her attention, and she saw Pauling with a serious expression on her, like something was disturbing her. That isn't a common occurrence for her. What happened? Most likely involving Su.
Pauling's face instantly changed from that frown to a happy one the moment she saw Root and it's honestly jarring to see how fast the woman's emotions whiplash around.
"Oh, hey Root. What brings you here today?" Pauling said cheerfully as she reached down the stairs.
She gave the shorter woman who continues to wear those purple dress a one over before saying. "Hi Francine. I'm just dropping by to talk to Su for a bit, but is there something wrong?"
"Sigh… it's nothing, just that the administrator is in… how do I put it? A bad mood." Pauling said as she waves her hand around.
A pang of worried struck through her as she said. "Did something happen?" Why didn't Su contact her if she needed help?
"Oh, it's not a biggie, just a plan that didn't go on as planned. It's sure a rare thing to happen. The last time it happened was almost 3 years ago, just before the car accident, but I'm sure the administrator would bounce back to normal soon!" Pauling said with unconstraint enthusiasm.
She couldn't help but frown at that information as she asked. "Is she in the library?"
Pauling replied with an enthusiastic nod and a mhmm.
Looking up the stairs, she didn't hear anything coming from the upper floors and she asked, "I guess you're not staying long?" Root assumed today was Pauling bi-weekly meeting with Su.
"Nope! The administrator gave me a task and I gotta get to it quick!" Pauling said happily, like she loves getting more things to do.
"Well, don't be late because of me. I'll see you when I see you." Root said with a smile and gave a nod to the boundless energetic woman as she bounce towards the stairs.
"Ah! We should totally grab something together and catch up whenever we're both free! I'll text ya whenever. See ya!" Said Pauling as she waved her arms around while the door opened by itself.
Letting out a snort, she replied. "Sure Francine." The door closed behind the redhead.
Not that she doesn't enjoy spending time with Pauling, Root just isn't sure when that will happen. The younger woman barely has free time with how much of a workaholic she is. Well, she isn't sure if the redhead is really a workaholic or Su is overworking the poor woman. When Root asked Su about it, not that long after they reunited, she said, 'Pauling has unlimited days off. It's not her fault that she never takes it.'
After walking up the two flights of stairs, she reached the library area and saw the glass door leading out to the terrace opened as well as seeing Su leaning over the edge out through the large glass windows.
As she walks towards Su, she looked around the library and saw books strewn about away from the chair with a ThinkPad sitting on it. Seems like she's furious that whatever she planned failed.
The early summer heat hit her again the moment she crossed the door. She gave Su a squeeze on her shoulder, but the shorter brunette didn't acknowledge her, then she leaned with her back on the balustrade as she looked at Su and said. "Is everything okay?"
Su let out a defeated sigh as she rubbed her eyebrows and said in a frustrated voice. "Just some unforeseen factors causing the plan to not hit the mark."
"Are you going to enlighten me with the grand details of that plan, or should I let my wild imagination run wild and invent some hilariously incorrect assumptions?" Root said teasingly, trying to lift the mood.
"You know how I wanted to blow up the economy since last spring, but I just didn't have the time to plan for it? Well, I finally got the time a few weeks ago to plan it and execute it using proxies, but they screwed up!" Su exclaimed by throwing her hands up in frustration.
Huh… She can't be that straightforward, can she? "Wait… Did you plan to literally blow up a bank or something so the economy would crash?" Root said while making a face.
Su turned to face her while leaning on the balustrade and said. "The plan was brilliant! Everything was in place for it to be smooth sailing. I just needed those incompetent muppets to place the Semtex on multiple floors of that towering edifice and blow it up while the Lehman Brothers board was having an emergency meeting that I orchestrated. The American economy would explode into a free fall when they found out about their atrocious books and what their board was doing."
Root could only stare back at Su with a stone-faced expression at the absurdity of that plan. She could if she wanted to just crash the economy using the tools she already had on hand. There was no need for her to do this other than pure dramatics. Root would have love to retort by saying how dumb that plan was, and she should feel bad for thinking up of something soo stupid, but she knew better than to say that because they would enter a bickering match with each other which might cause Su to get an episode, especially risky now with how heighten her emotions are.
"There's definitely a 'but' lurking around the corner, isn't there?" Root said teasingly after recomposing herself.
Su let out a groan and said. "Those three fools must have royally messed up! Because they got the attention of some unknown actors that I'm assuming to be law enforcement that specialize in this kind of stuff from how fast they acted. Then the idiots were either caught or killed today when they were supposed to plant the Semtex."
"I'm guessing Pauling was here for her bi-weekly meeting when it all went down and now you've sent her to kill the ones that are caught." Root said as she craned her head to get a better look at Su.
"Yeah… Pauling is going to make sure they don't squeal, not that they know anything. Now I gotta review all of my processes and procedure to see what caused this derailment. Because somehow, out of thin air, law enforcement found out!" Su grumbled as she pushed herself off the balustrade and made her back into the library, while Root just remained in her position, thinking about how odd this whole situation was.
Sure, the plan was dumb, but Su had always been one paranoid bitch and her instructions would certainly include continency and protocol for them to the follow to prevent such leaks or getting attention from the feds. This just smells fishy…
The fiery brunette came back with a stack of crisp blank paper in hand and placed it on the balustrade. "Honestly, I don't know why I relied on idiots to do a critical task. I should have done it myself." Said Su as she used the paper to make paper airplanes and throw it towards central park.
She continues to look at how Su meticulously folds the paper into paper airplanes and then tossing it away with all of her strength. That's new… at least she isn't tossing heavy objects down to the streets or shooting someone from up here to release her anger. She knew teaching Su a better coping mechanism was better for everyone's health. It's something she did with mom in the past, trying to calm her down by doing something nondestructive and now it was passed on to Su. Not that it's as cathartic as just smashing shit up, but it's more controllable.
"You know you can't do much field work anymore; you just have to rely on proxies." Root said comfortingly. It's one of the first thing she told Su she needed to stop doing when they got back together and it took her a while to convince her to do it because she still enjoyed doing getting into a shootout or infiltrating even if she doesn't enjoy killing people anymore. Root knows how hard it is on her, practically being confined from doing activities she enjoys, but it was for her own good.
Su grumbled something that Root couldn't hear as the shorter brunette continues to decompress herself. This is the first time in the two years since they reunited; she witnessed Su's harebrained plans fail, and the reaction is better than what Pauling has told Root in the past. Its great progress compared to the description of what the shorter brunette would do when she's pissed off.
Leaning in closer to the disgruntled woman to get a better look at her, Root said. "You didn't experience an episode, did you?"
"No, I haven't had an episode in a month now." Su said like a petulant child as she continues to toss paper airplanes.
Nodding at the answer but she froze as she realized the off time frame.
"Wait… Wasn't your last episode four months ago?" Root said as she turned her body to face Su.
The disgruntled woman stopped what she was doing to give her a sheepish look that looked like a kid getting caught doing something she shouldn't have done.
"What happened?" Root said with a sigh of disappointment and rubbing her eyes.
"Well… I spent a lot of time last month doing some maintenance on a system I've been building for the past decade and got bored part way through it. So, I took a break and took a simple job, but it turned out there were more people than expected and the ensuing surprise firefight caused me a minor episode. Which led me to miss that sneaky pest to get behind me and shoot me." Su ended it with a sheepish smile.
A panic alarm bell rang in her, and she said, barely suppressing her anger. "What the fuck? You were fucking shot, and you didn't think to inform me? Are you okay? Did you go to the hospital?"
If the revelation that Su was shot didn't shock her. Root would have pounced on what the fuck the system she's been building, but on the list of things to be worried about, that was down low on the list.
Also last month? Did this happen when Root was in Vancouver, of all places? She spent a week there for a job, but they kept in contact with each other during that time and Su didn't miss a beat.
"I wasn't hurt. The plate caught the bullet, and I didn't want to worry you at that time with something minor." Su said sincerely as she put her hand on Root's as if that would console her.
Let's not escalate this, let's not escalate this and regret something said in anger. It's not like Su would ever apologize for doing something so stupid, nor the angst it caused her. Root let out a groan of frustration. Of course, she would say that she didn't want to worry her, but she bet the egghead was too embarrassed to tell her about it.
"Sigh… I know you were bored but need to tough it out until you're fully cured, and you were making enormous progress in the past year. Now we have to assess how much damage was done. I guess I'll need to cancel my trip then." Root said in disappointment.
Su quirked her head and asked. "What trip?"
"It's the reason I came today. I wanted to borrow your jet to fly to Russia. Landed a big fun job there, need to save some idiot from the FSB and after that I wanted to check out if there's a solution to the void somewhere in Europe. But the job isn't important enough for me to leave now." Root said as she turned away from Su to look at the idyllic scene of central park.
"What? Just go, don't stay on my account. You rarely left the continent in the past two years." Su said with a frown on her.
"Oh sure, I went to Vancouver for a week, and you just can't resist the urge to get yourself shot. I wonder what would happen if I left for a few months." Root said tonelessly.
"Alright, alright. I promise I won't do any jobs for the rest of the year. I got my hands full with what happened today, and I need to find out who those interlopers were. So, you don't have to worry about little old me." Su said as she leaned closer to Root.
She glanced at her side and saw Su pouting. "Next time you decide to get yourself shot or have been shot; you better not forget to give me a heads up." Root muttered.
"Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Su said with a giant smile while she made a cross sign on her chest.
She couldn't help but roll her eyes at the gesture. At least she doesn't look too angry anymore.
"Let's try to avoid the die part of that oath, okay?" Root said. "If you're bored and want to do something interesting or fun, why not start doing that compression algorithm? You've been talking about it for a while now."
"Oh, I've done the formula for that compression algorithm and all I need to do is code it. Also, I got a name for it; I call it middle out." Su said while making a gesture.
"Hmm… not the worst name, and it relates to the formula you theorized with me a few months ago. Also, if you need a break while doing that, you should read that Japanese comic that you enjoy reading." Said root as she grabbed the paper from the stack to make it into a plane and threw it.
One of the odd things she found out about Su is that she could read Japanese for some reason but isn't that good at speaking and when she asked about it, her response was 'I haven't spoken it in years.'. Really odd answer. How was she fluent in reading it but not that good at speaking it?
"It's called a manga. Also, that series only comes out once a month and I've already read the latest release. You should read it too. It's fun. I could teach you to read it." Su said as she leaned into Root and put her head on Root's shoulder.
"Well, if you're suggesting private lessons. I'm all ears and totally up for being enchanted by your irresistible teachings." Root said flirtatiously as her angst washed away.
Su hummed and replied wistfully. "Having a partner to speak with would be nice."
They both just stood there in silence, looking at the people down in the park and tossing paper planes for a few minutes.
"For real though, if there's anything wrong or you need any help, I'll fly back here as soon as possible." Root said as she leaned her head into Su's crown.
"Don't you worry, go have fun in Russia. There are a ton of fun things to do there and people for you to kill there. I'll yell for help only if you promise me one thing." Su said sweetly.
"And what would that be? I'm just dying to know." Root replied.
"That you would stop being such a potty mouth~."
Instantaneously her fist swing to hit Su's arm but…
"Ow! Jiminy Cricket, why did you have to punch my breast?" Su said in pain as she staggered backwards.
Her body instantly snapped towards Su as she made her way to brace the shorter woman's shoulder and said in giggling shock. "Oh, God! Sorry!"
A/N: The chapter was supposed to be longer but the other part just doesn't fit with the overall tone of the first two scene of this chapter.