"I am afraid, I will not be able to come this weekend, Mr. Lee. I'm leaving for Sylvania tomorrow. Please apologize to Penny on my behalf." Vera said with a sigh, her cell phone still ringing with the notification arrivals. She cleanly pressed the power button to switch off the damn thing.
"Oh, come on... no worries at all. As I said earlier, this is just a small get-together." Mr. Lee waved his hand as he noticed the girl's embarrassment. He was curious. Well, she never declined their invitation before.
Vera chuckled at his attempt to be modest. Mr. Lee and his wife were the most socially active people she had ever seen. More than her parents, if she dares say. And who doesn't know in the circle that their so-called get-togethers are full-on parties?
"Well, how come suddenly? On the next business trip?" Mr. Lee's curious voice came to her ears.
"Nope. Just going home." The girl clicked her tongue with annoyance. Mr. Lee raised his eyebrows at her expression.
"Wait. Sylvania country? Our next project covers the South Primordino continent. We have made a special research team to get all the historical information. It's just, we don't know if we can gather all the information in time. Just too much work. Tsk." Mr. Lee clicked his tongue as he caressed his balding head. Vera raised her eyebrows at his implication.
"I know. But I am still standby on for Parmarina country culture research. And it is almost divided into the database. So I don't think James will be happy if I leave it halfway there." Vera understood, where Mr. Lee was coming from. If you want to get full access to historical documents and cultural information, you would have to go through very complicated procedures and if those procedures are under the government department, then you should forget the dedicated time limits. You are going to wait and wait and... wait. Well, you could travel around for cultural details. But. That is a whole region of a continent. Who is so free to ask around about the lifestyle and festivities? So if there was a local or familiar person on the team the efficiency would skyrocket.
"Ah, never mind. I know that guy's temper. Anyway, happy journey and send a message in the group chat once you reach there." Mr. Lee quickly bid goodbye and left to talk with his team members about the upcoming huge tension, cough, project.
Vera bid farewell to her team and went back to her office. Anyway, they would be in contact throughout her stay in Sylvania. So no one was really worried.
She sat on the comfortable revolving chair and looked out through the glass wall. The office hours were coming to an end. The sky was empty with a few white fluffs hovering around and obstructing the diagonal rays of setting sunlight and creating a reddish hue. High-rise buildings were still shiny with all the metropolis lights and sunlight reflecting on the glass walls. The city looked so calm and worry-free. Well, in a month she will obviously return to see this scenery. No need to be so dramatic and nostalgic.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
"Hey. I have booked the flight for tonight. 11.00 pm. The luggage is packed. You should check it once again, to see if anything is missing or not. Also, the gifts are packed in a separate bag. I have checked the weight and it is under the maximum baggage allowance. Everything is ready. You need to have dinner before the take-off..." The girl in round thin thin-rimmed glasses and a tight bun with extremely professional attire came in with a notepad in her hands and seeing that Vera was sitting there comfortably, she started notifying the next itinerary.
"Alice. Okay..." Vera put her elbows on the desk as she interrupted her overly professional assistant.
Alice was stopped suddenly and did not know what to do next. She looked up at the person sitting behind the desk blankly. She was sitting lazily when Alice came into the cabin. Right now she was leaning forward on the desk and looking at her with those beautiful eyes with concern. The soft hue of sunset on the horizon cast a bright halo on the glass wall, which made her rosy pale skin look ethereal.
"Miss Maximus." Alice was embarrassed. She looked down at the notepad screen subconsciously.
"I'll come back in a month at most, Alice. Come on. And we will be in contact throughout the month. After all, I have to handle these remotely. I can't just leave it to you guys to mess it up." Vera spoke jokingly.
"Yes. I'm aware. But I'm jittery. I know, it's not the first time you're going away from the office. But...(sigh)"
Vera was surprised by her instincts. She also felt that something was up. But, let's see what the future holds in the future.
The flight to Sylvania took off at night. 9 hours in flight were passed in sleepiness by her. Fortunately, with Alice's diligence, she could rest comfortably in business class. She checked her analogue watch. An hour before landing. She chewed on the sandwich sent by the attendant and gulped down the orange juice. She remembered the conversation of yesterday noon.
"Hey, Grandpa. How are you?"
"I'm good, sweetheart. How are you? Have you seen our social media? I have uploaded some pictures." Her grandfather asked cheerfully as always.
"Yeah. I have seen them. And they look professional. As expected of Grandpa." She chuckled and replied with his desired answer.
"Ah. That's what you should say. We came to Monsora for the trip. The mountains here are so huge and beautiful! Your grandma was so cold, she couldn't even play snowball fight. What a killjoy. Anyway, we are going back home tomorrow. When are you coming to meet us? It's been so many years since you came back. Whenever we meet, I have to come there to meet my granddaughter. How come you never go to meet your grandfather?" She could imagine the old man's serious face while spouting utter nonsense.
"I know. I'm so sorry, Grandpa. I'm so busy these years, that I haven't even enjoyed any vacation in these five years. But you know that this is a very important task. We have to do our best in this opportunity." She sincerely apologised.
"Yeah, I know that. I don't ask you to come and settle down here. But can't you even come to meet us? When will you come? On my last breath?"
"Grandpa. What are you saying? How could you talk like that? Are you seriously watching some melodrama daily soaps? Those tricks are so annoying! I thought you were the coolest grandpa. What have you done to your image?" She was shocked by this emotional blackmail attempt.
"I shall sacrifice my image to get you to come and meet us. You can't even keep the secret of my image crumbling? Hmph. Anyways, those tricks are always useful. See? How agitated do you become, listening to that dialogue? Hahaha." Vera sighed for the umpteenth time from yesterday noon to this hour.