I was not able believe I just wasted my precious day off! As soon as I got back home from Damien’s apartment, I felt so tired that I blacked out as soon as lied down. I woke up late in the night the next day, feeling even more tired.

I just used the remaining time to rest once more and here I am now, back in the office to spend my hours grinding.

The events the other night was actually a blessing since I happened to learn a lot. I even grabbed Damien’s files to submit to the boss, with Sheena’s permission of course. I just hope I can get some kind of bonus out of it.

“How was the short vacation?” the Boss greeted as he went inside the office.

“It’s alright, Chief” Keen responded as his eyes were already fixated in the computer screen.

“I got a massage yesterday and I’m all fresh again!” Miss Barbara ran her fingers through her hair and gave the boss a wink.

“Cray, why do you look tired?” The boss just ignored Miss Barbara’s obvious advance.

“A lot of things happened boss.” I replied with a weak smile.

Miss Barbara gave me a hostile stare again as if saying “How dare you get Jo’s attention from me!” or something like that. On the other hand, Gary was already asleep in the sofa.

As soon as the boss was seated, I stood up and raised my hand.

“Boss, I got something to report.” I spoke with a serious face.

“Fire away,” he replied.

I grabbed the documents I got from Damien’s room that I just organized this morning and brought it to the Boss’ table. The sizes of the papers and photos were not the same and a lot of them are crumpled or have some tears, making it filthy looking.

“Here are some files I was able to get somewhere due to a series of events,” I said.

Miss Barbara and Keen also went closer to the boss and looked at the files while the boss scanned through it.

“This is a lot of valuable information.” The boss uttered with no change in his expression at all.

“Info on the Kings and their hideouts? How the fuck are you able to get a hold of this?” Keen asked, surprised and agitated at the same time.

“Wow, you’re amazing Cray!” said Miss Barbara.

“Although some of the info were already known facts to us including Corson’s whereabouts as well as where we were, the other info are still not reliable,” I added.

We should doubt any unknown info just to be safe. I already found some wrong entries after I scanned through it, it is not surprising if there will be others.

“You haven’t answered my question yet, brat! Where the fuck did you get it?” Keen asked once again.

“Well…” I scratched my cheek with my pinky as I was unable to form a convincing alibi.

The Boss stared at me, as if studying my whole body as to what I was trying to say.

“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to,” the Boss cut in.

“But Chief! How can we rely on this if we do not know where he got it?” Keen protested.

“We’ll just verify the facts ourselves.” The Boss replied which made Keen flinch.

“I-I see”

“Keen, organize all the information you can get from these files then send it to me once done,” the Boss commanded.

Keen just nodded before he grabbed the files then went to work right away. Miss Barbara also went back to her seat and resumed whatever work she was doing.

I wonder why Boss left me off the hook? If I was the Boss, I would want to make sure I knew everything about what my employees were doing. What if I was actually plotting against him? Does he trust me that much?

“By the way, I have something to ask Boss”

“Fire away.”

“What do you know about the Holy Order?” I asked.

“Where did you even hear that?” Keen stopped working and butted in, looking completely suspicious of me.

“Well, I kind of encountered one the other night.” I said with an awkward smile.

“You fucking what?” Keen uttered in surprise.

“It’s good you’re still in one piece.” The Boss said.

“Yeah, I thought I was going to die!” I exaggerated as I extended my arms sidewards.

“We have not gone into contact with them even once but we do know of them. We refer to them as the Church.” The Boss said while he was getting something from the drawer under his table.

“What we only know of them is that they are a bunch of normal humans armed with some kind of holy power to kill demons, including the Possessed.” Keen calmly explained.

“This is a picture from Sir Ron. He only said to stay away from them.”

The Boss handed me a poorly taken photo of a blonde guy in glasses wearing a uniform that resembles the one Sheena was wearing. He was holding a huge sword, something like a great sword maybe? I am sure I do not want to cross paths with this guy.

“I see, so you have not encountered one yet, huh.” I mumbled while I stare at the picture.

“As per the rumors, they were said to be invincible yet they only target demons that were causing public disorder that’s why we did not focus on sniffing them up.” Keen explained.

“So how was the one you encountered like?” The boss asked.

“She singlehandedly defeated five lesser demons! She even had like some kind of magic or something!” I said as if a kid describing an amazing scene.

“Anyways, we do not need to worry much about them as long as we do not cause much trouble.”

“Got it boss!” I saluted before I went back to my seat.

***

Long hours of searching for any bit of clues and rumors were spent again. We’ve been doing these for days now yet we failed to come across anything fruitful at all.

I do not think we even have any clients or anything, I wonder where the Boss gets the money for our salary and maintenance of the place?

My spirits were once again lifted as soon as I saw the clock. It was time to go home!

The boss said goodbye and went out of the room yet Miss Barbara did not move an inch. Keen’s actions were understandable since he was always like that and Gary was still asleep which was also expected. After a few minutes, Miss Barbara stood up.

“Keen, is everything on your side ready?” She asked with full command on her words.

“I got the booze ready on the fridge and the cake should be good for pick up.” Keen responded as he turned off his device which was too soon for him to do so.

“Nice! I’ll get ready to cook the food then!” Miss Barbara lifted up a large shopping bag from under her table.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked, clueless as to what they are talking about.

“Did you not receive my message yesterday?” Miss Barbara turned to me with furrowed eyebrows.

“Message?” I quickly checked my phone and there is indeed a message.

I forgot that I was asleep the whole day yesterday that I was not able to check my phone at least once. I opened the message saying “It is Jo’s birthday tomorrow. We’ll throw up a party on the office after work.”

“Sorry! I was too occupied that I did not notice!” I bowed as I put my palms together.

“What is the purpose of your phone then if you will not read the messages?” She replied as if there is a fire burning behind her.

“So, is there something I can do to help?” I raised my head.

“Be my assistant as I cook then,” she replied..

Miss Barbara and I went to the kitchen to cook while Keen went out of the office to pick up the food he ordered. On the other hand, Gary was still peacefully asleep.

I was not that confident in my culinary skills but I at least knew my way with a knife. Miss Barbara produced the cooking ingredients from her bags like vegetables, seasonings, pasta, and others while she got meat from the fridge.

She commanded me to just help in preparing the ingredients, chopping vegetables and all. I did it as quickly as possible and handed it to her.

“Wow, that’s fast!” Miss Barbara uttered while she was cooking something else. “I can handle everything else, you can just relax over there.”

I sat the down on a nearby chair and watched Miss Barbara cook. It was the the first time I saw her so motivated. I mean it is quite obvious the she loves the Boss but it was still amazing.

“Hey Miss Barbara, why do you like the Boss so much?” I insensitively asked.

“Where did that come from?” Miss Barbara stopped what she was doing and looked at me.

“Well, you are giving an all out effort for him after all. I was just kind of curious.”

“I can’t really answer your question since love is complicated you know?”

Miss Barbara then turned her back on me and resumed what she was doing.

“But I just know that I liked him the first time I saw him.” She continued speaking while working.

“Love at first sight! How romantic!” I teasingly said.

“Kind of but it is more of a scary incident than a romantic one.”

“Scary? How come?”

“I was about to be killed by a demon that night. I thought I was dead then this handsome manly dude intervenes and saved the day.”

“Oh! Like a hero from a novel!”

“Starting that night, it was as if my world finally had colors again. That is when I came to know what love was.” Miss Barbara talked with a slightly more quiet voice.

“You do know about the suspension bridge effect, right? Confusing between love and fear?” I teased once again.

“If it was fear then the feeling should be lost ages ago!”

“I guess that’s true. So hey, have you directly confessed to him already?” I asked with a smirk on my face.

“I did.”

“Eh!? Seriously?”

“I asked him to be my boyfriend the same night I met him.”

“And? What did he say?” I excitedly teased.

“He just laughed. Maybe if I did not act so rash back then, he would treat my feelings a bit more seriously.” She remained still.

I guess an unrequited love really does hurt. Maybe I should bring it up with the Boss sometime as a joke. I wonder how he will respond?

“But even though I have those what ifs, I can say that I am satisfied with our current state.” She then turned to me then smiled. “Just being here to support him makes me happy.”

What a true wife material Miss Barbara is! If only I am a bit older then maybe I would snatch her away from the boss!

“Hey, can I have some help over here?”I heard Keen call from the outside.

“I will just check on Keen for a sec.” I told Miss Barbara as I stood up and made my way to the door,

“Hey Cray.” She called out to me just before I got out of the room. “About what I said earlier…”

“Oh? What about it?”

“I am happy in our current state, but I’ll be even happier if he accepts me as his lover one day.” Her face was then painted with pink while she gave a wide smile.

Now I got really curious as to what the boss feels! I will certainly get it out from him once I have the chance! This is the task that is handed to me by the gods!

“Hey! Anyone there?” Keen shouted even louder.

“Coming!” I yelled back as I rushed my way out of the kitchen.