Main Story Ch. 2-05 - The Time in Between (时间针脚) | Light and Night 光与夜之恋

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Behind the glass walls are the blurry figures of people busy working.

You: This is group A.

Few minutes ago, Mya suddenly received a phone call, so she only told me the directions for me to report to my group. After rehearsing my self introduction in my head, I cleared my throat, raised an arm to push Group A's door open.

You: Hello everyone, I'm--

"PAK--!"

The weight of the heavy metal falling onto the ground has interrupted what I had to say, the door handle has fell off to the floor!

You: ?!

Did I break it? I've broke the office door on the first day of work?!

Panicking, I did not know what to do all of a sudden, the figure nearby the entrance turned over as he heard the sound, and quietly turned over. It's a man that has a porcupine-like hair, he did not even look at the door handle, his gaze only fell onto me, and he immediately sprung up from his workstation's seat.

??: You you you--

You: I'm sorry! I didn't do that on purpose!

??: You are the newbie reporting in today right? Sis Zhen Lin, we have a helper now!

He shouted towards the other end of the office with an tone full of excitement. Why is this situation way different that what I've imagined?

In response towards that person's shouting, a plump lady walked towards me quickly, giving a friendly smile, but her smile couldn't mask the tiredness shown on her face.

Zhen Lin: Hello, welcome to Group A, I am the team lead here, Zheng Lin.

You: Hello... I... accidentally broke the door handle... I'm really sorry...

??: Hi, it's broken for half a month, we have no time to report it for HR to fix it, don't mind about it okay? Come come come, I'll bring you to your workstation! The stuff are pretty heavy right? Let me help you with those.

The man passionately took over my office supplies and walked straight forward.

Zheng Ling: That's good too, Mao Ge, show her around and introduce her to everyone, I'll head over as soon as I'm done with what's on hand.

I nodded, following the footsteps of man called "Mao Ge".

Mao Ge: I'm Mao Ge, the one that is the best to sing rock and roll in among the designers here!

His smiled ear to ear, pulled out the chair and hinted me to sit down, and pulled out a cloth out of nowhere, wiping my desk deftly.

Mao Ge: You're the second place winner in the competition right? We've all watched the finals, it's wonderful! Especially the part when you selected Director Qi, whoa! Too cool! How are you so brave to choose him? That face of his, even his a single breath from him will turn into ice! Have you seen sago cycas blossoms* before? Comparing those with Director Qi's smile, the blossoms are seemingly a little more common. 

*T/N: Sago Cycas (铁树, literally translates to iron tree) rarely blooms. 铁树开花 (Tie shu kai hua) is a Chinese idiom that explains an extremely rare occurrence.

Mao Ge: Of course I'm not talking about his mocking smiles, that is too common from him.

You: Uh... I was just thinking that it's a rare chance to receive comments from him.

Mao Ge: As expected from you, finally, a capable person has arrived our Group A, just ask me if there are any questions, follow my lead! 

Mao Ge joyfully patted on his chest, and by then he has already placed my office supplies properly.

Mao Ge: Everyone, put down your work for a bit, I am here to announce the joining of our new buddy, Y/N!

People around me all nodded to me as an acknowledgement, Mao Ge pointed to each and one of them as introduction.

Mao Ge: The girl in qipao is named Li Manman, she joined a month earlier than you. She kept her perseverance and interviewed thrice, just to join Warson.

Li Manman: Hi, please look after me from now onwards.

Mao Ge: He's Chen Che, our group's tailoring genius, joined Warson for almost 4 years, and was just recently promoted to a Intermediate designer.

The man named Chen Che raised his head from a bunch of fabric, hold onto his glasses, and carefully glanced at me.

Chen Che: Hello.

At this time, a boy with a quiff hairstyle straightened up his neck as he walked past us, and did not look bothered at all.

Quiff hair boy: Hmph.

You: He is...

Mao Ge: Don't care about him, he's someone despicable. Failing the promotion himself, then started to get jealous of others.

Not knowing what to say, I could only nod.

Mao Ge: That person over there, is Hao Shuai*, just like his name, he's the best-looking in Group A, a God when it comes to playing Werewolf.

*T/N: Hao Shuai's Chinese name is 郝帅, a similar pronunciation to 'very handsome' 好帅 (hao shuai) and his given name is also the same word as 'handsome'.

Hao Shuai: Do you play Werewolf? I'll start a round next time. But probably not somewhere soon...

Hao Shuai buried his face down in sadness, Mao Ge then pulled me to a side.

Mao Ge: He's not in a good mood during these few days, he didn't get promoted to Intermediate, so he's depressed now.

You: Sounds like... It's really hard to get promoted?

Mao Ge: That's right! Although Warson has a promotion system, but the assessment is scarily difficult, usual people will need 5 or 6 tries to pass it. If you performed badly, you might even get demoted!

You: This strict?!

Mao Ge: Same like you, I'm a Junior designer, I probably took the assessment for--

Zheng Lin (softly): 10 times.

Mao Ge: Sis Zheng Lin, you really do remember well.

Mao Ge pompously brought a chair for Sis Zheng Lin, as if he didn't feel bothered about the embarrassing number.

Mao Ge: Failure is the mother of success, if I earn a few more, they will definitely give birth to a major success.

I was amused by his joke, even Zheng Lin laughed too.

Zheng Lin: Our assessment system is indeed more strict. Although design is full of freedom, but in order to be a true designer, this is something very serious. The people who can join Warson are excellent talents, so the true test is the passion and perseverance towards designing. For ten years I've welcomed about a hundred new joiners, many of them have reached the verge of collapse after being defeated by three or four assessments.

You: Eh?

Zheng Lin: Firstly, it's because everyone have strong egos and are emotional, so when they listen to critiques for long periods, it's natural that they will not take it. Secondly, the job scope for assistant and junior designers are limited, they are generally boring and repetitive. If you are not determined enough, it's difficult to keep going on.

You: ......

Zheng Lin was about to say something, but the door was suddenly opened with a pop sound, a few people appeared at the entrance anxiously.

Colleague A: Can someone help me to integrate a report on Silver Autumn-Winter collection's fabrics? I still needed to go to the marketing and research department, I'm running out of time!

Colleague B: Estimating that the foreign models have issues with their visas, we still need 18 new ones. What should we do, Sis Zheng Lin?

Zheng Lin sighed helplessly.

Zheng Lin: *sigh* I should've let you to start getting used to the job first, but there are just too much ongoing right now... Can you help?

You: ... No problem!

Zheng Lin: Then go to the storeroom to select some fabric for Silver Autumn-Winter, then summarize the cost. After completing it, let Mao Ge to have a look.

I nodded, and joined the busy team. The time goes by, after an hour, I've finally finished my first mission. After letting Mao Ge to confirm it, he allowed me to send it to the Group A member having a meeting upstairs.

It's already closing to noon, but the doors of the meeting rooms on both sides of the corridor are tightly shut, the sounds of loud discussions could be heard from time to time.

You: Sorry for interrupting, I'm here to send some samples of the fabric.

Pushing door open, there's a designer that is currently explaining his own design idea loudly, Sariel held a pen, drooping his gaze as he looks into the documents in his hands. As for the other designers, some are focused in listening, and some are doodling on paper to jot down the inspiration they had on the spot.

The atmosphere felt like there are a lot of ideas debating and fusing, giving birth towards a brand new storm. I'll be able to have a meeting with everyone too... Just thinking of this, I can't help but to feel excited.

After placing the fabric, I can't help myself but to turn back to have a look, and left the office.

Mao Ge: Right, after the meeting upstairs ends, remember to take those samples back.

You: No problem.

After the meeting ended, the crowd has left, I stacked the fabric nearly, piece by piece, but accidentally found a pen lying on the floor.

The jet black body of the pen, slender yet sturdy, the end of the pen has three gold stamped petals.

You: This is...

An image of Sariel holding a pen, drooping his eyes and sinking in deep thoughts has flashed past my mind.

You: Is this his pen? It matches pretty well with that cold face...

I bent down as I planned to pick up the pen, but as soon as my fingertips touched the pen, my head suddenly felt a strange, yet extreme pain. My heart contracted violently all of a sudden, as if there's a nightmare buried deep in my heart is about to be awakened. The emotions of suppression, sadness and despair have rushed to me, as if something has stabbed into my heart.

What's going on?

I held onto my chest, wanting to try to suppress this sudden pain.

Sariel: What happened?

A blurry sound could be heard by my ear. On the next second, the pen was taken away, all of the weird sensations have suddenly left me at the same time. 

I looked at Sariel at a loss, still feeling a little dizziness in my head.

Sariel: Why are you stupefied? Did you see a ghost?

You: What happened to me just now...

Sariel: This is something I wanted to ask you.

[Choice]

Night: Hide the feelings earlier

Light: Describe the feelings earlier

[Night: Hide the feelings earlier]

You: I suddenly felt dizzy... but I think it's alright now. Oh, right, I picked up your pen earlier.

I pointed the pen that is already in his hand, but Sariel only lightly frowned.

Sariel: Were you dizzy after touching the pen?

Upon what he said, only I realized that it was indeed such an incident, but how does a pen relate with my dizziness?

[Light Choice:  Describe the feelings earlier]

I shook my head, trying to recall the odd feelings.

You: I... just now... my chest and head suddenly felt a lot of pain. I knew I'm in the meeting room, but also I didn't feel like I was here. It's like I've had a nightmare that I couldn't wake up from.

After hearing the word 'nightmare' from me, Sariel's facial expressions has changed subtly.

Sariel: How about now?

You: I'm fine now, and I don't feel terrible anymore.

Sariel: Has this happened in the past?

You: I think only once...

Sariel suddenly grabbed my wrist, I was surprised. But he was only quiet and looked closely for a few seconds, and let go very quickly.

You: What are you looking at? Is there something wrong with my hand?

Sariel: Nothing, you're doing well.

Abruptly grabbing my hand without telling me a reason, why is Sariel so weird? So, I closely examined my wrist, but there was indeed nothing out of ordinary, but I can't feel relieved at all.

At the rooftop back then too, such hallucinations appeared, whether it was auditory or via vision.

You: Should I have a checkup in the hospital? What if something is wrong with my body...

Sariel: Seeing you being lively, I don't think there's a problem with your body.

His gaze moved from my face to the top of my head as he spoke.

Sariel: Though it seems like there's a problem somewhere else.

You: ... ...!

I was angry, but I dare not to glare at him. Looking at my current expressions, I could catch a climpse of smile from Sariel's lips. It's the second time I've seen him smile... The sago cycas have bloomed...

Sariel: Are there flowers on my face?

I shook my head.

Sariel: So there's a ghost?

I shook my head again.

Sariel: Then why are you looking at me like you're looking at a monster?

You: You suddenly smiled just now, it's such a rare sight.

Sariel: ... Silly.

Sariel puts up a straight face, placing the pen back to his pocket, turned over to leave.

I immediately thought of something, and immediately opened the door to chase after him.

You: Wait a moment, Director Qi! Are you free now?