Undo

𝙼𝙰𝚁𝙸𝙰 𝙻𝙴𝙾𝙽𝙽𝙰

~ APRIL TWENTY-TWENTY ONE

~ IN ZELLWINGERS' RESIDENCE

"Joe! Hey, um does this mean?" Ed excitedly asked me.

"Yeah hehe" I arrived at the gate of the Zellwingers past noon carrying all my belongings.

My life had changed drastically since that day. I quit my job and worked for the Zellwingers. I wasn't a normal employee back then. Ed gave me a part of his shares for free so basically I am receiving revenues more than a normal job could ever pay me. Ed put me in the manufacturing department. He knows technology is my forte. I started out as a Plant Technician. I repair and maintain machines essential for the plant's manufacturing process. No one knows my relationship with the Zellwingers. A thing I kind of asked Ed for. I don't want any special treatments. I want to be treated like how everyone else was treated.

After a year, I got promoted to the Research and Development department on June 1, 2022. This was an important milestone towards my goal. To finally be of access to the tools and equipment I need to decode that formula. I worked and I secretly had stayed after office hours to do some research and tests regarding that formula. It was then I discovered that it's a formula that can bend time or at least an idea close to it. After 3 months, I was promoted to be a Senior Research Specialist.

In my time as a Senior specialist, I met 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂 𝑳𝒆𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒔. A Junior Research Specialist.

It was on a holiday. The plant had minimal manpower. Most of the departments were closed as well as ours but that didn't matter. I went to work anyway. That job served as a vessel towards my goal and also served as a distraction from the past I was trying to escape. Unlike any other employees, I loved that job more than anything else.

The Research & Development department was comprised of two main teams: The software development team and the hardware innovations team. Each had different line of expertise but their outputs meet at a certain point to create a new equipment or process that would benefit either the workers, the company, or the consumers.

On that sunny morning of June 26, 2022. I was working on a test program to simulate the formula. It was non-work related so planned to do the testing when no one else is around. CCTVs? I live with the owners of that company. Access to them were pretty easy for me. I didn't bother telling Ed or Ms. Zellwinger about it 'til am sure that it'll work. I was in the Software Development wing and I met the largest wall in my pursuit of decoding the formula; a power source stronger than the Sun is needed for it to work. I was like 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳?? 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵??

A wall that convinced me to temporarily stop my experiments until I find that energy source.

Speaking of walls, since every wall in this department was made of glass, I can literally see everything around. That's when I realized I wasn't alone. There was someone lurking around inside Hardware Innovations Department.

I looked closely. It's a girl.

Her hair was partly colored with some golden-brown highlights. She was wearing an oversized lab gown. Which shows either she was fond with oversized clothing or she was in a hurry and just grabbed any lab gown available from the department's lobby. Either way, it doesn't matter. Although the department's called Research & Development where one was supposed to find goal-driven and enthusiastic people working in, in contrary, most employees there were just mere employees. I saw no passion in their eyes for what they were doing. They were just there for the money they get every fifteenth and thirtieth. But this girl is working on a holiday. Although the building's fully air conditioned, I can see her wipe her sweat often. Then, one thing hit me. I realized I haven't made 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 friends while working at WCE. I was too focused on my goal that I forgot to get a life. Well then I thought that time would be a great start.