What if I ain't no violinist?

167. Twoset Gen α

A/N: Generation α (Alpha) are those that will be born from 2010 to 2025.

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It was the year 2035.

"Eddy?"

"Yes, hi."

"Hi Eddy, nice to meet you, I'm Brett. We're in the same team. I'm the team leader, which means you can ask me anything. Let me know if I can help you in any way to help you to settle in, okay?"

"Okay, thank you Brett."

It was Eddy's first day at work as a fresh university graduate of engineering. Brett, the young man who greeted him with a warm smile and handshake seemed like a really nice guy. Eddy was shown to his desk which was adjacent to Brett's. After Brett showed Eddy some of the administrative side of things, he took Eddy into the workshop to set Eddy up for a simple hands-on task.

"Eddy, I'll see you in the cafeteria upstairs in an hour, we'll have a break together, yeah?"

Eddy smiled and nodded.

"Eddy?"

"...Brett."

"Are you alright?"

"Um... yeah.. I'm fine."

Brett moved his chair a bit closer to Eddy's and lowered his voice in the office cafeteria.

"Eddy, talk to me. What's the matter?"

"Oh.. um.. no, it's nothing."

"That face is not a nothing face. What happened?"

"I.. "

Eddy blushed.

"Yes...?"

"I'm feeling a bit uneasy about someone here.."

"Um.. okay...? Why?"

Brett initially thought from his blushing, Eddy had developed a little crush on someone. A bit unusual for a new employee to admit to a work colleague within hours of his very first day at work but Gen α were known to be a bit eccentric, granted Brett was also from the same era since he was only a year older than the newcomer.

"Um..."

"..So you like her?"

"W, what?"

"Oh, sorry, I mean.. you like him or her? This person?"

"N, no...!"

"Oh.. um.. okay. Look, it's really hard to help you if I don't know what's bothering you, can you please elaborate?"

"This guy.. he did this gesture that made me feel uncomfortable."

Brett furrowed his brows.

"Oh geez that's not good."

"Um.. would you come into the workshop with me after this Brett, please?"

"Yeah, of course I will."

After their brief coffee break, the duo returned to the engineering workshop.

The engineering workshop had a large bench in its centre and smaller desks along the walls. Eddy, hired as a junior engineer, was first given a relatively simple task of taking quality control measurements of some samples, to learn the names and expected benchmark figures of one of their products. In the corner of the workshop, a couple of technical staff were working on drilling holes into assembly parts.