Acheros Co.

Chapter 2 - Ikigai

My thoughts were completely occupied by my interview on the drive home. How did I think it went? Oh, left turn here. I had felt confident, but what if I'd come off as too eager? A right after Subway.

Were my statements too cliché? Should I pick up some dinner? I decided that yes was the answer to my food-related question. U-turn.

I stood in line behind an older couple who were figuring out what they wanted to order. I noticed that a girl in the adjacent line looked quite familiar. Latina, petite, short brown hair. Hmm. "Hi, sorry to disturb you but do we know each other?" She glanced at me and her eyes widened. 

"Aila? From Missouri? What are the odds-"

"Rosa! Oh my gosh, it's been so long! The last time I saw you-"

"It was the end of our Google internship, yeah! One sec. Mexican Patty foot-long, please. Mm, to go, thank you." She waited for me to finish ordering and we sat at a nearby table.

"How have you been, Rose?"

"Good, good. I applied for a full-time manager position at Google after the internship and transferred here. Been working here ever since."

"Ooh, I'm so happy for you!" I told Rosa about my job interview and she congratulated me. 

"That sounds epic, not gonna lie. I'm sure you'll get the job. You're such a talented girl!" she gushed. "If it doesn't work out, it's probably because you're overqualified, hah. You should have applied for CEO." 

We chatted some more and exchanged numbers, planning to meet up soon. 

Once I reached my apartment, I took the stairs instead of the elevator since I only lived on the second floor of the 9-storey building. As I unlocked the door, I wondered what my best friend was up to. At 8:30pm, probably still working. Much to my surprise, I heard noises of utensils in the kitchen when I entered. Was my best friend finally trying to eat at a reasonable time?

"LEO?" But no. It was not Leo. In the kitchen stood a young man with tanned skin, rummaging through the drawers. He looked up when I entered and smiled. "Hello?"

I eyed him skeptically, definitely not intimidated by his height, and broke into a fighting position. "If you're a thief or kidnapper, you should know that I'm a black belt in taekwondo." 

I edged away to the other side of the island, preparing to sprint inside and rescue Leo. No way I was going to leave my friend behind. But at that very moment, Leo's bedroom door opened and out walked the man himself. He seemed perfectly fine. "Ailaa! You're homee! And I see you've met Kota."

I eyed the chap in the kitchen. "Kota Hisoki? I'm sorry, I thought you would be Japanese."

Kota's smile returned. "I'm British-Indian. It just so happened that my great-grandfather visited Japan and fell in love with the country, so he changed his name and made it a tradition. Leo, um, she was about to attack me."

Realization dawned on him as I relaxed my hostile stance and he smiled sheepishly "Oh. Aila, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot to mention that Kota was coming today. I know he was supposed to come next week but his plans changed and I invited him over." How could I stay mad? Leo was such a sweetie.

"OKAY! That's completely fine with me, bestie. Just make sure to tell me next time, please?" Leo broke into a grin. "Thanks, bud."

"It's nice to meet you, Kota. I'm sorry for the cold welcome." He chuckled. "It's alright. I apologize for not introducing myself earlier. I didn't realize you were his flatmate. I think he forgot to mention that you're Indian... or a girl." He frowned at Leo.

"Aila and I met at WashU. We both were in the chess club. She's one of my best friends." Leo explained. I looked at Leo, hurt. "One of...? lol, just kidding, I know I have the esteemed flatmate position. By the way, I stopped at Subway on the way back. One foot-long Veggie Delite without tomatoes, cucumbers and pickles for you, my cool friend." I said, handing the paper bag to Leo. His smile widened. "See? She's awesome!"

"Good thing I bought extra. Kota, are you non-vegetarian and do you like Subway?"

"Yes. For both."

"Great! I have an Italian BMT and a Roasted Chicken sub. If you guys want more food, I can whip something up."

(Disclaimer: I am not being paid by Subway to promote their products... Sadly.)

Dinner passed by in a blur, sharing anecdotes and laughing together. I learnt that Leo and Kota were pretty close friends in high school. Even though Leo had gone to the US for university and Kota stayed in London, they'd kept in touch online. After WashU, I had moved to California and drifted apart from most of my other friends but luckily, Leo had the same plan as me and we ended up living together. For the past few months, Leo has been working at a local laboratory as a biochemist and I have been doing online courses and job-hunting. I knew that I didn't have enough experience to become a senior manager so I hoped I could shadow a CEO as an assistant. The position being at Acheros Co. was just a bonus. Apparently, Kota had graduated from King's College London with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. He was working for Adobe and had come to San Jose for a workshop. He spoke animatedly about his career and we listened eagerly until we couldn't keep our eyes open anymore.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, I was greeted by the sight of my best friend jumping up and down in joy in my bedroom.

"Leo? What's up?" I asked groggily.

"AILA, GUESS WHAT? THE CHEMICAL WORKED!" He exclaimed. "I just spoke to Theo and he said the clinical trials were PERFECT."

"OH MY GOSH! THAT'S AMAZING! I TOLD YOU IT WOULD WORK." I joined Leo in his happy dance.

Kota's head peeped out from the doorway. "What are we celebrating?" We stopped dancing and tried to catch our breath. "We're celebrating the fact that Leo Cudbert is a genius and his project was successful!"

"Oh, okay. What project?" 

"Leo has been working on this for 4 years. It's a chemical that can instantly knock out people and send them into a deep sleep. It's revolutionary because it can be used to make effective non-lethal weapons for the defense industry. It's a huge step forward in Leo's vision of a world where police use non-lethal weapons, unlike the bad guys." I spoke before Leo, beaming with pride. I would have pointed to him and shouted, "That's my best friend, guys!" but everyone in the room already knew that.

Kota nodded, clearly impressed, and congratulated Leo. Unfortunately, he didn't do a happy dance. While I was brushing my teeth, my phone screen lit up with an unknown number. I spit out the toothpaste hurriedly and composed myself. "Hello?"

"Aila, congrats, you got the job!" Jabari's cheery voice rang out.

"Oh my goodness, thank you so much! I thought Bea would call me?"

"Yes, she's going to, but I couldn't hold in my excitement."

"Aw, thanks, Jabari."

"I better cut the call before Bea catches me, haha. Good luck and see you soon!"

"Can't wait!" I cut the call and squealed. Everything was working out for us! I searched for Leo and Kota to tell them the news, but they were nowhere in sight. I noticed a note stuck to my bedroom door with the words, 'Hey Aila, Kota and I are going to the grocery store to buy some groceries. We'll be right back!'

I tried to call Leo only to realize the man had left his phone at home and I didn't have Kota's number. True to Jabari's word, I received a phone call from Bea a short while later. She asked me to come in to fill out some forms so I wrote a note for Leo, sent him an SMS and left in a jiffy.