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Chapter 20

Elena stares at her notebook without blinking, so intense that the skin between her eyes folds into a frown. Her pen is dancing between her fingers. She has sunk to the point of no return in her thoughts and she is no longer aware of her surrounding. Even when her housemate is approaching her, she is still frozen in the same state.

"What're you doing?" Elena raises her face, moving her gaze away from her notebook. Only at that moment did she feels sore in her eyes and forehead. She faces back down, closing her eyes and massaging her forehead. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" Aika proceeds with more questions after the first one was left unanswered. A sense of concern is displayed in the way she asked, even though the tone of her voice sounds chill. She takes a seat on the chair across from her housemate and continues focusing on her.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Just feel dizzy a little. Don't worry about it." Elena answers weakly as she continues massaging her forehead with her eyes still tightly shut. Aika squints her eyes at her housemate. Elena's words do not match her behaviours at all, making her choose to not believe her housemate. She quickly changes her facial expression back to normal when Elena looks up at her.

"Uh, okay." Aika decides to just play along with her housemate. "So, what were you doing?" She repeats her question that was being ignored earlier. Elena fixes her posture on her seat and faces her friend properly.

"Nothing really. Just looking at our total sales and cash flow for this month." Elena brings her gaze back to her notebook, flicking the edge of the page a few times with her fingers.

"I guess it's not really pleasing, from your facial expression earlier."

"Oh, you saw me earlier? How long have you been watching me?"

"Not too long. Don't worry. It's not like I took pictures or anything." Aika cracks a joke. The sight of her housemate chuckling at her joke sends a feeling of relief into her heart. Without her noticing it, a grin formed on her face.

"Right, about the sales. I think I want to conduct a quick meeting with you and Khai. Are you okay with that?" Elena returns to the main topic of the conversation. The frowns on her face had disappeared, replaced by a sweet smile.

"Fine by me. You want me to tell him?" Aika offers to help.

"It's fine. I'll tell him myself." Elena closes her notebook and gets up from her seat before arranging her steps to her bedroom with the notebook in her hand. Aika watches her friend for a brief moment. It is not long before she also leaves her seat to the kitchen to get some snacks.

***

Khaiser blinks in confusion a few times. His mind is empty. The plate full of untouched meals right in front of him becomes the centre of his focus. His gaze then moves to his two co-workers who are sitting across from him, after it devours the massive three-layered burger and cheesy nachos covering his plate. However, they are having too much fun eating, talking and laughing that they do not even notice his gaze. Or at least that is what he thought.

"What's wrong Khai? You okay?" Khaiser is about to bring his gaze outside the window next to their table when Aika calls him out. He looks at her. "Don't you want your food? Give it to me then." Aika reaches out for the nachos on Khaiser's plate with a wide grin on her face. Her hand immediately receives a gentle slap from Elena, making it draws back to its owner. Meanwhile, Khaiser still freezes in his seat, giving his co-workers an empty stare. He did not stop Aika at all as his mind is still overwhelmed by confusion.

"Don't tease him Ai. Poor Khai." Both Elena and Aika giggle in their seat. "But yeah Khai, what's wrong? Are you sick?" Elena shifts her focus toward her only male co-worker.

"No no, I'm good." Khaiser waves his hand and shakes his head lightly.

"Then, what's wrong? You can tell us." Elena tries to dig deeper, showing her concern.