Some things change. | l.s.

10

As always Mallory was right and Louis was rested the next day, being in a comparatively good mood even with the uncertainty of what he had to expect at work in mind. His mood was one thing, he knew that was temporary, but to every minute he was awake he thought about the people he was close to and what impact he, his decisions, his character and his problems had on them. They had to deal with him, with his episodes and sometimes breakdowns, they were worrying about him constantly and he didn't want that. He didn't want to feel like he was selfish for letting a handful of people in, in the first place because if they wouldn't have known they wouldn't worry, but they did and he blamed himself for loading that on them and always being a burden.

When he stepped into the office he felt relief when no one looked at him strangely or walked up to him, feeling relatively safe so he could start working and managed to work through a lot that was left undone the last two days. He was being left alone, not a single person disturbed him throughout the entire morning and he was glad about it, sometimes it got a little annoying when people knocked on his door in short periods wanting the most different things from him especially when he already struggled with concentrating on bad days, so it was nice having some time for himself.

His first contact with a person was when he called Laura in his office around eleven to discuss meetings and his schedule for the week and she rattled down what tasks she got done and where she needed more information. When they were done she got up and glanced into his empty mug.

"Can I get you another coffee?" She asked. "I was about to get one for myself anyway."

"You know what? I'm coming with you." Louis smiled and got up.

"What? O-okay. Sure, yes, okay." She said surprised.

"I don't have to when you don't want that, I just thought we both deserve a little break." Louis assured with a smile, misinterpreting her reaction.

"No!" She shook her head quickly. "No, not at all. I just...can I ask you something?" She wondered.

"Yes, of course. Always." Louis said genuinely.

"Why are you so nice?" Laura asked. "I never heard a boss being that kind and present to their employees like you are. Department leads or direct superiors, okay. But not a CEO. I mean, I never heard one having coffee with their assistant when not needing to discuss anything."

Louis chuckled at her unexpected question and how she got into it so much.

"The question is why not? Come on." He gently pushed her forward and they left his office to go to the kitchen. "Look, I know it's uncommon, but I value a good working environment because I want my employees to like their work and because I don't see a point being unnecessarily rude towards anyone. I knew people like that and I swore to myself to never become one of them."

"Okay, I understand that. But that's beyond 'not being rude'. You do so much for us which you certainly don't have to." Laura said confused. "You're paying the rate for my car so I'm able to be mobile and don't have to use the train in the evening when it gets late. You know best I'm earning enough to be able to afford that."

"I try to help whenever I can and when I have the resources, then why should I keep everything for myself? I've got everything and I don't mean that in a conceited way- not at all- I mean, I don't need much to be happy and content and I just want to give, you know? I know you can afford it, but you want to live as well, right? I know how expensive everything is especially in a Metropole like London and it certainly doesn't harm me." Louis tried to explain with a frown, not sure if that made sense. It did in his head.

"You're really admirable. Amazing, yeah." Laura said astonished and Louis chuckled, then her eyes widened and she waved her hands around panicked. "I'm sorry, Sir. That was totally inappropriate!"