He was Almost Absorbed by the System

Chapter Eighty Nine - Investigations Gone Cold

Author's note; Thank you for sticking with this arc so far, it should get more interesting/exciting after this chapter! Hopefully!

Jezmi's Official leave could not last forever and she returned to work with a heavy heart.

Jariden also placed his own mission on hold, having to pour his focus upon the new factory.  He also took the time to visit several elite universities, especially ones whose core focus was art to see if he couldn't obtain a new talent before other companies tried to woo them.  This flight path he could not travel along for long; in the bodies and faces of a select few he would see two haunting blue eyes and a slender, unripe youth with curly blond hair.  It was not good for his temper.  Finally, he gave up this search with just a handful of potential names.  His fiancée also caught the strangeness of his distracted self.

Haellen had convinced him to take a day off of work and to accompany her shopping.  Who knew that she also roped in her older brother who had also fallen into melancholy of late.  What was possibly worse was that the woman had been shopping for three hours and both men were over burdened with packages as were two of their bodyguards.  "Haellen, what sort of 'therapy' is this?" Aldon complained, his cold mask slipping in front of his younger sister.

"Hmm?  Well, after seeing the men in my life so gloomy," Haellen replied without a hint of remorse in her tone.  "I decided to cheer myself up with a little shopping."  The men exchanged glances of condolences.

Her 'therapy' lasted another hour before she was finally sated and had Jariden's driver and her own take her purchases to her condo, then instructed Aldon's driver to take them to Takamichi's, a small bistro that catered for the elite market.  Haellen ordered a Haytanian latte with cream imported from Casta Nova.  Aldon's black coffee was brewed using beans harvested from Piliri 7.  Jariden always felt distinctly out of his element when Haellen dragged him to places like this.  What was wrong with just asking for a standard coffee and who the hell cared where the beans came from?  It was all caffeine, wasn't it?  Fortunately, Takamichi's owner happened to be a customer of his, so when the old man saw him enter with his fiancée and future brother-in-Law, he didn't ask what he wanted, just served him a straight coffee.

"Ah that feels so much better," Haellen claimed with a long sigh as she sipped her latte. Aldon did not say a word and drank his coffee without savouring it's rich flavour.  "Now are either one of you going to share with me what is wrong with you?  Honestly, walking around with a cheap purse from Primarny would be more entertaining than you two recently."

"There's nothing the matter, Haellen," Jariden said, dismissively.  "Work has just been a little more hectic than normal.  We've been working on a new range, but I'm dubious about the design.  I think it is a little too standard for our market and wish to relook at it, my shareholders don't agree.  To them, the delay would cost money.  I took a trip at the wrong time allowing them to get a little too relaxed, it seems."

"Haellen mentioned you were taking a trip outside Imperial space for business purposes.  Did it go well?"  Aldon asked.

"Not satisfactorily," Jariden replied.  "I ran into your ex sister-in-law as well."

"Jezmi?"  Aldon paled somewhat, but covered his surprise with a sip of coffee.  Aldon glanced over at him as if it wasn't weighing upon his mind at all and his words were idle curiosity.  "What was she doing across the border?"

"Searching for leads," Jariden replied vaguely.

Aldon paused for a moment, stirring the dregs of his coffee with a spoon, before toying with it in his hand.  "Did she find anything?" he finally asked.

"Hold on, please," Haellen interrupted.  "What is with this conversation?  And how do you know Jezmi Welhaven?"  She said these last words to her fiancé.