Incipience

Chapter 15

"There's virtually no reason for him to have all of this to himself," I mumble. "This is just extra."

I'm not surprised that Vorem's apartment is as luxurious as it is, he's a part of the bourgeoisie after all, but this just so unnecessary. When I say this apartment is huge, I mean it.

As expected from the son of a councilman, Vorem lives in his building's penthouse. This apartment has six bedrooms, a large living room, a formal dining room, and a kitchen that looks like it's straight out of a magazine. Much like his office, the place has an impersonal feel to it with its black and white minimalist decor. By the looks of it, he either has a maid that comes in to keep it so immaculate-looking or he's never here to leave behind any signs of life. I have a feeling that the latter is the case.

Yesterday afternoon when we got here, he was in the apartment for about an hour and a half, two tops, before he was called away. As a junior-councilman, he serves as a middle man between the council and local officials, so he's on call for whenever things go wrong, and apparently there was an emergency in the district he helps oversee that he had to tend to. He offered to take me along, but I declined. I'm glad I did, too. An entire day and a half have passed and he still hasn't come back yet. There's no way I would've had the patience to be out and about with him during whatever crisis he had to attend to after the day I had yesterday, especially for this long.

I run my hands through my hair. Yesterday had to be one of the worst days ever. I'm usually so good at keeping my cool, but it's something about these Inovarians that get a rise out of me. I can't let this keep happening because I'm likely going to get myself screwed over if I continue letting them play me like this. I definitely could've handled the encounter with Mendir way better than I did. I took to the situation like it was one of my debate competitions, not a negotiation and I'm paying the price for it.

Ugh, if only I was nicer about saying I didn't want to be a Xinxi! I for sure didn't need to come swinging with my 'I said what I said' personality right out the gates. I think that's when everything took a turn—no, it was more when I tried to call his bluff. Yeah, that's when everything hit the fan.

 I think if I didn't say it like that, things could've gone over a lot more smoothly, but then he might not've seen how serious I am about this whole thing. There had to be another way for me to have said what I needed to without getting on his bad side. Man, if only I—

I shake my head to pause the scenarios running through my mind. I have the bad habit of punishing myself with thoughts of a million 'If only I had just—'s after something didn't go my way. The situation was something to learn from, yes, but there's no point in mulling over what I no longer have control over. Besides, I've wasted enough of today doing just that.

I spent at least three of the five hours it took me to do my twists earlier actively making up scenarios about how I could've turned around my situation and still wasn't able to come up with anything that would've realistically worked. I'm sure I'll find some way out of this whole situation at some point, but for now, I need to take a step back before I drive myself crazy.

"I've had enough of moping," I mumble to myself. "Let's see what this place has to eat."

I rifle through the pantry and the fridge until I come across one of the few Inovarian fruits I'm familiar with, the daid. It's essentially their version of a pear, but it's a lot sweeter than its Earth counterpart with a different coloring to it. The majority of the things I found in the kitchen are foreign to me, so you can only imagine my excitement when I finally find something I recognize.