Lena Loves Again

11

^^Emma

Lena and I were laughing on her couch. I had introduced Lena to the world of Among Us and she was terrible at lying. It was so obvious whenever she was the imposter. I had to help her EVEN when I was on the opposing team! It turned into me playing as both Lena and myself.

Lena and I have been meeting up after work for the past couple of months. Our interactions consisted of us chatting and me introducing her to Gen Z games and trends. I'd also bitch about my work and the people who irked me. Lena would simply listen and found my assessment of certain colleagues to be interesting. She valued my opinion especially when we'd geek out about scientific discoveries and come up with our own hypothesis and discoveries. I loved talking to her about science and she was even more excited than me to speak about it. As of now, I was eating the Chinese takeout she got for me.

"These are absolutely delicious." I licked my lips. "Where'd you get the pot stickers from?" I grabbed another one.

"Q by Peter Chang." Lena answered. "I'm glad you're enjoying them. How are the egg rolls?"

"Amazing." I closed my eyes and smiled. "So, so good." I observed her smiling at me. "So tell me more about yourself."

"What would you like to know?" She chuckled.

"Anything." I shrugged. "No one knows anything about you."

"That's not true. Hailey knows things about me."

"Besides Hailey." I waved my hand. "Who are you outside of work?"

"Umm... that's a good question. Most of my life has been dedicated towards working, so I'm not really sure about my identity outside of it."

"Alright, then what got you interested in this field? Why pharmaceuticals?" I smiled, but saw her get a faraway look in her eye.

"My late husband..." I couldn't hide my shock since I didn't know she was married. "He had a passion for medicine and had a dream of helping humans live a long and prosperous life. He deeply desired to craft something that would make their lives easier." She took a deep breath to compose herself. "And everything I do is to honor his memory. He wasn't able to achieve it, so I hope he can somewhat be happy through me. I want his legacy to live on through my work."

Lena looked down and played with her fingers. I didn't care about crossing a line when I placed my hand atop hers. She looked up and forced a smile my way. I rubbed her hand with my thumb to provide her a sense of comfort.

It made me feel incredibly guilty. My dad wants me to be a whistleblower to a woman who is dedicating her life to her late husband's memory?! How the hell can I screw with someone like that?! She's doing everything in her power to make people's lives easier and he wants me to dig around and find something that the company does wrong. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to develop a friendly relationship with Lena when I'm supposed to betray her.

"He'd be blown away by your accomplishments." I softly smiled.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Was this company a vision you shared with your late husband?"

"I created this company as an homage to him."

"How'd you convince investors to loan money?" I was intrigued by her business plan.

"I... I convinced no one." She muttered. "My other late husband-"

"Another late husband?!"

"Ya." She lightly chuckled. "I was able to tap into his bank account and fund the construction of this company."