Project: Socialize (Chapters 198-Continued) [Hiatus]

323. Action

"Chance of that happening might not be very high," I answered. "Everyone's probably busy with their own assignments. Hence why this floor is so quiet."

"I guess..." Cynthia sighed. "Well anyways, I'm going to be checking my assignment. Talk to you later."

After saying goodbye to Cynthia, I returned to my office, closing and locking the door behind me as I entered. With a press of a button beneath my desk, the curtains automatically closed behind me, blocking out the aerial view of the city and provided me with privacy. Then, I inserted the USB into my computer and checked its contents.

There was a list of assignments, all of which were some forms of investigations that ranged from investigating politicians to political dissidents. However, there was one assignment that caught my attention in particular.

The Edel Group: Treason

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[Irina's Perspective]

I stared out the tinted window at the passing city lights, letting out a sigh of fatigue after another another tiring day at work. Just a few hours earlier, I had just gotten off a plane after returning from wrapping up filming for a new television series that will be airing sometime next year after the editing has finished.

I shook my head, trying to force myself to wake up for this special occasion. I reached into my purse and retrieved my phone, smiling as I stared at the group chat that I have with my high school friends. There were a few new notifications in the chat with the topic being centered around tonight's reunion at Grand Marlton Hotel, one of The Edel Group's hotel.

I looked out the window once again and looked off in the distant sky and saw the hotel skyscraper towering in the distance in downtown Nocsinis, standing out amongst the many skyscrapers as they all became a piece in the painting that is Palisia's beautiful skyline.

I smiled as the hotel became closer and closer, feeling great excitement within me since I will finally be able to see my close friends once again. I am happy, but that's still not the same happiness that I felt back in the day when everyone was present. Once again, he will not be there.

I do regret not being able to spend more time with him back in the day and telling him how I feel. I did hint it to him before, and I'm pretty sure he understood what I meant. He and I both know that his lack of response and pretending to be unaware was simply our best attempt at maintaining the relationship that we had already had. I don't know exactly how he felt about me, but I would guess it wasn't completely nothing. 

He's always been lacking in terms of self-confidence, so I could already guess what kind of excuses he used to persuade himself. Something like how it's all him just imagining things, how there's no possible way someone would actually like him romantically. I could tell whenever he starts thinking about those things, as he would always look away, back slightly slouched with his hands in his pockets, and head slightly raised as he looked at the sky, probably with a smile of self-pity on his face. Whenever I see him depressed like that, I always had to resist the urge to hug him from behind and explicitly tell him how I feel and that I don't care about what society would think. But...I was also afraid. I also lacked the courage to do so.

My car soon arrived at the front of the Grand Marlton Hotel where a staff member was already waiting for us, ready to direct us to a private parking lot. My driver followed the directions that we were given and soon, the car was parked in the quiet VIP parking section of the hotel's parking lot where another hotel staff member was already on standby awaiting me.

I was soon led to the elevators where we rode it up to the seventieth floor where the restaurant was located. However, I was taken to the private room through a pathway that was limited to employees only to avoid causing a scene in the restaurant. Soon, I arrived at my destination and entered through the opened doorway, walking past the hotel staff that was holding the door open for me.

"Irina!" Muria smiled as she saw me enter.

Once again, I was back in this familiar room that has now become our usual gathering spot. Looking around, I saw that the others had already arrived before me and had all settled in at the large, circular table in the center of the private room.

"Sorry for being late," I said, apologizing as I greeted everyone with a smile.

It has been a couple weeks since we last gathered, so everyone took the opportunity to catch up with each other, going over any interesting events that might have occurred recently and talking about what has changed or not. The atmosphere was rather pleasant with everyone glad to see each other. However, I cannot help but notice that someone was missing.

"I think we should hire an investigator to find him," I finally gathered up the courage and said, interrupting the casual conversation and bringing the atmosphere to a chilling point as everyone became silent.

"Why?" Noah asked. "He's been avoiding us. It's been a few years now. I think we're all used to them not being here."

"Still," I sighed. "I want closure. I want to hear it from him. I'm tired of all this speculation."

"You said that before," Noah continued before staring off dimly at the empty space before him.

"Well..." I sighed, "Let's not just do the talking and actually do something this time."