𝙵𝙰𝙻𝙻𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝙼𝚈 𝙻𝙰𝚆𝚈𝙴𝚁

Chapter 28

M/n smiled at that. "Thanks. Well, that was the status update I wanted to give you. I've got to finish up here so I can leave here."

"Of course! Go ahead. We'll see you later," his mom said.

"See you!"

With that, he hung up. Quickly, he finished up the rest of the work he had left for the day. He'd sorted more documents into their respective files, made calls to the necessary people, and made some more progress with his notes.

By the time he'd finished, it was about one in the afternoon. He got up from his chair and gathered his stuff, slinging his suit jacket over his shoulder and grabbing his leather briefcase. He closed and locked his office behind him, making his way out.

"Sol," he said as he walked by the secretaries' desk. "If anyone calls asking for me, let them know I'm no longer in the office today and I'll take their call tomorrow."

She nodded as she set down her drink. "You got it. I'll let them know."

He thanked her and left for the elevator. The doors shut and the elevator began to go down. Halfway to getting to the ground floor, the elevator stopped, which made M/n look up. Slowly, the doors opened.

Lo and behold, it was Eszter. She seemed surprised to see him as well as she stepped inside. "L/n," she said, her gaze trailing to the briefcase and suit jacket hanging from my arm. "I'm assuming you're not going out for lunch?"

"You'd be right," M/n replied.

Eszter held her bag and cleared her throat at the rather awkward atmosphere. "So, uh..." She began to say. "What are you up to? Headed home early?"

"Something like that."

"Right..." she said, her attempt at a conversation quickly shut down but she tried again. "How's work? Not too stressful, I hope?"

"It's been going well so far."

She smiled, hearing a good response from him. "That's good to hear. I'm glad."

M/n turned to her a little. "What about you? Settling in alright?"

Eszter nodded. "Yeah, actually, I'm handling my own case right now. It's small, but Mr. Sakai's been acting as a shadow and helping me where I need it."

"I see..." M/n replied. "Sakai has some good advice, so make sure to take notes. They might come in handy one day."

That was the last thing said as the elevator stopped at the ground floor. The doors then opened, allowing the two to leave. They headed down the hall and parted ways as M/n went to go talk to the front desk staff.

Eszter simply watched for a bit before heading out of the building to find somewhere to eat. "Mr. L/n," one of the staff members said. "How can I help you?"

"I already let Sol know, but if anyone calls or comes in asking to meet me, please let them know that I'm out of the office for the rest of the day."

"Of course," they replied. "I'll take care of it."

"Excellent, thank you."

M/n then turned on his heel and walked out.

--

Soon, his car pulled into the driveway of his house. As he stepped out of his car, he was greeted by the head maid, Mayumi, whom he had called earlier to inform her about the situation.

"Welcome home, sir," she said with a smile. "Everything is as tidy as always so you have nothing to worry about."

"Thank you so much, Mayumi," the (h/c)-ette replied as he stepped inside the house.

He hung up his suit jacket and briefcase on the hooks by the door and looked around. Sure enough, the house looked as clean and tidied up as it had always been. "We have drinks to offer, yes?" he asked.

Mayumi nodded. "Yes. I had them prepared earlier."

Just as M/n finished looking around, he heard a car pull into the driveway. "That must be them," he said and walked back over to the door.

"Best of luck, sir."

Outside was a black SUV and out of it stepped Isabel Magnolia and a different case worker. "Mr. L/n," Isabel greeted him, holding her hand out. "Good afternoon."

M/n accepted her handshake. "Ms. Magnolia."

Isabel then turned to the woman beside her. "This is Mrs. Duran," she told M/n. "The court sent her along to help me conduct the inspection."

"Hello," Mrs. Duran said, holding her hand out to him. "That is correct. I'm here to be the family court's eyes. I hope that's no bother to you, Mr. L/n."

"Not at all," M/n replied as he accepted her handshake as well. "As the court's eyes, I trust you will be fair in your judgment?"

Mrs. Duran nodded. "Of course. We want to give the child the best opportunity, after all."

"Then, please," M/n said. "Step inside."