Can You Feel It?

14.

"It's Aera. She must be here to get an official statement from us on some of the closed cases." Finn remarked as everyone paused in their work, briefly sneaking at her, and there was a slight lull in the activity. "Probably Amella's case."

The woman had come in right after me, drawing attention to herself. Someone had gone to inform Maddox that Aira from The Black Swan - a global news company dealing in everything from gossip articles, sports coverage to criminal and political news.

And she'd certainly made a name for herself as one of the best reporters in the field at 26, just a year younger than me. And already so accomplished. Probably also a free person and better off than I was.

"Oh, she's gonna be pissed." Someone whispered.

Another person grumbed, "Man, not today. I'm tired."

Another female agent, Sadie, smacked the man who'd spoken and grinned lightly, "Oh, it'll be fun. Don't be a spoilsport. It's always entertaining."

"What are they talking about?" I questioned, turning towards Callie just as the door to Maddox's office opened.

A handsome man walked out wearing a pressed navy blue suit and a briefcase, his features disturbingly aristocratic in nature. He must have been nearly six feet, close to Erex's height, just an inch or two short.

"I'll see you later then, Mr Abernathy."

"Pleasure's all mine." He smoothly shook hands with Maddox and then turned, charmingly  smiling at everyone and greeting us with a polite wave. 

Our Head of Department walked back in, waving his secretary closer and muttering about sending Aera inside in a few minutes before a brawl broke out.

In the meantime, the man in question who I could now recognize had reached the lobby and promptly stopped.

Computers and printers whizzed, a phone rang somewhere and someone answered it but all of it seemed like background noise. I heard some munching sounds and looked around for a split second, only to find a packet of chips being circulated. Everyone had their eyes glued to the two encountering in the lobby and munching away as if this was a daytime opera.

I could almost see the glee in some of their eyes.

This was a new development. Hmm.

I turned back to watch the drama unfold as well, grabbing a chair from the side and deciding to seat myself. I caught view of Erex's sturdy physique just stepping inside the lobby and promptly stilling.

"Oh my. Look what the cat dragged in." The blonde haired aristocrat drawled, and his voice could be heard far too clearly than should be possible in an office on a Thursday morning.

The woman's face morphed from stunning, cold beauty to sneering iciness. Her lips curled, and she stood up, the name spoken slowly like a knife being dipped in poison. "Abernathy."

Giving a mocking little bow, "Always a pleasure to see you, Jung Ae-Ra." Even despite his thick British accent, Jared pronounced her name perfectly in the Korean accent.

I realized why he'd emphasised the correct pronunciation of her name. Mostly, everyone knew her as Jung Aera. They pronounced it more as Ai-Ra. An americanized version of the name they couldn't correctly pronounce, and she must have learned to just accept it. 

Ae-Ra glared at him. He smirked, glaring back but in a pleasant kind of subtle manner. Huh, I needed to learn how he did that.

"Why are you here?" She asked heatedly.

"I'm a lawyer, Ae-Ra, or did you forget? We just met two weeks ago, though." He stepped closer to her, towering over her roughly 5'3" stature and deriving obvious joy from it. "Or do you perhaps need me to send you some herbs and almonds for helping your memory?"