Checkmate

8

Waking up energized before my cup of coffee on a workday is a sign that I'm going to have a good day. After last night's shenanigans, diving into this case was just what I needed to distract myself.

"Good morning, everyone. How're you doing today," I said as I stepped through the door.

"Hey, Kim," Manon said, focusing on the copies sliding out of the printer.

I gave her a small wave and took a seat at the head of the table.

Patiently waiting for everyone to get together, a smile itched its way on my face as I observed her.

Manon joined our team a few months ago. She towers over me by a few inches with the most perfect dark brown skin. Her round face is always accentuated by her hijab and it doesn't take much for her deep dimples to show themselves. From the moment she got here, her passion and dedication were clear to me. These two things could sometimes play against us depending on the case we were faced with. She's slowly learning to keep a more "professional" seeming approach to things. When a client is in trouble, the last thing they need is to start doubting their attorney's ability to get them out of trouble. No matter how impacted we are, the mask must remain on as long as we're on the field because our enemies won't hesitate to exploit even our smallest weaknesses.

Walking in with our coffee were Akira and Bruce. Akira's of short stature and has a petite figure. With her wavy blonde hair hanging over her butt and porcelain skin, she could at first glance give off a cute and innocent impression. However, the second she opened her mouth, you'd quickly realize that she did not care for being ladylike. This girl couldn't go a day without cursing, so much so that we had a swear jar just to poke fun at her antics. By the time we reached Christmas last year, we had enough money to throw an office party.

I watched in sheer pleasure as she walked into a desk which caused her to spill some coffee on the floor.

"Mother fucker," she managed to mumble through gritted teeth, instantly looking around hoping to have gone unnoticed.

The second her eyes landed on me, her face fell and she sighed, put down her stuff, and walked to the jar to put in a dollar.

"Jesus Christ, already? The day just started," Bruce said as he sipped on his drink.

Akira gave him a pinched smile, rolling her eyes as she sat down, amusing the rest of us in the process.

Bruce is much older than all of us. Now in his late forties, he is a father of five, married to his wife for almost twenty-eight years. We've been working together for three years, two more than Akira and Miki have. With his spiky black hair and Dad-on-duty demeanor, he's a dedicated lawyer and has no time for bullshit.

Now that they had found their respectful seats, I got up and opened up my binder. As I pulled out all my files, Bruce handed me a coffee. I gave him a thankful smile before taking my first sip. My eyes fluttered close as I hummed in delight. Thank God for caffeine.

"Okay, so if you read over my email you should have a pretty good idea of what our case consists of. I have some more information here and a whole box in my office. For now, this basically sums it all up," I spoke as I walked around the table placing a packet in front of each one of them.

When I reached the empty spot, I sighed and turned to them, "Does anyone know where Miki is?"

They all shook their heads while staying focused on their reading.

I patiently paced around the room; waiting for them to finish up when suddenly, the door opened and Miki's frustrated grunt filled the room.

"Sometimes, it's like the universe decides to give you the shittiest day imaginable. As if dealing with that wench that is my landlord wasn't enough, some fucker scratched my car with his bike and almost took out the side view mirror in the process."