Kaija sat across from Karl on the couch in the waiting lounge now, watching as the young man downed the two large cups of boba tea in his hands like they were cheap beer.
His cheeks puffed out, stuffed with white pearls, moving nonstop as he chewed them, a strange mixture of fury and bliss written all over his baby face.
She could hardly believe this young man would be twenty-eight this year.
"Feel better now?" she asked, sipping slowly and blissfully at her own full-topping boba tea cup.
"Barely!" he exclaimed, slamming the empty cups onto the coffee table.
"You've got milk foam all over your mouth," she said, pointing at her own lips.
Karl's brow twitched faintly before he wiped it furiously with the back of his hand, shouting loudly, "I know!"
Kaija's face went blank at the volume. She was too busy holding onto her cup to protect herself from the impact this time.
"Alright then," she said, rising from her chair, "if you're done enjoying your tea, then I'm going."
"Stop right there!" he called out in that same deafening volume, already shooting up onto both feet. "Before you go, tell me exactly why you had to pick that song out of my hundreds of brilliant other songs, you little insolent creature!"
She blinked twice at the fury on his face, then said flatly, "Hmm… let's see. Why did I pick that song?
"Oh! Didn't I say in my introduction that it was one of my favorite songs?
"I thought I made it pretty clear to you by remembering every single word in that ultra-wordy, lengthy piece of a song."
"But the thing is!" he snapped with a deep scowl. "You could've picked anyone else's song! Why the fuck did you have to pick mine? You think you can sing it better than me?"
"Oh, hell no, I didn't think that," she said plainly. "I picked your song just because I wanted to impress you."
Karl was left utterly at a loss for words.
He stared at her, his face reduced to blank disbelief, turquoise eyes trembling.
"No fucking way," he muttered, folding both arms across his chest and glancing away with a pout like a sulking child. "Stop fucking with me. I remember you said straight up to my face that my music was only good for putting you to sleep."
"Oh well, the later albums do, not gonna lie," she said with a small shrug. "But the first ones? Hell, those were fire and air crashing into full-blown firestorms. They were exactly my type, and Sociopath was the best thing you ever wrote in those mad-genius albums. What the hell happened to you? Why'd you stop making that kind of music?"
Silence returned to the room, thicker this time.
But instead of the chaotic disbelief from earlier, the silence on Karl's end now carried defeat and loss, stirred by her words alone.
"Shit happened to me," he said curtly without explaining further, no longer meeting her gaze.
His back hit the couch with a heavy thud, legs sprawling as if just thinking about it drained the life out of him.
"There's something seriously wrong with you," he commented flatly. "Either you're a complete idiot, which you probably aren't, given how you sang my song, and that's something not just anyone can do, or you're an absolute genius, which I refuse to believe, considering how much I hate just looking at your face."
"Erm… okay?" Kaija mumbled, still unsure whether he'd complimented her, insulted her, declared his hatred, or was simply proving to her further he was an incomprehensible human being.
"Sorry, I know you don't want lunch, but I do," she said, already turning on her heel. "I'm going. My salmon rice is waiting."
Karl's jaw once again went taut at how quickly her interest had died.
"Then I pray you choke on your goddamn salmon rice!" he shouted, but the girl fleeing the scene showed no sign of stopping or looking back.
Enraged, he punched furiously at the back of the couch, all his fury and frustration poured into the poor cushion.
"Tch, fucking crazy little insolent birdie!" he grumbled as he did. "Didn't even fucking invite me for lunch! Didn't even fucking say goodbye!
"She thinks she can just get me boba tea and be done with it? Do I look that easily bribed, huh?
"Just two cups of the most perfect combination of boba tea in the world and you think I'm sold? It wasn't even bought at my favorite boba place!
"Arghhhh, you're not getting away with this, fucking birdie! Mark my damn words!"
Perhaps there was more to his much frustrated rant, but the girl was no longer even around to hear a single word of it.
One whole week of training passed by for Kaija in the same chaotic rhythm.
When she dragged herself back to Building S very late that Sunday evening, the introvert in her was completely drained.
"When will this boring torture ever end?" she mumbled to herself with a long sigh, leaning against the elevator as it went up. "Maybe selling all my organs would've been a better idea than staying here for the next few years of my life among these people."
The elevator slid open with a soft ding.
One heavy step after another, she strolled down the corridor, making her way toward her flat.
Just as she reached for the handle of her door, Kaija heard a faint creak echoing from the other end of the corridor.
Inevitably, her attention turned toward the sound, and her mind snapped wide awake upon seeing the door to Room 2 swinging open.
"Right," she muttered, "Neighbor."
The person stepping out of the room was a tall man with neatly trimmed chestnut hair. He wore the same black tailored trousers she'd always seen him in, that same white shirt highlighting the slightly tanned shade of his skin, and the same expensive-looking leather shoes.
His eyes, that same stormy silver, were fixed straight on hers the moment they landed on her.
"Charles?" the name slipped out of her lips, as natural as calling a friend, though she'd only done so once.
"Eh… what are you doing here?" she asked, raising a brow. "I mean… aren't you supposed to live in some grand villa off campus?"
The natural way she called him by his name seemed to please him.
His steps carried him closer, his lips curling faintly as he said, "I do live in a grand villa off campus, but I live here too."
Her brow drew together. "But I haven't seen you all week."
"I had a rather busy week with other companies under the Kosonen Group," Charles replied, "but when time allows, I prefer it here. It's much more convenient for taking care of things at KE."
"Oh, I see," she nodded faintly, unsure whether she should thank God that she lived literally one corridor away from her boss, or dread it now that she wasn't exactly fond of the contract anymore.
"Um… then I guess you've got some KE business to take care of now," she concluded, reaching for her key card. "I'll be going, then."
Before she could swipe the card at the door, his hand came up in one swift motion, blocking the scanner.
"I have no KE business to take care of right now," he said plainly.
His head then nodded toward his room, his face and voice remaining calm as ever. "If you've nothing else on your mind, would you like to come over for a drink?"