Chapter 29: He’s a Monster

Chapter 29: He’s a Monster

After Jack dropped her off at the company, Clara checked the time and heaved a sigh of relief. She went directly to the department’s manager’s office.

“Knock knock knock.”

Clara stood in front of the door and rearranged her hair which was a little bit disheveled while she was rushing.

“Come in.” A voice was heard from the inside and Clara slowly pushed the door open.

“Good morning, Mr. Long.” Clara smiled at the middle-aged man sitting in front of her.

The man closed the document in front of him and looked up with a smile. “Clara, how’s the project going?” he said and stood up from his chair.

“It’s going great, Mr. Long. But… the team is having trouble designing the characters,” Clara answered quickly in a polite manner.

“Hmmm, you know this is a very huge project. And if this game is released, it would be a very big hit.” Mr. Long paused for a minute and added, “That is why I summoned you today.”

He brought out some papers from the table which stood in a corner of the office.

Clara gulped nervously as her eyes followed him.

“This is the blueprint of the characters we need. I’m sure your team already has it but I’m giving this to you personally because I want to entrust you with this task,” he said and handed her the papers.

“Mr. Long…” Clara’s eyes widened slightly and she stared at the man perplexedly.

“I know you have a background in comic drawing, Clara. And this is also a big opportunity for you to prove your talent which could earn you many credits in the future. I’m sure you can do this.” The man patted her shoulder with an amiable smile.

Clara wondered how he knew she could draw comics and muttered, “Mr. Long, how did you know?”

“Oh, I heard it from your friend, Mira right?” The man cut her off and said while going back to his desk.

Clara was astonished for a second before she realized that Mira had sold her out. She remembered mentioning to her during one of their lunch breaks that drawing comics was one of her favorite hobbies.

‘Mira! Hehehe, just you wait and see’ she tightened her grip on the blueprint in her hand and growled inside.

Then she stared at the man, who had already sat down, with a forced smile. “Alright, Mr. Long, thank you for entrusting me with this. I’ll do my best.”

---

Mira was in her cubicle eating a snack when she suddenly sneezed. “Hehe, I wonder who is missing me,” she said, then continued eating while looking at some work on her computer.

Clara went back to her cubicle and sighed while looking at the blueprint in front of her. There were about thirty characters in the game which made it a little hard for the team to come up with different personalities for each character. She studied them carefully and sighed again.

The game was about an adventure of six friends who would travel to the past where they would meet different kinds of creatures and conquer a kingdom that was ruled by aliens.

She quickly took out a worksheet and started constructing a strategy for each of the characters.

Mira walked into Clara’s cubicle and found her friend engrossed in work. She frowned slightly and walked closer to her desk where she found out what she was doing and her expression turned into one of excitement.

“Wow, so Mr. Long took it seriously when I told him you could draw comics.” Mira clasped Clara’s shoulder who almost jumped out of her seat.

“Hey you, Mira. Look what you’ve landed me into.” Clara waved the blueprint in front of her with one eyebrow raised.

Mira scratched her head and chuckled awkwardly. “Ehm, Clara. I just mentioned it in passing, didn’t know he would take it seriously.”

“Yeah, thanks to you, my workload has increased. Hmph.” Clara pouted her lips and glared at the mischievous friend standing in front of her.

“Come on, Clara, don’t be mad,” Mira whined and held Clara’s arm. She thought this could be a great opportunity for her friend to showcase her talent which was why she mentioned it to Mr. Long

Clara laughed inside seeing how anxious her friend looked. ‘Hmph you deserve it,’ she thought inside and finally smiled knowing that Mira did it for her own good.

Mira heaved a sigh of relief and patted her chest dramatically when she saw her friend’s smile. She held her hands and slowly dragged Clara up. “Let’s go to lunch, I’m famished.”

“Wait a minute,” said Clara and she quickly rearranged her desk before they went down to the cafeteria.

Inside the cafeteria, as they were eating and chatting away happily, Mira’s phone suddenly started ringing.

She brought it out of her purse and her face darkened when she saw the contact name displayed on her screen.

“Mira, what is wrong?” Clara noticed the change in her friend’s expression and asked worriedly.

Mira shook her head quickly with a slight smile. “Nothing,” she said and pressed the hangup button.

Clara sighed and studied her expression again. She noticed that her friend had been secretive these past few days and she would often find her spacing out. She looked down and they continued eating.

After some seconds the phone started ringing again and Clara quickly glance at the caller’s name before Mira could switch off the phone.

“Who is Zach?” Clara looked her in the eyes with lifted brows.

“Huh?” Mira was baffled for a second then she sighed gloomily. “It’s a long story, Clara.”

“Oh.” Clara nodded her head. “Is he bordering you?” she dropped the spoon in her hand and asked anxiously.

Mira chuckled and shook her head with a sad smile. “Mm, you could say that.”

“Mira, what is happening? Does he perhaps have something to do with why you were sad the other day?”

Mira nodded her head. “He’s a monster.” Her voice trembled and she gripped the spoon in her hand tightly.

Clara was astonished seeing that her friend was about to break into tears. “Oh no, it’s okay. Let’s talk about this some other time.” She stood up and carefully patted her shoulders.

Mira chuckled sadly and wondered when this ache in her heart would disappear. She looked at Clara gratefully then dropped her head and continued eating.