Neon Lights

39

Honestly, Alia was the last person he wanted to talk to.

But there was no choice left for him to take here. A huff of breath left his lips as he exited his lab, the coat on his body feeling like chains around his limbs. His heart skipped a beat at the thought of finding her and then... what was he supposed to do exactly?

His social skills were limited to talking to Rye and Rave. He hadn't really made any other friends in his life, excluding Draven, and it wasn't like he wanted to either. Shoving his hands into his lab coat pockets, he forced his feet to keep moving, eyes darting around to see if she was anywhere near.

He could contact Rye. Maybe he would know her whereabouts.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his eyes found her. She was exiting one of the labs, talking to a woman who looked particularly familiar. He stopped walking, keeping his distance even as they were walking right toward him. Breath hitching in his throat when the woman next to Alia met his gaze from across the floor, he forced his shoulders to remain relaxed.

"Callisto?" the woman said, her name escaping him. He tried his hardest not to squint at her to recall where he had seen that face before.

"Ah," Callisto said, once the image registered in his head. She was one of the people in the meeting room with Angelo and Jean. The curiosity in him died to welcome a wave of unpleasant emotions. Great... it wasn't enough he had to talk to Alia... alone, now he had to see her face too. "Hi."

"You're supposed to be working," Alia said, catching his attention. The disapproval was thick in her words, hackling his chains already.

"I am working," Callisto said, holding his tongue from adding I would actually be working if my experiment hadn't been forcibly stopped. She only raised her eyebrows at him, disbelief clearly marring her features. He cleared his throat, glancing at the woman next to her before back at Alia. "Actually..." Here went nothing. "I need to talk to you." He glanced at the woman next to her again. "Alone."

Alia simply raised her eyebrows higher. "Alone," she repeated, her tone careful. "What for?"

Callisto's cheeks warmed, anxiety bubbling in him at having to lie his way through this. How was he even supposed to get her to talk when she was this cautious of him?

Not that he could blame her... He didn't trust her either.

And yet... she was close with Draven. Close enough he was confident he could get information out of her with just flattery and whatever it was he wanted to do.

The bitterness from the thought finally had Callisto taking in a deep breath and said, "About my work. I need your opinion on something. And... you're the only one who can help me."

Alia remained quiet for a moment before she sighed. "Fine, come along. Let's talk in my office. Susan, you can go ahead. We'll have a meeting about this sometime this week."

Susan, the woman who had been standing next to her, opened her mouth before she closed it, darting another glance at Callisto before she nodded. Odd. He didn't really make a fuss about it though. It was better if he had as little interaction with her as possible.

Following Alia to the closest elevator, he let the silence between them stretch. His mind reeled from strategies on how to get her to talk about her experiment, about her research. But there was nothing really he could come up with. They didn't have any similarities with each other. Their conversation would mostly consist of work and Callisto would go home begrudging her existence.

It was rinse and repeat here with her.

Glancing at her, the worry in him that he was going to arouse her suspicion grew larger and larger in him.