Days later...
Lola sipped her coffee, standing by the sliding door of the kitchen. From here, she could see the sa n she’d seen when she first arrived — running laps again.
"Ah—" Allen paused at the kitchen entrance when he saw her. "Miss Lola, you’re early!"
Lola glanced at him and smiled. "Not as early as your boss. He’s not ho. I thought he already left for business."
But seeing Allen here now, she doubted that.
"Ahh... well, he’s probably in the gym," said Allen as he resud his steps to make himself a coffee. "Sir Atlas always starts or ends his day training."
"Oh..." Lola’s mouth ford an o-shape. Since Atlas was usually ho in the mornings, she concluded he must have been training at night. "Is that why he sotis cos ho late?"
"Sir Atlas cos ho early."
"Early?"
Allen nodded, standing in front of the coffee maker. "Unlike before, he cos ho early now. That’s why everyone’s happy about this. We don’t go ho unless he does, after."
"Ah..." Lola rocked her head slightly, thinking how Anteca’s work culture differed from Novera’s. It was no wonder Anteca had quickly risen to beco one of the world’s biggest economies. "I see."
Allen smiled at her before turning back to the machine. "You probably don’t know this yet, but many have been wishing you both well. So are even wondering when your wedding is."
"Not you too..."
"I’m just saying it, but I’m not pressuring you at all." He laughed, giving her a quick look. "I don’t think anyone’s in a rush."
Lola smacked her lips and smiled, watching him continue making his coffee. A thought crossed her mind.
"Sir Allen, I didn’t realize you were staying here too," she muttered. "I thought you lived sowhere else — not with your boss."
"My boss likes efficiency. Besides..." He chuckled softly. "I’ve thrown away the life I had before. I could stay sowhere else, but with the nature of our work and Sir Atlas’s lifestyle, it’s better if I stay close."
"Don’t you feel suffocated?"
Allen paused and looked at her. Lola clarified,
"What I an is, when you can’t separate your personal life from work anymore, things can get a little overwhelming."
"I got used to it," Allen said with a calm smile. "Sir Atlas might be a bit much sotis, but he’s not hard to live with. All I need to do is avoid him at all costs once I clock out."
Her face twitched while he took a sip of his coffee. Then he continued,
"Besides, working for him helped in so ways." His voice softened, eyes lowering to his cup. A subtle smile crossed his lips before he looked at her again. "You probably wouldn’t understand, but there was a point in my life when I just... needed distractions. Sotis, dealing with things doesn’t take ti — it takes sothing to fill that ti. He gave that distraction fully."
He chuckled quietly. "I don’t think I’d still be alive if he hadn’t worked to the bone. Sounds masochistic, but I’m grateful for it."
Her brows rose as she studied him while he sipped his morning fuel.
"No," she said softly. "I can relate."
And she ant it — from the bottom of her heart. After all, Vito had been in her life for the sa reason: distraction. Everyone she didn’t want in her life had been a distraction, too.
They exchanged faint smiles before taking quiet sips from their cups. Lola turned back toward the runners outside.
"Say, Sir Allen..." she trailed off, brow arched. "Is your security personnel’s training always this intense? When I first ca here, I saw that sa group running laps. The past few days, too. Even last night, before I went to bed, they were still running. And now, this morning, they’re at it again."
Allen walked toward her and stopped beside her. When he saw the group she was talking about, he couldn’t help but laugh.
"Miss Young, they’re not training."
"Huh?"
"They’re being punished." He looked back at the group. "They were the ones assigned to guard the penthouse and follow you. But they failed their jobs, so now they’ve been ordered to run until they die."
Her face froze, eyes wide. "Please tell you’re joking."
"..." Allen turned to her, lips pressed into a thin line. He blinked innocently, trying to rephrase his words into sothing less horrifying. But how could he, when those were Atlas’s exact words?
"Oh my god..." she gasped, turning to the group with visible worry. "Does that an they haven’t stopped since I ca here?"
"Of course they did. Otherwise, they’d... collapse by the third day."
"What does that an?"
"Well... dying from dehydration and exhaustion isn’t as painful as one might think," Allen explained carefully. "It’s better if they stay alive a little longer."
"You an suffer a little longer?"
Allen bit his tongue. After a second, he leaned closer and whispered, "Miss Lola, please don’t tell Sir Atlas that I told you about them."
"..." Lola bit her inner lip, studying his face before turning back to the group. She went quiet for a mont before asking, "I understand that the ones following had no idea what was happening in the penthouse, since they never stepped inside."
"But what about those guarding the penthouse?" she pressed, knowing Allen would give a real answer. "I never asked before — I just assud things happened and escalated. But now that you ntion it... why weren’t they in the penthouse?"
Allen let out a shallow breath, rembering Scarlet’s decision. "Scarlet pulled them out. She needed them elsewhere. She’s the head of security operations, so she has the authority."
"I see."
With that, Lola began walking out of the kitchen. Allen blinked, frowning slightly.
"Miss Lola?" he called, instinctively following her. "Miss Lola! Where are you going?"
Lola looked back at him, her steps never slowing. "Saving a few lives."
His face contorted a bit as he watched her go, walking straight to the jogging path and then standing in the middle of it.
"I would worship her..." he trailed off, dread creeping up his spine. "... if she didn’t get in trouble for this."
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