Cafeteria

Dev's hunger directed him downstairs to the grand hall cafeteria area. While fresh lunches could be bought here in the afternoon, the firm offered free dinner for late night workers - something that was all too common in a sector and field of work as the litigation world. He noticed there were a handful of people, mostly associates and maybe some people young enough to be trainees, though Dev didn' recognise any of them. Cummings & Ryder had many departments with over a hundred lawyers and even more support staff, but he was willing to network and get to know them more. He got a few sandwiches, sat at a table of friendly strangers and conversed with them as he had dinner.

When he was done, he had added half of them on LinkedIn and said he'd catch up with them when they're all more awake tomorrow. But just as he was leaving, he spotted out of the corner of his eye, a beautiful, familiar figure. I'd recognise that ass anywhere. Sofea, the Pakistani receptionist, was seemingly rushing to leave, and Dev couldn't place why she was at work so late anyways.

He dashed to cut her off the exit, abruptly stopping Sofea's elegant stride. "Sofea, hey! I didn't expect to see you here so late. Not expecting any late-night clients to come in for a meeting, are you?"

Sofea glared at him, with vague memories of what they had done together last time they were together, Although her brain had rewired that to normalcy, the way she felt about the situation did not change. "Dev... I was just studying. You know I told you about my part time classes at ULaw. I'm allowed to work late here and use the firm's resources," Dev had no recollection of this, though to be fair to him, he had something else on his mind when she had told him this. "Sorry, I'm in a bit of a rush so I really have to go."

Dev noticed how dismissive she was being of him. Remembering how sourly Aisha had also left him in text, he had a good opportunity to relieve some stress right in front of him. Dev also has the choice to go to the library to progress his research note instead.