Work and thoughts

Having millions in the backpocket was nice. He could taxi in and out of work without a problem. Since he arrived early and his coworkers weren't in the area, his supervisor was unexpectedly kind to him. He patted Aaron on the back and said, "Good work with Iman Avesta. She told me you did a great job."

"Thanks, sir."

"No problem, dude. I hope your sister is doing alright," his supervisor said, genuinely sorry. Seeing the older male feel such sympathy for a person that didn't exist put a little guilt in him.

Aaron wore a thin smile. "Me too, sir."

It was off to the cubicles after that. Although his supervisor appreciated his presence at the party, he did still skip Monday. His excuse of a family emergency didn't irk him too much, however, and he was let off with the same amount of work on an ordinary day.

Aaron sat in his black leather chair, mulling the information he received from Hadiyah. 'So Jaina stole a metal in New York. I doubt it's a coincidence. It has to be one of those five special metals the Penguin mentioned. Batmanium, Dionesium, Electrum, Nth Metal, and Promethium. With them, you can become a god…'

But Hadiyah's laptop said otherwise. Her records claimed it was not the power of a god that the five metals gave. Rather, it opened a portal into the Dark Multiverse.

'Whatever that is,' Aaron thought. 'Something called Perpetua and the Darkest Knight tried to destroy everything. They failed, of course, but the metals still exist. The question is: what would happen if someone brought the metals together again? Would they open another portal to the Dark Multiverse? Or something else?'

There was a knock on his cubicle wall. He spun and smiled when he saw it was Iman. "Hey, how's it going?" A pause. He looked her up and down. The tight, grey business suit was on but her disciplined demeanour was totally lost. "You alright?"

"Hungover," Iman replied, clicking her tongue. "I think somebody must have messed with our drinks…"

It was probably Jaina. She had to meet with Hadiyah, after all.

"I left with Hadiyah so I have no clue what happened. Are Jace and Tamara Fox alright?" Aaron was impressed with his acting skills. Iman didn't suspect him in the slightest as she sighed.

"They're alright. I don't think it was them either." Iman groaned and sighed again. "Maybe I'm just getting old and paranoid. I thought there was another woman but maybe not…"

"Maybe," Aaron said, shrugging his shoulders. "By the way, was there something you wanted?"

"No, no, I was only here to check up on you." Iman smiled as if it was painful. "Thank you, Aaron. Mrs. Tanya Fox seemed to love you. I think her husband was also impressed. Our building might get additional funding."

"All thanks to you," Aaron said smoothly.

Iman rolled her eyes. "All thanks to you, you mean."

"But nobody will know it," Aaron said. "I'm fine with that."

"I can tell. But thank you, again. You showed me a wonderful time yesterday. I hope we can continue to work together."

Iman put forth a hand. Aaron thought about her words carefully. 'Does she want me to act as her date from now on? Hm…'

"Of course." Aaron shook her hand and smiled. "What are friends for?"

Iman stared at him and lifted a brow. "That's the first time I've seen you smile like that." Hearing that remark, Aaron's lips immediately went flat. Iman chuckled, slipped from his grip, and said, "Until next time, Aaron."

"Sure…"

Was it bad that he was beginning to open up? Smiling? Acting less emo and more like a social butterfly?

'Don't think too hard about it. Focus.'