The following morning, Flora woke up feeling groggy and achy, her body marked with bruises as if she'd been through a rough tumble. Her initial thought was that Connor might have done something unsavory while she was asleep, but she quickly brushed that idea aside—it just didn't seem likely.
Perplexed, she made her way downstairs and plopped down at the dining table, her expression still cloudy with confusion. "Connor, did something happen last night?"
Moss and Beck, overhearing this, couldn't help but twitch at her question. Connor, keeping a straight face, handed her a bowl of oatmeal. "Nope, you were quite the angel last night."
Quite the angel?! Beck nearly burst out laughing at the sheer absurdity! Seriously, boss, could you be any more unconvincing? Last night, Ms. Flora was like a scene straight out of a horror movie, scaring the living daylights out of the bodyguards—they almost passed out thinking they'd seen a ghost! And yet, here he was, saying she was "quite the angel."
"I thought I was pretty well-behaved myself," Flora mused, attributing her strange state to the effect of some powerful medication.
After breakfast, Flora planned to meet up with Jules, but Mike's call interrupted her plans. "Flora! Are you back at the base?" Mike's voice carried a hint of urgency.
"Yeah," Flora replied, her tone as cool as a cucumber.
"Get to the lobby, now!"
"What's going on?" Flora wasn't one for drama; if it wasn't crucial, she wasn't going to bother.
Mike's voice dropped to a whisper, "I can't explain over the phone. Do you know about Martial World?"
Flora stopped in her tracks, her grip on the phone tightening. Martial World...
"I'll be right there," she said, ending the call.
The executives, putting on their best smiles, assured them, "She'll be here soon. Just a little longer, please."
They never thought they'd meet someone from Martial World. It was always the stuff of legends, but here they were, face to face with reality.
"More waiting? Who does she think she is?" the woman fumed.
"Lillian, calm down," the man said, taking another leisurely sip of tea. "Ms. Flora is quite the celebrity. We must invite her back with all due respect."
In Martial World, people were envious of the Schuler family for snagging the chance to bring Flora into their fold. Elders were practically at each other's throats over this. In the past, Martial World could just snatch whoever they wanted, but those days were gone. With FUND keeping a watchful eye over everything, no family dared to step out of line.
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