Under The Veil of Night

"This is Kale Company."

"Hello, this is Kanae, an employee in the company. I want to ask for a day leave because of sickness."

"Alright, Miss Kanae, we will send the form through your email. Please submit it as soon as possible. If your sickness is very bad, you may fill it later."

"I still can move, thank you."

Kanae closed the phone and sighed to herself. Since when did the period become a sickness? Well, she didn’t have any spare clothes left because she didn’t do any laundry this week. Going to the office with the same clothes was clearly a no, so she could only change to the only clothes she had left and took her clothes out for laundry.

She obviously didn’t wash them using her hand as there was one old machine on the back. Using the machine, she finished her laundry fast and hanged them in the storage room. Because it was snowing, there was no way she would hang them outside. It would clearly looking for trouble if she did that.

Her special phone vibrated when she had finished. Her brows furrowed, but she still answered it. "Don’t tell me that they appear again?"

She would not believe it if those from the Zone Clan decided to attack Souhon Clan just one day after their failed attack.

"It’s not that, I receive the payment because of the attack yesterday. If the Zone Clan attacks again, we’ll get another one. Anyway, don’t you need this money the most? I want to give it to you."

"Just transfer them to the account!"

"You know I don’t have any account."

"Ask the others, I’m busy today," with that, Kanae hung up. She obviously didn’t want to show this appearance to anyone, so she would reject Tommy’s invitation. Besides, at this time she was supposed to be on the company.

It was at this time, she recalled that she hadn’t eaten anything. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any appetite. This was the effect from her hormone acting up because for two to three days she wouldn’t have any appetite.

’I hope they don’t think this to be weird.’

The next day, Kanae came to the office as usual. She had already submitted the leaving form for yesterday, but today she came again as usual. When she arrived in the lobby, she was greeted by the Old Man.

"Kanae! I hear that you’re sick yesterday? Is the company pushing you too hard?" the Old Man asked with a concerned tone.

Kanae smiled wryly. "It’s not that Old Man. I’m okay right now."

"Are you sure? If you want, you can take another leave."

"It’s fine."

The Old Man kept on pestering her for quite a while. She did her work as usual but noticed that her workload seemed to decrease compared with the ordinary day. Although their company had finished the deal, their workload should have still quite a lot because of the after effect and the different deal for the New Year that would come soon.

"Supervisor, is this all?" Kanae asked with a confused feeling.

The supervisor nodded his head. He was reminded by Kevin to not give Kanae too much because the girl was tired. It was at this time he recalled that Kanae was indeed still a high school student. They shouldn’t have burdened her too much.

"If you have finished, you can go to the top floor. Boss is waiting for you."

Kanae nodded her head. She had managed to finish her breakfast and lunch from Kevin, but her speed decreased by a lot. If Kevin were to see her eating slower, she wondered what he would say to her.

When she arrived in Kevin’s Office, Mike greeted her with a smile. "Good evening Kanae, how are you today?"

"I’m good Mike, thank you for your concern," Kanae answered with a smile.

"Kanae, I hear that you get sick," Neo immediately raised his head from his monitor. "Are you alright today?"

"Don’t worry, I’m not sick anymore," Kanae smiled. Inside her heart, she added, ’Except for my lack in appetite, there’s no other problem.’

Kevin pointed to the document by his side. "Start working."

"Yes."

With that, she moved to her usual spot and started to do her work as usual. Neo and Mike paid more attention to her occasionally but when they saw her speed, they no longer thought too much. If she still could work that fast, what should they worry about?

After a few hours, it was the time for dinner. Kanae took hers as usual but her slow eating speed caught the attention of the others.

"Hey, you’re eating like a snail today," Neo commented with a mouth full of rice.

"I just don’t have any appetite."

The three of them were startled. For the usually big eater Kanae to say that she didn’t have any appetite, it was like a miracle. They were thinking about that when Kevin raised his hand and touched Kanae’s forehead.

Kanae was startled by his sudden movement, but she knew that he was testing her temperature, so she let him.

"You don’t have any fever. Do you get the flu from the cold temperature? Your clothes seem old and thin."

"Ah no, I’m fine."

Kevin looked towards Kanae with a frown. From what he recalled, Kanae always wore similar old clothes. Did this girl didn’t have any interest in fashion? Well, her look was almost always plain, but if one paid closer attention, her complexion was not that bad.

"You should buy more clothes. During winter it’s important to have sufficient clothes."

"I already have enough clothes," Kanae said embarrassedly. This president was persistent.

"Do you not have enough money? I can raise your salary if you want."

"I will get more this month, it’s already enough."

"I believe the payment you got last month is more than the one you get from your usual part time job."

"I already use them for different things," Kanae dodged the question.

Kevin could see that she didn’t want to answer, so he no longer pestered her about that. If she didn’t want to tell him what she did with her money, it was not his business too.

He suddenly recalled something.

"Kanae, do you have any plan for the rest of the vacation?"

Kanae turned her head with a confused expression. "I plan to work in this company. Is there anything wrong, President?"

"I want to ask you for a trip."

"A trip?" Kanae was stunned.

Kevin nodded his head. "There’s a business meeting in the cruise near the end of the year. I will go there with Mike and Neo. Do you want to come along?"

When she heard that offer, Kanae felt her mind blanked for a moment.