Coming into work today should have been like any other day for Kylian, namely dull and uneventful. However, today was different. As soon as Kylian approached the front entrance where the regular guard normally recognized him, he noticed a noticeable increase in STS Agents. In fact, STS Agents crawled around everywhere and carried more firearms drawn than usual. Those with long rifles pointed them down toward the ground, but their fingers were on the trigger. It was not long before one of these new Agents with the scary looking long rifles and looking for suspicious characters spotted Kylian.

The STS Agent spoke loudly. “Citizen, please stop a moment!” He eyed Kylian’s disheveled appearance and messy hair.

Kylian jumped a little bit at being barked at, but was still able to maintain his composure. He ran his fingers through his hair and realized that he had not kept up his personal hygiene these past few weeks.

“Who me?” Kylian sounded meek.

“Yes, you. Submit for inspection.” The Agent waved his rifle at Kylian in the direction of an inspection line.

Kylian gulped seeing the rifle’s muzzle pointed at him. He looked down at his clothes and noticed that he had not ironed any of his laundry for the past few weeks either. Using his hands, he smoothed out the wrinkles in an attempt to impress the STS Agent and maybe skip the inspection.

“But I work here,” pleaded Kylain.

The Agent was unconvinced. “I’m sorry, citizen, but that doesn’t matter. Please do not disobey and get in line.”

Seeing no choice in the matter, Kylian got into the inspection line and prepared himself to be thoroughly molested. After a humiliating search of his person, the STS inspector found Kylian harmless to the surprise of no one and allowed him to enter the research offices where he worked.

Inside the office, people milled about in the labyrinth of cubicles. No one worked much. Instead, they busied themselves with gossip about the increased security forces coming onto the campus of the University and the National Laboratory. Kylian overheard some of this gossip.

“Anyone know what’s going on downstairs?” someone asked.

“I heard that the STS uncovered a plot against the National Laboratory. That’s why there are so many more security forces around us today,” said another.

“A plot? Against us? What was the covert plot about?”

“I don’t know. They didn’t say.”

“A lot of help you are!”

Kylian found himself at Viviane’s desk minus the pretty researcher who should have been sitting there. About a month had passed since that photo shoot with Acel Yu, the famous fashion photographer, where she was discovered and swept away in a tornado of activity. It was the big bang of her modeling career. Nothing changed on her desk since that day. Not a pen had been moved, nor a paper filed away. Only a thin layer of dust now covered her desk, books and computer terminal. As if to emphasize how long Viviane had been away, a spider wove its web in a corner of her cubicle. Each week, for the past month, colleagues whispered rumors that Viviane would come back to work any day now, but those rumors proved to be nothing but false hope for her office admirers. Kylian was also curious if Viviane would return, so his ears perked up to overhear new rumors about her.

“I hear she’s not coming back after all,” said one of Viviane’s secret admirers to another.

“How do you know?” demanded the other.

“I heard from someone in the Office of Administration that she filed for a leave of absence so she withdrew from graduate school to chase after her modeling career.”

“Who did you hear it from? Who’s your source? Is he trustworthy?”

“Yeah, ‘he’ is my girlfriend. She saw and processed the form herself.”

“Well, I suppose we won’t be seeing her again now that she’s famous. We’ll all miss her. Well, maybe not you since you already have a girlfriend and you’re not supposed to be interested in other women.”

“You know, she said the same thing! I’ll never understand women.”

Kylian knew he was not Viviane’s only admirer in the office. Indeed, she had many secret admirers, some more secret that others, but perhaps no one would miss her more than Kylian who had the chance, no matter how small, to have gotten to know her and who was there when she was discovered. This latest news was the first time Kylian heard that Viviane would not be returning to the research offices to continue her work. At least in weeks past, there was hope she would return, but now, that hope was extinguished. The thought of Viviane not returning put a frown on Kylian’s face as he collapsed back into his seat staring into space. What if I never get to see her again? Maybe the twins know what she’s been up to! I should go and visit them myself just to ask.

Kylian’s life had purpose again.