The next morning, Kaia woke up early. She planned on staying home, but she still needed to do work. Still wearing her pajamas, Kaia made her way downstairs. She stopped halfway down the stairs to check to see if Alex was around. Not seeing him, Kaia made her way into the kitchen. She didn't spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so she had to search the cabinets for a coffee mug. When Kaia found the coffee mugs on the top shelf, she let out a groan. Standing on the tips of her toes, she reached up. Her fingers grazed the ceramic base of a coffee mug. To her dismay, as she reached forward more to feel for the handle of the mug, she ended up pushing it back further. She sighed, attempting to reach for it again before she felt a solid figure against her back. Kaia saw an arm reach out above her and she flinched, quickly turning to face Alex. Alex brought the mug down along with another before handing one to her. “If you need me just call.” Kaia took the cup, shifting her gaze away from him, looking down.

Without speaking, Kaia walked over to the coffee pot, pouring herself a cup before walking to the living room. Alex frowned as he watched her walk away. “At least let me explain, it's not exactly what it looks like,” he said with a raspiness in his voice.

Kaia placed her cup on the coffee table right as the doorbell rang. “No time,” was all she said as she opened the door, letting Naomi come in.

Naomi was shocked as she entered. “Wow! This place is amazing! The living room is bigger than my apartment!” she exclaimed, placing her suitcase down. Kaia smiled lightly. “Did you bring what I asked you to?” she asked, going to sit on the couch. Naomi watched her sit, then her eyes went to the kitchen and she saw Alex. He was still wearing his normal clothes which were a t-shirt and sweatpants. He had the top portion of his hair tied back into a ponytail. Naomi had a light blush as she took in how handsome he was. “Nice to meet you again Alex,” she said with a small wave as she grabbed her suitcase and rolled it over to where Kaia was sitting. She cautiously took a seat next to Kaia. Alex waved back. “There is fresh coffee if you want any,” he said before walking back upstairs to his bedroom. He was a bit relieved that Kaia had a support system. He knew Naomi since she was also a classmate in high school.

Naomi looked at Kaia. “How are you feeling?” she asked, putting her hand on Kaia's forehead. Kaia let out a small sigh. “I'm okay, the fever went down a lot,” she said, reaching for the suitcase and pulling out a folder. Naomi studied her carefully before pulling out a few more folders and a binder. “Two of our actors were offered contracts for a major blockbuster movie in the US,” she said, handing her the actors profiles and the details of the movie. Kaia looked over the documents, nodding slowly as Naomi filled her in. “This will be good for the company. I also heard that one of our artists for the music festival dropped out. Check on the artist and see what's going on,” she told Naomi, taking a sip of her coffee. Naomi wrote everything down, glancing at her now and then. “We don't have another artist to replace them, would you like to book a group?” she asked. Kaia shook her head. “The only group that is suitable for the music festival is currently preparing for a tour in China. We need a different but capable artist who can perform on such short notice," she said, lightly tapping the papers against her chin as she tried to come up with a plan.

Alex appeared behind them, looking over their shoulders. He was now in his work attire. His hair was pulled back to one side like usual. “Use one of my company’s artist's artist’s.” Kaia turned to look at him with a glare. “Why would I do that?” She didn't say more than what she needed to since Naomi didn't know anything yet. Alex sighed, standing up straight while fixing his tie. “It's not just any music festival we're talking about here. It's a major event of the season and tickets sell out like hot cakes. You must've worked really hard to put 3 of your artists into the music festival. Since you don't have an artist or group available to perform, it would reflect badly on you, especially at such a time. My company just so happens to have a pretty self-sufficient rookie group that has recently been building a large fanbase overseas. Their current music and style would suit the music festival’s theme for this year and it would be good publicity and exposure for my artists. Plus, sponsoring such a major event with one of your rival’s artists will bring in more attention and leave a positive image for the media to project to a wider audience.”

Naomi listened to Alex’s reasoning, somewhat surprised. He made some excellent points. Naomi looked at Kaia with a questioning glance. “What do you think?” she asked, tilting her head slightly. Kaia let out a sigh, looking away from Alex. “Fine, just send me their music video and other necessary information, which I will forward to you through email.” Alex nodded and threw his coat on, walking to the door. “See you after work,” he said before leaving the house.

Watching Alex leave, Naomi then turned her head towards Kaia. “Something feels off. What happened? Do I need to castrate him?” She placed the papers in her hand onto her lap, leaning back on the couch.

Kaia told Naomi everything she had found out yesterday. Naomi nodded slightly, leaning up to pull some more files out of her bag. “Well, if anything, I uncovered some more scandals that occurred within Sabor Sights. We have a very capable hacker in our IT department who helped me dig around a bit. I was able to look into their records briefly and found out there was a small circle of board directors and other managers who laundered money a few times. But this happened before Alex took over.” Kaia took the papers that showed evidence of transaction dates and accounts linking to overseas accounts that traced back to some high level Sabor Sights employees. She scanned through the information, digesting what she was seeing before letting out a sigh and leaning back. She had a slight headache as she massaged her forehead, which was still burning from the fever she had.

Naomi worriedly looked over at her. “Are you ok?” Kaia took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “Naomi, I'm sick…” Naomi looked at her with sympathy. “I know, that's why we’re discussing everything here and not at the company…” Kaia shook her head with a sigh. “No, this is different. I’m sick. When I was young, I was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia, which is a rare disease that prevents me from making new blood cells. I had a few transfusions back then, which seemed to help, so I didn't have any problems with it. Until now...”

Naomi frowned as she started to look more anxious. “Does Alex know?” she asked. Kaia shook her head slightly. “No, he doesn't know. I don’t plan on telling him. Don't worry, the doctors said that it isn't that bad at the moment. But they still want me to come in for regular checkups to make sure it doesn't get worse.” Naomi’s frown deepened as her expression became more concerned. “What if it does get worse?” Kaia looked away from her friend with a sigh. “The doctors said that a bone marrow transplant might cure me. Annie was a match, but she's pregnant now so she wouldn't be able to donate. But it shouldn't be that much of an issue because I'm already on the list for a bone marrow, so if another donor matches up with me, we can immediately start preparations for a surgery. If there is no donor, I’ll still figure something out.”

Kaia stood up from the couch and stretched. “Christmas is coming up soon. I need to go shopping.” She looked at Naomi. “I'm sorry to put so much on you, but do you mind picking out a few things for Alex's niece and nephew? Make sure to get something for your little girl. I would personally pick out the present for her but I'm not that good at picking out presents.” She smiled weakly. Naomi smiled back and nodded. “Of course, don't worry about any of it! Just give me any information that can help me in finding the perfect gift for them.” Kaia nodded. “Ok, thanks.”

Naomi left the house around noon, so she could run to the office and get some of the things ready for the music festival, then go shopping for Christmas presents.

Kaia walked into the kitchen, placing her coffee cup into the sink. She sniffled, her hand reaching up to wipe her nose. She blinked and pulled her hand away to look at it. Her hand was covered in blood. Kaia frowned, grabbing a paper towel. Dang it, she thought to herself with a sigh.