I did not reprimand Hina for what happened at the R&D Centre. Partly because of what Roto said to me earlier about not ‘correcting’ her all the time, but also because I could understand that from her limited point of view, she did show her own interest and it was clear to me (and for the poor dude Davo) that Hina had something genuine about her, the way she greeted and spoke to people.

However, I’m not naive enough to trust her to be kind just because she is young and probably lived a more carefree life than most. In fact, she is a Biaz after all. Her friendliness may not be pretentious, but it could - or more likely, it actually is - based on the pure confidence that only build up when you live your life never finding any reason to feel inferior to anyone. I feel that a light-hearted nature and friendliness stemming out of such confidence unattainable for normal people cannot be equaled to what we mean by a ‘nice person’ when we talk about average people. So her being genuinely friendly to the workers in the company may not be about being humble, but just based on the fact that she has never been inferior to anyone, so she does not see anybody else as inferior to her either. This means that if and when things start to fall apart between her and the people around her, there is a possibility that an ugly side of her could seep out through the gaps. In other words, it’s not that she doesn’t have a nasty side to her. It’s just that she never had a reason to really show it.

“Gees, this room stinks”

I was too deep in thought to realise that Hina had come into the smoking-room, because when you are sitting in there smoking there’s always someone coming in and leaving so you don’t really pay attention to these things.

“Oh, Ma’am, I’m sorry”

I quickly put out my cigarette got up from my seat, but it wasn’t just me. About six other men and women were also hurriedly squashing their cigarettes onto the ashtrays.

“Hey guys, you don’t have to put it out just because I came in?”

“Ms. Biaz, may I ask what brings you here. If you are not here to smoke I suggest we lea-”

“Poos, can you give me a cigarette?”

“Er.. You smoke Ma’am..?”

“Actually no”

“Then forget it. Let us leave now”

Hina cut me off with a halt gesture and asked another lady nearby.

“Miss, could you lend me a cigarette please?”

She duly obliged and Hina now had a cigarette between her hands.

“Ma’am, what are you doing-”

But when Hina put the cigarette to her mouth, I instinctively lit it with my lighter - damn, this is just a reflex from going around with Mr. Biaz for so many years.

Hina took a deep drag and

“:Choke: :Choke: brrraaaaaerrrrh”

But that made the lady that gave Hina the cigarette giggle, and somehow that actually made everyone around in the smoking-room more relaxed and soon we were all laughing and I couldn’t stop myself either. It was like watching a little kid do the cinnamon challenge.

“Fuuuu - :cough: it’s okay guys. Let’s all just smoke. Continue - :choke:”

Then we all took out our cigarettes again. Hina insisted I pass her the lighter and she lit it for me. Everyone was standing around smoking and chit-chatting as normal. The air got heavier and lighter in equal amounts.

When we finished smoking and walked out of the room, I asked Hina.

“Ma’am, why did you do that? It’s obvious you don’t really smoke. I would never recommend anyone to get started”

“Ah I just felt like it. Well - of course, I tried it before and know what it is like. But you know, when in Rome… so I smoked since I was in a smoking room”

“Ma’am. You go to a smoking room because you want to smoke. It doesn’t work the other way round”

“Hehe, you are right. I went in there looking for you”

“Sorry, Ma’am. I thought you wanted a fifteen-minute break before we go back to your office”

“I did. It’s not your fault. I just wanted to go home now”

“Excuse me? It’s only 3 o’clock”

“I realised there is a lot I need to learn. Thanks for helping me see that. The biggest lesson today was understanding how much of a noob I am here. So let the noob and Poob go home now”

“Sorry I don’t understand. If you realised you are a noob, shouldn’t the noob learn some more from Poob before calling it a day?”, welp, I will just play along.

“Oh don’t worry. I will. We will continue the work at home”

“Ma’am.”

“Yes?”

“Helping you is my work now, so I shall accompany you to your home. But it is a waste of the company’s resources if I bring you home and twiddle my thumb till 6 o’clock while you are taking a nap or whatever. And after that, I also have my own home to go to when I finish work”

“Don’t worry, we will continue the learning at my home, Yoda” - Yoda doesn’t even fit here now...

“And finish at 6?”

“I know my Dad spent lots of evenings with you. I thought you work around the clock?”

“I believe Mr. Biaz will be very proud if he sees that his daughter is improving the working conditions of his employees, which can start from today by you letting me go at 6 o’clock sharp every day”

“Pfft, I guess”

“But of course, there will be occasions when we need to work together in the evenings or even over the night. There will be dinner meetings, travels, corporate events, cramming to meet the deadlines, and so on. In those cases, I will soldier on with you”

“Thanks, but how about today?”

“We do not have any special occasion this evening as far as I’m aware”

“Oh sorry, hang on-”

Hina interrupted and fiddled with her phone for a minute, then she brought up the phone to my face and showed me the display.

“Ta-da! We HAVE a special occasion today. I got a table for us at Nan-Tower restaurant at 7”

Man, this is going to be a long day.