8 Team Leader, Who?

Although Petrov didn't outwardly show it, he was quite surprised with Ci-ci's demeanor. To him, Ci-ci was an inventor that rarely saw the light of day. Why would someone who was usually boxed into a book smart nerd stereotype be able to remain unperturbed by his gaze?

In his years of experience, Petrov had gotten very much used to reading his opponents. But, it seemed like Ci-ci had tricked not once, but twice already. The first was in making him think it was his idea to force Ci-ci to sign the contract. And the second was in making him think that Ci-ci was just a normal person.

Petrov turned away from Ci-ci, snorting. 'It seems I've underestimated him. I'll have to change how I approach this.'

Ignoring Petrov, Ci-ci looked around the lobby area. It followed the same somber red and brown theme the outside bricks did, but there were also faint hues of black here as well.

For a small company, it was at least good that Petrov understood first impressions.

"You deal with him." Petrov sent his thumb over his shoulder toward Ci-ci as he spoke to a receptionist sitting behind a large, black and semi-circular desk.

Ci-ci said nothing as Petrov disappeared around a corner and toward an office that was on the first level corner.

Smiling lightly, Ci-ci weaved his way through the black leather couches to lean forward on the receptionist's desk.

The receptionist was a middle-aged woman wearing a conservative blouse and tight black shirt. Considering the technology of West Continent, this woman could, in reality, be anywhere from forty to two hundred fifty years old. It really just depended on how much money she was willing to spend on maintaining herself.

However, although she wasn't an outstanding beauty, she had a maturity to her that Ci-ci could appreciate, even though she had yet to look up toward him this entire time.

The receptionist typed away on a keyboard, her eyes constantly shifting along a wide curved screen. Although the keyboard was quite rudimentary and almost pre-historic to Ci-ci, the monitor was actually quite up to date. It had no bezels, 8K resolution and a hover touch feature that Ci-ci felt was being heart-breakingly wasted.

He couldn't for the life of him understand why such high-tech was being misused with inferior hardware, but he remained silent – patiently waiting for the receptionist to finish.

After five minutes passed, the lady finally looked up with a hint of curiosity in her eyes. But, she was surprised to find Ci-ci looking back with a faint smile. He didn't look frustrated or angry about what he was sure was a deliberate tactic by the receptionist. She should have long since known he was standing there, but she still made him wait.

"You're a lot more patient than I thought you'd be." The receptionist's eyes twinkled, but the rest of her features remained fairly neutral. It was an odd and playful mix.

"You looked like you were doing something important," Ci-ci said with a shrug. "Plus, I was enjoying watching you work."

A snort escaped the receptionist as she looked back to her screen, "You're too young for me." With a final click of her keyboard, the soft sounds of a card press machine hummed through the quiet lobby.

"Little Milly has been waiting for you to show up for hours," She said while handing the finished identity card to Ci-ci, "The third floor is for meetings and important negotiations. The second floor is where your office is. We don't have many workers, but, you can head up to meet our past head inventor." A hint of amusement flashed in the receptionist's eyes as though she already knew how unwelcomed Ci-ci would be.

Although she was surprised by Ci-ci's demeanor, and especially his patience, the fact still remained that people hated him right now. And, unfortunately, that was something doubly true for inventors. When you spit in the face of the idol of every engineer on the continent, you're bound to run into trouble.

Ci-ci smiled, "Can I know your name?"

"You can call me Nellie." Having already looked back to her computer screen, Nellie replied to Ci-ci's question absentmindedly.

Nodding, Ci-ci turned to walk away, "Looking forward to seeing you everyday."

Hearing this, Nellie's brows raised and she shook her head, silently chuckling to herself.

'He's annoying… But, he also doesn't seem like the type…'

Nellie had always prided herself in being able to read people well, and she was sure that Ci-ci wasn't as arrogant or short-sighted as the man she had seen on TV. And yet, the events of a few days ago had happened, that couldn't be denied.

'Interesting…'

**

The second floor of Petrov Technologies was divided into two halves with a hallway cutting down the middle.

One half held a large panel of glass separated by four faint cuts to separate out four offices.

The other half held another large panel of glass, however, this one only had one cut for a singular doorway into a large meeting and presentation room that oddly doubled as a community lab.

Within that room sat four people who were slowly losing their patience. Well, three of them were, the last seemed to be taking a leisurely nap with his bare feet up on the large meeting table. His hand would sometimes draw odd symbols in the air as he mumbled in sleep, too. It was an odd contrast when compared to his serious and frustrated colleagues.

It seemed as though the other three had tired of trying to get the sleeping young man to change his ways. So, they ignored him, instead focusing their anger on the late Ci-ci Bell. They had been waiting the entire morning for him to show up, even putting their projects on hold, all to have just wasted their time.

They wanted to go back to their offices, but their ex-team leader insisted on a ridiculous set of decorum as though making sure Ci-ci was aware that they had all been waiting would make things better. But, considering they actually liked their now former head inventor, they decided to listen.

However, it was clear they were reaching their tipping point.

Just as even their former head was about to give up and allow them to go back to work, the light sounds of an elevator opening filled the quiet floor.

Three of them looked up at once to see a handsome young man walking down the quiet hallway leisurely.

Seeing the engineers of Petrov Technologies looking at him, Ci-ci smiled lightly before entering through the glass doorway.

"Sorry I'm late everyone. I won't bother with any excuses since it seems that won't make much of a difference." Ci-ci Bell scanned the three angry faces and one comedically sleeping one before deciding on these words. It really didn't seem like they were in the mood for his excuses anyway.

Settling his gaze on an innocent looking young woman with large framed glasses, Ci-ci smiled, his heart warming a bit.

The anger on the Milana's face turned to confusion in that instant, 'Why's he looking at me like that?...'

However, the gaze disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared before a playful smile curled Ci-ci lips. "Team leader." Ci-ci stretched out his hand to shake Milana's. "I look forward to working with you."