Chapter 5

After Neith left the stage, Jupiter was the first one to break the silence in their table.

"Wow." It was all he said.

The woman was simply breathtaking. Their uniform did nothing to hide her amazing figure. They could still notice the well-proportioned body of the woman on stage. Her neck was slender. Her small face, fair-almost porcelain-like skin, those light brown eyes that looked like they shine, her full lips, and her button nose. They all shared Gaia's earlier thought, she looked like she doesn't belong on Earth, that she may have descended from some other-worldly place.

Hades was smiling proudly as if he just showed off his most prized and most beautiful possession.

Tyr still couldn't tear his gaze away from Neith. His eyes followed her from the stage to the tables of the seniors where she greeted them. It was a very harmonious scene. It seemed as though they were very familiar with each other. This reminded Tyr of the times their whole clan would gather and the latest generation would greet the older ones.

Luckily for Neith, her teammates were still discussing her looks and were too occupied to notice these interactions. Only Tyr was aware of everything about her movements.

Tyr's attention was finally torn away from Neith when he heard Guanyin's words.

"Stop smiling like that, Hades. Dating within the institution is highly discouraged."

Guanyin said with some disdain. She was starting to get annoyed at Hades' smug smile. She felt like he was objectifying Neith and it didn't sit well with her as a woman. Neith is not some kind of trophy. Guanyin felt some satisfaction when her goal of raining on Hades' parade succeeded as he saw the smile on Hades' face disappear instantly. However, the feeling didn't last long.

"Highly discouraged but not against the rules." Hades retorted as he smirked triumphantly.

Guanyin didn't know what to say anymore. She just snorted and looked away.

Tyr turned to the people on the table.

"Neith just arrived. Don't scare her away." Tyr warned while looking at Hades.

Hades just lowered his head and didn't promise anything.

Jupiter didn't say anything either. This made Hades look up to gaze at Jupiter, but the latter avoided him.

Neith was unaware of the wave she just caused. There was nothing else on her mind except for the fact that she was itching to get away to breathe. She observed the venue and the people to think how she could escape.

After looking around, she figured out it would be quite easy. She already noted that the cleaners had a clear path from the restroom to the exit. It was along the walls so it was easy to follow. None of the people in the ceremony paid much attention to the cleaners. Their uniform was a gray lab-coat-like garment with black long-sleeves and pants underneath. She just needed to borrow their coat and look for a hat. A mask was kept in one of the pockets of her pants. She turned towards the restroom to look for the cleaning lady she saw earlier.

Neith found the woman in the last cubicle.

"Hi, Ma'am?" Neith asked politely.

The woman turned her head to look towards where the voice came from. She was surprised when she recognized the uniform and saw the lady's face. None of them ever approached the building's cleaning staff, she thought.

Neith immediately flashed a courteous smile.

"Ma'am, can I borrow your coat and cap? I really need to slip out for a while. I'll return them to you after five minutes. Please?"

The woman was stunned to hear her request, but she was actually willing to let her borrow the garments. She couldn't find it in her to want to deny the polite and beautiful lady who kept calling her ma'am respectfully.

"Of course."

She immediately took off her coat and cap and gave them to Neith.

Neith was surprised that it didn't take much convincing to get what she wanted.

"Thank you. Thank you very much. I owe you."

She repeated a few times while bowing repeatedly.

"It's no problem, dear. Just be sure to return them to me here. What do they call you?"

"Neith, and you are?"

"Melissa, but just call me auntie." The woman smiled.

Neith was pleased. The woman gave off a motherly feeling. Something she'd been missing for quite a while now.

"Now go, you seem like you need a break." Melissa said as she patted the back of Neith's hand.

Neith just nodded gratefully and put on the coat and cap. She then pulled the mask out of her pant pocket and wore it as well.

She waved goodbye to her new found friend and started her journey from the restroom to the exit.

Elāhā noticed his daughter going out. He expected it. She must have been overwhelmed so he decided to let her go and continued to chat with his friends about his daughter. They were all praising her incessantly and Elāhā was more than happy to hear them.

Neith finally made it to the garden in the complex. It was made for relaxation. She knew no one would be here as she knew that her father required everyone to attend her welcome ceremony.

She was wrong.

She saw a man sitting and leaning against a tree a few meters away from her.

The man sensed her from a few minutes ago. He heard the light footsteps.

Neith was about to leave when he heard the man speak.

"Stay. The garden's big enough for the both of us and I promise not to disturb you."

The man's voice was very cool and pleasant. It made it seem like the person speaking was calm and was without a care in the world.

Neith was hesitant. It would have been fine if she didn't know that there was someone else here even if there actually were, but she knew and she really wanted to be alone. On the other hand, she didn't want to be rude.

In the end she walked toward a tree and leaned against it with her back towards the man's back.

Neith tried hard to clear her mind, but it kept wandering to the man just a few meters away. She couldn't relax anyway so she tried to start a conversation.

"I'm Neith."

Before she could say anything more, the man replied.

"I know. I was there during the ceremony."

Neith just let out a weak 'oh'. The man's tone came across as if he didn't want to talk to her.

With the man's good hearing, he was able to catch that and felt a bit guilty. He opened his eyes and scratched the back of his neck without much thought.

"I'm Fūjin, by the way."

Neith perked up a bit when he heard Fūjin speak again. She didn't face his direction as she was still a bit shy. She continued to talk with her back turned his way while looking at the leaves on the tree.

"Nice to meet you, Fūjin."

Fūjin could almost picture the smile on her lips when he heard her tone. He smiled subconsciously.

"Ditto."

Neith no longer responded. They just sat there in finally comfortable silence.

After a couple of minutes. Fūjin heard Neith getting up and heading towards the hall in quickened steps.

He looked at his wristwatch before finally looking at the woman.

Fūjin chuckled when he noticed the cleaners' uniform on her.