Episode 2

After a few minutes of waiting, the elevator finally arrives. The doors open, and the man, who already seemed calmer, smiles at me.

"What's your name, dear?" he asks, his voice soft and friendly.

"My name is Eleonor Ribas" I reply, smiling slightly, still a little embarrassed by the previous situation. "And you, sir?"

"Romero. You can call me Romero." He smiles, kindly, as if we were old acquaintances. "Do you work here?"

"Yes, I work for the company. In the IT department, I'm a programmer." I answer, adjusting the backpack on my shoulders as I look at him.

"A young, beautiful, polite, and intelligent woman." He says with an appreciative tone, his gaze affectionate, but not overdone. I'm a little surprised, but I feel flattered.

"I appreciate the compliment, sir." I reply, a little shy, but trying to maintain my composure.

"Call me Romero. We're friends now, right?" He smiles with a genuine look, and I can't help but feel a certain tenderness for that elderly man, who, somehow, makes a point of treating me with kindness and respect.

The elevator reaches my floor, and the doors begin to open slowly.

"I have to go, Romero. It was a pleasure meeting you. Take care." I say hurriedly, but still smiling. I feel he's a good person, someone who, for a moment, made my day a little lighter.

He nods, still smiling.

"The pleasure was all mine, dear. Go ahead, and take care of yourself too."

With a final glance and a shy smile, I exit the elevator and hurry to my department, feeling the heat of the morning rush, but with a lightness in my chest for having met someone so kind, even if briefly.

Soon, I see Camily Sanches, my best friend, watching me with a mischievous smile. She's the type of person who seems to know everything that happens around her, and this moment is no different.

"Missed the bus, Eleanor?" She asks, raising an eyebrow, with a playful grin.

"How did you know?" I reply, trying to seem indifferent, but my expression already gives away that the morning confusion was very real.

"Typical. What was it today? An abandoned animal? A hungry homeless person?" Camily says, joking, but I can see she's just waiting for the funny story that, surely, would come.

"If I tell you, you won't believe it" I say, with a sigh. It's not every day that an elderly man teaches me more about respect than some people my own age.

"Let's save it for lunch" she says, winking. "We have a problem with the code. It won't run at all. Everyone has tried, but it didn't work."

"I'll check it now" I reply, already getting up and heading towards Ethan's office. Camily follows me with her eyes, already knowing I'll take a while to return.

When I arrive at the boss's office, Ethan has his back to me, arms crossed, looking at the monitor with an impassive expression. He slowly turns his head towards me as I approach.

"Late again, Eleanor?" He says, his voice serious, and, for a moment, I feel a weight on my shoulders. "Fix this and I won't fire you."

I swallow hard. The pressure is starting to get to me, but I know I can solve this. I always do.

"Of course, sir." I crouch in front of the computer and start checking the code that's causing problems. The game's phase interaction system isn't running correctly, and the commands are being poorly processed by the server. Some data parameters are missing between the variables that determine the characters' behavior during phase transitions.

With a keen eye and quick analysis, I soon spot the error. The code isn't what I left. It seems someone on the team modified it without testing properly, which caused the system to crash.

"What was wrong?" Ethan asks, interrupting my train of thought. He must have noticed my concentration, which indicates I'm close to finding the flaw.

"The problem wasn't in my code, sir." I explain, looking at him as I type the corrections. "Someone altered the transition parameters without considering the integration with the server's database. This caused an unnecessary loop and, therefore, crashed the system."

Ethan remains silent for a moment, watching as I make the changes. I put the code in the correct place and run the system again. The code starts running perfectly, without flaws.

"Now it's working" I say, relieved, but careful not to seem smug. I look up at him, waiting for his reaction.

Ethan observes the monitor for a moment, seeming to ponder. Then he finally lets out a sigh, not of frustration, but of understanding.

"I don't know why this happened, but I trusted you had done your job right, Eleanor. Good work" he says, calmer, turning to the other monitors.

I stand up quickly, with the feeling that, even without being at fault, I had to prove my worth once again. I return to my desk.

"He likes you" Camily says, with a mischievous smile and her eyes shining as if she were about to reveal a closely guarded secret.

"I doubt it, he hates me. The way he talks to me..." I take a deep breath, trying to maintain my composure. Ethan had never exactly been the easy-to-deal-with type of boss. His words always seemed harsh, his observations, too demanding.

"But the way he looks at you says otherwise" Camily continues, now more provocative, with that mischievous grin on her face that makes me roll my eyes.

I give a nervous chuckle, trying to deflect the situation, but I also can't help but wonder about what she said. Does he look at me differently?

"Stop it, Camily. He's... not my type." I almost sigh in relief as I convince myself of this, trying to keep my focus on work. I don't have time for these things now. Not with everything at stake.

"Handsome red-haired men aren't your type?" Camily blurts out with a sarcastic tone, and I turn quickly to look at her, incredulous. I almost burst out laughing, but I try to contain myself.

Ethan Monach

I quickly glance at Ethan's office and, to my surprise, he's watching us, his eyes fixed on our desks, and something in his gaze makes me freeze on the spot. Did he hear? He seemed distant, but now, with this realization, I feel a knot in my stomach.

I try to look away, but I can't help but wonder if he's listening to our conversation. What would he think if he knew what Camily is insinuating? Or what would he think of me? I don't know, but I feel a tension in the air.

"I prefer someone who isn't my boss and doesn't want to eat me alive" I say, with a nervous laugh, trying to brush off the embarrassment. I don't want to complicate the situation further with these assumptions.

Camily lets out a deliberate laugh and, with her usual mischievous expression, says:

"I don't know if that's what he's wanting to eat..." She pauses and I almost freeze on the spot, not knowing how to respond.

"Camily Sanches!" I give her a light push, laughing with a bit of embarrassment, and we both laugh together, trying to forget the tension of the situation.

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