"The beginning of the end is the beginning; the beginning of the beginning is the end. Ultimately, we'll never know if this is the end or the start of our journey. It's all so confusing. Sometimes, when everything seems to be ending, that's when we find the start of something new—maybe good news, maybe not…"
...
In one of the city's tallest office buildings, the Diamond Tower, Valiant slung his bag over his shoulder as he left his cubicle. Ilyana approached, carrying a hot cup of coffee.
The young woman smiled at the intern.
"Leaving already? Not waiting for Mr. Jason?"
Val smiled. He is so tall that the little girl Ilyana had to look up.
Valiant Arcady is a twenty-year-old handsome young man, flawless, smooth face, blue jade eyes, and sweet, plump peachy lips. Long legs, slim figure with tall over six feet, a broad, athletic chest—the perfect image of a woman's ideal.
"Boss canceled. He said he has a meeting with the director this afternoon."
Ilyana looked at their young general manager's office.
Jason Garber is sitting with Ria, his secretary, looks like they are discussing something important.
Jason looked up as Val walked past his doorway. Ria followed her boss's gaze.
"What is it, sir?"
Jason smiled. He shook his head.
"Nothing. It's just Val… he looks so excited as always. That kid doesn't even complain about his solo assignment."
Ria smiled.
"That's just him, sir. Full of energy. But, you said you were going with him?"
Jason sighed, leaning back in his large chair—the General Manager's chair, Jason Garber.
"You know I can't, we have another meeting this afternoon with the grumpy old man. And also, let him go alone. Val's been here for over two months now. I think he can do it by himself."
Ria nodded. This was so interesting to think about. Her boss really paid attention to the young man ever since Val started his internship. Jason diligently observed the twenty-year-old college student's performance. Besides being smart and outgoing, Val is handsome and sweet, nice, soft spoken, and highly dedicated, making it easy to get respondents to agree to interviews; they tended to be more comfortable with Val.
Ria herself noticed a striking resemblance between her boss and Valiant Arcady; their physiques from behind were almost identical. If she didn't know her boss was the only grandchild of Mr. Garber, the CEO, she might have thought Val was his younger brother, considering the eight-year age gap between Jason and Val.
"What's on your mind?" Jason asked, interrupting Ria's thoughts. Ria smiled.
"Nothing, sir. Shall we continue?"
Jason furrowed his brow. Ria seemed to be lost in thought, smiling to herself. But he didn't care; all the girls in this snack food company, in one of the divisions of his large company, seemed a bit strange to him.
...
A gentle breeze blew.
The midday sun was scorching hot and showed no sign of rain; the heat made the city's asphalt shimmer, almost as if it were steaming. The sun worked effortfully hot that whole day from morning.
Not far from the skyscrapers and bustling city streets, on a less busy connecting road, Val struggled to lift a box of fruit from the floor to a display case. His respondent was an elderly fruit shop owner. As one of the marketing team for samples, one of Val's tasks in his internship is to do a customer satisfaction survey, one of the participants is the fruit seller who has been one of the brand suppliers for years.
"Goodness, Sir, don't lift it by yourself! You have employees, why not ask them to help you?" said Val.
"They're on break. Besides, this old man's still strong," said the old man.
Valiant looked the slightly stooped old man over from head to toe.
"Said that when you hurt your waist, it would be hard to recover; you'll end up hunched over."
The old man raised his hand to playfully whack Val's head, who dodged quickly.
"Hey, this kid's cursing me!" said the old man with big eyes to the young man.
Val laughed.
"Haha, it's the truth, sir!"
"You naughty brat!"