Dr. Kian stopped merely a few feet away from Grace with his icy blue eyes fixed on her face. It was hard for her to guess what he was thinking as his expression appeared too blank and professional to give away anything at all.
For a moment, neither of them spoke and they just stood there in silence. Yet, the moment wasn’t awkward as Grace was expecting it to be. Instead, there was some sort of warmth that his unexpected appearance brought. It was a weird feeling, but it was there.
Grace tried to think of something to say, but right at that moment, her phone started ringing. The call broke the silence and she quickly muted it before turning her attention back to the man.
But before she could have said anything, he was already speaking, "You seem busy right now, Ms. Blackwood. So I’ll not keep you occupied here. How about we catch up over coffee next time?"
Grace was too stunned with his offer that she took a little bit too long to respond. Thus, Dr. Kian gave her a polite smile and started walking away.
"Dr. Kian."
She was calling him even before she realized it. He stopped immediately and turned to face her, his expression still neutral as he waited for her to say whatever she was going to.
Grace inhaled deeply before she finally spoke, "I’m leaving the city within a few days. And I’m not sure if I’ll ever return. I’m sorry but I won’t be able to accept your offer for coffee."
Still nothing. He didn’t seem surprised, let alone unhappy after learning about her plan, and for some weird reason, it bothered her. But she too was a professional when it came to keeping one’s expression neutral.
Since he was someone she had known in her previous life and also the person who created System 2025, she decided to make an exception for him.
"I heard from my close contacts in higher authorities that heavy rain is coming our way within next ten days. It’s going to last for weeks. There will be a lot of flooding, continuous storms, and power outage. You should prepare enough supplies to last you for a few months and find a safe place to stay."
Still nothing. He just stood there looking at her with the same expression he held when they first met in this lifetime - complete strangers.
She didn’t wait to witness if he was finally planning to speak or not, and climbed into her car. She had already informed him about the first glimpse of coming disaster, now it was up to him to decide what he wanted to do with that information.
A very small, but strong, part of her wanted him to believe her words, but she decided not to waste any further time thinking about this matter. Her phone started ringing again as she drove her car out of the parking lot of the restaurant, and this time, she picked up the call.
[Ms. Brown, we have arrived at your given address. Should we start unloading?]
"Yes, sure. You can go ahead and start unloading, I’ll be there as soon as possible." She replied before ending the call. She then asked 2025 to find a quiet, empty alley nearby and drove there. Five minutes later, she was parking her car in that narrow alley before entering the space.
She quickly changed back into the disguise of Ms. Brown and returned to the real world. It was indeed a pain to change between Ms. Blackwood and Ms. Brown like this, but it was also the most convenient way for her to hoard supplies without bringing too much attention to Grace Blackwood.
She was trying her best to not get noticed by the authorities and she was confident that she had done a wonderful job so far. But if by any chance she ended up getting noticed, the authorities would never be able to find anything relevant about Ms. Brown.
Half an hour later, she was once again parking in front of the warehouse where the trucks from the Wholesale retail store were parked. All the goods had been already unloaded and the person incharge of the delivery was waiting for her to check the goods and handle the remaining payment.
Grace quickly took care of it and got two more calls. The two Warehouse Clubs, where she placed orders related to canned foods, were delivering her goods to the warehouse.
For next two hours, she collected all the ordered goods and made the remaining payments. Once she was alone, she shifted everything inside the space snd then arranged the goods in their respective areas within the warehouse.
It was nearing sunset in the outside world by the time Grace finished all the work. As a result of her hardwork, she earned a total of 500,000 points.
Coming out of the Infinite Realm, she climbed into her car and returned to her condo. Once she was inside her house, she took a quick shower and changed into comfortable pajamas. She was on her way to cook herself dinner when Kevin called her.
"Hello."
[Boss, there’s an issue. The apartment next to yours has been rented by someone early this morning. Now, there’s only one other apartment left on that floor.]
Kevin informed immediately, taking Grace by surprise. When she checked yesterday, all three apartments on that floor were empty, but now one of those apartments had been suddenly rented.
"Can you negotiate with the person who’s renting the apartment?" She asked, only to receive a negative response from Kevin.
[I did try, but the person isn’t interested.]
Grace thought for a moment before she finally answered, "If you think we can’t convince that person by promising some benefits, you can go ahead and rent an apartment on the 20th floor."
[Yes, boss.]
And with that, Grace disconnected the call. Letting out a small sigh, she returned her attention to cooking. Half an hour later, she was enjoying a delicious bowl of fried rice while downloading more series and dramas.