Chapter 17

When we got up the next day, it was time to pay for our next week’s rent. “I’ll take care of paying for the rent, guys,” I explained to them.

“Alright, sounds good.” Bro answered as he left with Peyti to search for things within the city. Then I went down to the counter. I was planning on surprising them with a new room on a higher floor.

“I’d like to upgrade our room please.” I said to the lady at the counter.

“Great!” she exclaimed, “what package would you like to have this week?” I then started looking through one of the booklets that had floor plans that I had found in our room. They had them at the counter as well. The highest level was 250. The price per week for the highest level was 10,000 Coin a day. My weekly income was at 4000 Coin a day so I knew I shouldn’t pay for a really high room. I decided that saving money was a better option than going too high.

“We’ll take a room on the 40^th floor.” I knew when I asked that the cost per week for a room on the 40^th floor was only 100 Coin a week. The floor plan still included a kitchen, three separate bedrooms, two bathrooms, a laundry room, a huge TV in the living room, and some arcade machines there as well.

“Wonderful!” She responded, “We will go ahead and transfer your belongings to your new room.” She then handed me my new key. “Here is your key and we will catch your friends as they come in and let them know of the room change for you.”

“Thank you!” I nodded. Then I left for work.

Before we knew it, Thursday morning had come. Not much had happened throughout the week. I barely got any ideas for the Island because I was still so caught up with Kassedelia. She would get my coffee every morning. Wednesday, I even said “Hi” but that was about it. I needed to work on my ideas though. When I got into the office I started to think back to my time here. My first thought was emptiness. Everywhere we went brought nothing but emptiness. I thought by this time I would have found out how and why I was on this Island. Maybe I could produce a question based interview that would allow individuals to know what they are seeking. If they could know what they are seeking, then maybe there could also be a booklet that shows what the cities have to offer and what city best fits the individual’s needs and desires. That could still help me I’m sure. I knew that I finally was helping people. That was something I knew was a desire of mine. Even with me in the position I was in, I still felt that I was lost. I may have filled some of the emptiness with Bro and Peyti’s companionship. This job and the mystery of Kassedelia both seem to have a hope attached to them as well.

As I decided to go ahead with the idea of making a test that helps individuals realize what they are seeking, I noticed Kassedelia through the window of my office. She was across the room and two other guys were talking with her. It looked like they were having a lot of fun. I immediately became overcome with some sort of emotion I had not felt the entire time I was on the Island. It was a deep rooted longing. I felt that I was almost issued to protect her in a way. Out of nowhere, the boldness that I couldn’t come up with to talk to her was present in abundance. I got up and walked over to the group. As I was walking up to the group, the two guys both looked down at me like they were looking at what I was wearing. They kind of made a face that has a look of feeling awkward and confused. After they made that face, they both got up together and walked away.

“Hey, I haven’t given myself a name yet; my friends call me Bro though.”

“Well hey there, Bro,” Kassedelia smiled.

“Have I ever met you before?” I asked.  Although I may have gained some amount of boldness, I still didn’t have the ability to come up with appropriate first meeting conversation.

“I don’t think so,” she subtly giggled “When did you come to the Island?”

“Not that long,” I said, “My friends and I haven’t even made it to all the cities on the Island. What about you?”

“Three years,” She sighed.

“Oh I see,” trying to be sympathetic, “Have you been to everywhere on the Island?”

“No I haven’t. I still haven’t been to Superbia.”

“Me neither,” I smiled. As cheesy as it sounds, just learning something I had in common with her was warming.

“Hey,” Kassedelia smirked as she continued, “What are you doing tomorrow night?” I kind of paused to figure out what day it was, and right as I was about to respond, she went ahead and asked me, “Would you like to hang out with some of us from the office tomorrow? We are going to one of the clubs downtown around seven in the evening if you want to come along.”

“Sure!” I said loudly at first and then I tried to appear cool and collected. The other times that I went to places similar didn’t have any good result for me. I knew that. But that wasn’t why I accepted the offer. Obviously, my mind was on Kassedelia. Since she invited me, I wanted to seize the opportunity.

“Great! She smiled again. That smile was imprisoning me. “See you tomorrow then.” Then I quickly fell back into my usual shy and awkward state. I nodded and smiled and turned around to walk towards my office as I could hear her subtly giggle again as if she thought my shyness was sort of cute.

Not soon after, my supervisor walked in the office. “What do you have for me this week, Bro?”

“Uh,” I hesitated as I was trying to get my mind back into work mode. “Uh, yeah, I thought of creating a test or assessment that allows people to know where they might fit somewhere on the Island. You could also provide a list of city attractions that the cities have to offer. This way, people can understand more about themselves and the Island in a quicker span of time. You could even set up this assessment at the hiring booths in the various cities.”

“Brilliant idea, Bro!” My supervisor said, “You are already a huge asset to us.” Then my supervisor left. I was surprised how quickly that conversation went. And at the same time, I was smiling because he mentioned that I was a huge asset. It felt good to be helping out people.

By that time, the work day was over. When I got back to the hotel and went up to our new room, Bro and Peyti were waiting there. “What is this?” Bro asked standing close to the door.

“I thought I would treat you guys a bit,” I smiled. “I’m still making 3900 Coin a week buying this room.”

“I didn’t realize it was that cheap!” Peyti exclaimed as I looked over to see here playing a racing arcade game. “This is pretty cool!”

“Peyti is right,” Bro admitted, “But I don’t want you going any higher. We should be able to make it out of here in a week. Peyti and I still haven’t found anything worth our time.” In that moment, I thought through how I was just getting to know Kassedelia. And I was making a difference in this job too. I agreed with Bro that I didn’t need to go any higher in Babel, but I wasn’t sure I’d be ready to leave in just one more week.

“Yeah, I understand,” I answered. I didn’t think it was good timing to argue with Bro; even if I didn’t fully think I was on the same page as him. “Hey guys, I talked with Kassedelia today!”

“What!?” Peyti shouted, “Tell us about it!”

“Well, I just went up and talked with her. We didn’t talk for very long but now she knows my name, and she asked me to hang out with her tomorrow night!”

“Great!” Bro said. Although he seemed happy for me, I could sense that he was beginning to be frustrated that I was finding some sources of purpose in this city when he wasn’t.

We kept talking and playing games the rest of the night until we went to bed.