“Well, the Association appoints a new attendant to him every day whether he comes or not. Any day he doesn’t visit, the attendant is responsible for clearing out anything perishable among the things prepared for him. Even so when he visits and doesn’t eat them” Melissa smiled knowing she had successfully hooked Sarah.

“Where are they?” Sarah asked in excitement and Melissa led her to a corner of the wall. Placing her hand on it, it opened to reveal a small dining room. There was a small dining table with plates on it covered with a glass lid and four chairs around it.

“Nice!” Sarah exclaimed.

***

Karl entered April’s office after knocking but she wasn’t in it, continuing on he touched the wall directly opposite the office door and it opened to reveal a laboratory where April was busy with some documents on a table. She looked very proper and charming in her white coat, however, her coldness was fully revealed. Even without getting close to her, from the behavior of her lab assistants, one would subconsciously avoid approaching her. Fortunately, Karl was familiar with April and he was the only person she wasn’t cold to.

He simply sat down across the table to watch her work without interrupting. April was well aware of Karl’s presence but she ignored him, both because she was a little embarrassed by her actions earlier and because she was disturbed by her work which she was getting no results.

“I am sorry,” Karl said after a long time and he noticed April was no longer absorbed in what she was doing.

“For what?” April asked at the same time rubbing her forehead in frustration. Karl passed her a towel with which she wiped her face and handed to one of the lab attendants.

“Saying you had no right to alter my brief” Karl replied honestly.

“No, you were right” April sat down with her head lowered. She realized she couldn’t tackle two things at once since they both required her focus and decided to talk with Karl first.

“I know I was right but I understand why you did it and I am sorry for overlooking that. I appreciate that you have always looked out for me even though it may seem at times that I don’t, I really do” Karl’s words were a mix of brutal honesty and sweet warmth causing April to feel a little complicated.

"Okay, well umm. Thank you" April smiled sweetly at him after thinking for a while. She was just about to return to her work when she paused and studied Karl's expression for a bit.

"Listen, my family is hosting a party for my grandfather's retirement in the next few days. You should bring Lisa with you" she offered. Despite the bitterness in her heart when she said he could bring Lisa, April knew that if Lisa wasn't allowed to come with him the chances of him attending the retirement party would be almost zero. Her family had entrusted her with the responsibility to invite him and she didn't want to disappoint since parties like this were always about major families showing off. Having Karl attend would be a great honor for her family, after all, while he might not be as wealthy as the other families, his prestige was way higher than theirs.

While the advanced method of transportation within the forcefield that protected the Survival Area made it seem as if it was small, it really wasn't. The area covered by the Survival Area while remaining unmeasured was about twice the territory of the most powerful country (The United States) before the catastrophe struck. And it was home to roughly a 1.5billion people. Wealthy families like April's were unknown on a world scale since they weren't involved in any significant project that affected humankind in general. Karl on the other hand like all the other First Explorers was very well known and even further so because of his role in bringing his team back alive and his age when he went in. There was also his success as a Hunter, he was aces ahead of any other hunter which was due to the fact that he knew the Other Side better than anyone in the Survival Area. Many times he was interviewed or consulted on the world stage to share this knowledge and was thus wildly known and respected.

"I can bring Lisa with me?" Karl asked again surprised that April allowed him to bring his wife.

"Don't rub it. Just go away" April turned sour and waved at him to leave. She resumed her work without paying him any more attention since she still had much to do.

Karl gave a small smile before leaving April's lab and office. He returned to his office to study in detail the Explorer Association's progress in opening up hunting grounds on the Other Side. It was also worthy of note that the Forcefield protecting the Survival Area was slowly but constantly expanding and when it moved, it killed everything from the atmosphere to the depths of the soil thus it was up to the Explorers to ensure that no rare plant, animal or even micro life went extinct due to this expansion. It was believed that someday the forcefield would expand to surround the planet where it would remain to protect it from any dangerous asteroids or alien races in the future.

As soon as he entered his office the first thing he noticed was the open dining room. With a little confusion, he walked toward it to see Melissa standing beside Sarah with a smile as Sarah chewed on small bits of roast fish while watching a cartoon on Melissa's tablet. Sarah was sitting on the chair directly opposite the entrance of the dining so she noticed him standing there when she lifted her head.

"He caught us" she whispered to Melissa while shrinking until she was under the table. Melissa looked up to see Karl standing at the entrance of the dining and the smile on her face turned awkward.