Constantine got to his place of work and  released a sigh.

Ever since his dismissal and subsequent departure from his mercenary crew, he had started working here. The main reason he had come to this town was because of a promise he had made to someone, a promise he intended to keep, so he worked here, as a security guard.

Nurain Fashion corporation was one of the fastest rising and leading names in the fashion industry. of Glover city. They dealt in luxury pieces of fashion and jewelry. Each and every dress was pricey and worth the extravagant price. Some top female politicians chose Nurain as the go to brand for anything shopping and fashion related.

The company had a value asset of over thirty billion dollars, and although that would seem like a very impressive and powerful status for any company to have achieved, in Glover city, it really wasn't much.

The bustling metropolis that was Glover city had a lot of companies with impressive repertoires.

Nurain was just one of those companies.

Con could already tell that he was  going to be in trouble today, not major trouble but still, trouble all the same.

Nurain had two people who handled the daily running of the staff.

The first was human resource manager John Bastille, who handled the security and any other department not directly related to the creation and production of Nurain's main products.

The second was human resource manager Jane Firvion, a beautiful lady of French descent who managed the visual presentation and well being of each and every product at Nurain.

Both of them were waiting for him by the time he got to the front door and Constantine could tell that wasn't good.

Con knew that they were probably there to check morning attendance and unluckily for him he had come late. 

All the other security guards were all present, postures straight and hands at their sides.

John looked annoyed, like he had been expecting this to happen and Con hadn't failed to make it happen. This wasn't the first time Constantine had come late to work. He had a great level of competence but his work ethic was lacking. 

It was something that got on John's nerves a lot.

Con could tell he was in some deep trouble. He had to keep his job, this was the only way he could fulfill the promise he had made. John would surely shout at him, he knew that, but he also knew that John didn't take lightly to repeated lateness to work and that was what he had just repeated yet again.

John smiled mockingly.

"Welcome sir. Is there anything i can do for you today?"

Con didn't dare take the tone in which John had said those words lightly. The human resource manager had to be one of the most uptight person Constantine had met in recent years. Con wasn't in a position to tell him anything that he didn't want to hear.

The guards around them simply watched the show that was happening. They were all friendly with Con and they all knew that he was a good person to be around,but some of them were jealous and annoyed at the constant level of excellence Constantine found natural to portray.

For example, he had only been part of the team for four months but yet he had managed to outshine all of them and get the attention of one special person that wouldn't take her eyes off him no matter what.

Jane evaluated the seriousness of the situation at hand. She decided not to intervene for now.

"I could have you fired you know?. You're making lateness a habit and we don't tolerate that here. Guards have been fired for less and i don't get it. Is it that hard to come to work early?"

The look on John's face became deadlier and deadlier with each passing second. Con could tell that he was genuinely pissed.

"And need i remind you that this isn't the first time you are over an hour late to work! Y'know what? I'm not going to say more than this. You'll be receiving a sack letter by the end of the day."

Con felt a pit form in his stomach at those words but somebody suddenly spoke up.

"Um sir, I know i am in no position to speak, but Con is a very valuable asset to the security team. He's more than willing to help out with anything and he has a load of knowledge that most of us don't. Please sir, can he be let off, just this once?"

The guard who was speaking was the leader of Constantine's division. He had been timid and almost scared when he started working at Nurain but working with Con had helped him get rid of most of that fear.

Jane chose to speak up too.

"Being late to work repeatedly is bad, and it shows an errant disregard for the rules, but Constantine has proven his value time and time again in the short time he has been with us." 

Her french accent made every word carry an elegance to it.

"He prevented that robbery a week ago when we were all at home asleep, and he has the mind of a master guard. He's proven that he's more than worthy to work with us."

Anyone listening could tell that Jane held an obvious admiration for Constantine. She was even slightly blushing as she spoke.

John had to agree with their words. The fury in his eyes had died down a bit and when he looked at Jane, he simply sighed.

"What do you all say i do to him then?"

Jane smiled softly at that and spoke.

"Might i suggest a fine?"

Con's eyes went soft at the way she spoke and stood up for him. She obviously had his best interest at heart and she had always been nice to him.

John only nodded his head and shot Con with a hard stare.

"This is your last chance young man."

He turned to walk away.

The smile on Constantine's face was bright and beaming as he nodded. Bright enough that Jane didn't know when she lost her footing and slipped as she turned around to follow John away too.

In an instant Con had moved, planting himself on the floor so the beautiful lady didn't hit it first.

And so it happened that when Jane Firvion approached the ever looming floor, she never made contact with it.

Instead she landed on the body of another, someone with a smile on his face that made blood rush to her cheeks.

Constantine's's voice was slightly husky as he softly whispered.

"Oops! The beauty has thrown herself on me."