EDEN'S HQ

Lawton and Amanda went into the hospital room and stayed with Lawton's mother. A few hours

later, they decided that one of them should spend the night so that the other one would come during the daytime.

Lawton spent the night at the hospital, and when Amanda came the following morning she took over while he began to think of what would happen at Eden HQ.

He had been there a handful of times as a kid. His father had kept him hidden, so that he would be safe. Even the paparazzi had never seen his face. After a while all of that had made him himself lose interest in anything concerning Eden.

He had to go today though. He needed money for moms hospital bills and probably the rent too. If he was to be entirely honest with himself, he didn't want anything to do with Eden still.

Because of his father and their disagreement.

His only priority now was his sick mother. And only that was enough reason to make him go and see Smithson. Smithson had been his father's secretary both at home and in the office.

Lawton couldn't afford a cab ride, so he had to take the bus..he noticed how people avoided standing next to him or sitting beside him. But that was okay, it only made more space for him.

When he got to Eden, he had to pause and take in a huge breath. When he had come here as a child, the Eden Skyscraper had practically made him feel like a tiny ant with the way it towered over him.

Now, he was no longer a little kid, but the Skyscraper still towered over him much the same. It was magnificent in the morning light.

He stopped gawking at the building and walked towards the front door which was a large revolving door entrance in the middle of the building.

There were no security men outside the doors and Lawton navigated the revolving doors and entered the place. He was again impressed by how neat everything was. The tiles underneath his feet were shining.

As he was looking at the tiles, he noticed that his shoes had mud on them. He had dirt all over his socks. How had that happened?

He rushed to the receptionist anyway, and met the girl behind the desk, with a name tag that said her name was Julie.

“Hello, and good morning, Julie. Please, I'd like to meet with Mr Smithson.” Lawton told her, his palms gripping the edge of the high, heavy counter of what served as the desk.

The girl had a pretty smile turned on for everyone who walked through the door. Lawton knew it was part of her job as receptionist to be nice and smile. He thought it must be hard to maintain that smile all the time.

He watched her as the smile began to slip and she looked him up and down, and then the smile returned, as fake as ever. “Who did you say you were meeting, Mister?”

Lawton leaned forward so she could hear him and she leaned back immediately with a frown.

“Mr Smithson. I'm meeting Mr Smithson.”

She didn't speak, just waved at him to move back with her tiny fingers before she even sat upright again and swallowed air. If Lawton didn't know better, he'd think she thought he was smelling.

Sure, he hadn't changed out of the clothes he'd worn to the hospital but he had had a bath and brushed before leaving the hospital.

Julie pretended to look at the screen of the laptop in front of her and then glanced up with a tight smile. “Sir,” she began derisively, “there's no appointment here for Mr Smithson. In Fact he's not supposed to be meeting with anyone today.”

Lawton removed his hands and then shoved them in his pockets. “What? He asked me to come here today, I'm quite sure he didn't forget to set the appointment, Mr Smithson is quite organized.”

The girl smothered a laugh. “And how would you know, you scammer”

Lawton arched an eyebrow. “Who are you calling a scammer?” That was simply preposterous.

Julie's catty eyebrows rose even higher. “Look at you pretending to be some high end and classy business man here to meet Me Smithson. But as dumb and stupid as you are, you couldn't even dress the part.”

Lawton regarded the girl. “Is dumb not the same thing as stupid? So basically, I am stupid enough to be called stupid twice?” he seemed to be holding back from laughing.

That pissed Julie off even more. “Get out! Get out of this establishment at once, you dirty fleabag!”