"It's working out better than we hoped," Lena Mirr grinned at Jin-won Song over her cards. Jin-won sighed and grabbed a card.
"I wouldn't call another tie 'better than we hoped" Jin-won eyed Lena who flashed her a playful smirk. Lena laid down her cards with a flourish and tapped on the table. Jin-won groaned dramatically and let her cards flutter out of her hands.
"You know very well I'm talking about your little protege."
"I still don't see why it has to be him. Neil would-"
"Neil is going to retire the moment you do," Lena lifted a glass of water to her lips and sipped it languidly. Annoyance dusted Jin-won's face but she remained silent. Lena swallowed slowly. Her eyes flashed dangerously as she began to speak again, "I don't understand why you won't give that boy a chance."
The scattered cards on the ground gave Jin-won something to do while she tried to school her temper. When she straightened Lena was looking at her with biting amusement.
"He's hardly a boy and of course you couldn't understand why I'm against it."
Jin-won spit out 'you' as if it were a curse. Lena showed no reaction to her friend's venom. Both of them sat in silence for a moment before Lena moved forward to collect the cards and begin reshuffling the deck.
"You should have seen his face when I introduced the guide."
"You should have seen his face when we saw the guide at that gate."
Both women laughed. Lena laid four cards in front of each of them. Jin-won looked at hers and sighed dramatically again.
"You'd lose less if you had a better poker face," Lena waved her cards in amusement.
Jin-won pointed an accusatory finger at Lena, "My face could be as empty as your social calendar and you'd still be able to read it."
Lena shrugged and looked away coyly, "I always say you can ask me not to use my powers."
"And I always remind you I know you'd still do it even if I did."
Lena shrugged, not denying the accusation. The two women traded several rounds in silence. Lena's chrome nails scratched along the edge of her cards as she examined them. Jin-won grinned and dropped her hand onto the table. Lena clicked her tongue in annoyance.
"We never finish these games."
"Why would we when you can already see the outcome?"
"It's not inevitable, just highly likely."
Jin-won waved her hand dismissively. The motion drew her attention to a notification on her watch. She paused and looked down at it. Whatever was on it made her sigh yet again. Lena looked in her direction and opened her mouth in a sarcastic O, mirth twinkling behind her eyes.
"Your boy causing problems because of the guide again?"
Soothing a hand over her face, Jin-won continued staring down at the watch, "I don't see how this guide can be his leash when he keeps acting out like this. He's got us tangled up with Sceptr Pharma now."
"Perfect," Lena purred, leaning forward, her eyes shining with dangerous excitement, "I've been meaning to do something about them. It would be splendid if your boy manages it before we have to show our hand."
Jin-won's gaze softened. A slideshow of times long past playing behind her eyes and igniting familiar warmth in her chest. Lena watched her cooly. The silence between them was lukewarm with echoes of the past.
"Are you sure he's- I mean, he never wanted this. How can we be sure he's…right for it." Jin-won had always been the softer of the two of them. In their years together Jin-won was always the line to Lena's kite. An anchor in the storm. But she was wearing thin and Lena could feel the freedom that had always been just beyond her grasp.
"Be honest," Lena crossed her legs and rested a hand delicately atop her knee. Her gaze wore the illusion of openness, "Is this what you wanted?"
Jin-won looked away, out the window of Lena's office and across the city skyline. Her eyes traced along the wisps of clouds. Trying to see shapes she'd lost the ability to discern years ago.
"No.." It was the first time she'd admitted it to Lena, though Lena had always known, "It's what he wanted." Jin-won turned to Lena with uncharacteristic melancholy, "You've always been good at holding our leashes. If I didn't know better I'd say you were a guide yourself."
A soft laugh and cold eyes betrayed the success of Jin-won's jab, "If I were a guide I'd already have the world at my fingertips."
"If Sceptr succeeds you might have it anyway."
"And I'll win no matter what."
"What are your odds on that?" Jin-won inquired softly, as if afraid of the answer.
Lena licked her lips, "Undetermined."