Pollen's P.O.V.
As soon as we left the 20th Street Snowflakes station area, Zachary began to ask me tons of questions.
He was just staring at me in the passenger side mirror while asking, his brow furrowed as his eyes tracked my face through the reflection.
"How is your head feeling right now, Pol?" he started, his voice heavy with that familiar, protective edge.
"Did it flare up again during your shift? Are you still feeling dizzy? Make sure you tell me the truth."
I answered them one by one with care, keeping my voice calm and steady to keep him from panicking. I told him that the sharp pain from yesterday hadn't come back, and that my head just felt a little heavy from the standard office routine. I had to choose my words carefully; a single wrong phrase could make him completely spiral with worry.
"Are you sure you don't feel any sharpness at the back of your skull?" Zachy asked, his eyes locked onto mine through the mirror reflection.
"The doctor at the Cosmic Medical Hospital tomorrow is going to ask the exact same thing, Pol. Don't hide anything from us."
"I'm sure, Zachy. The sharpness is completely gone," I answered carefully, forcing my voice to remain entirely level.
"It just feels like a normal, dull headache now. I promise I'm not hiding anything."
"And your breathing?" he pressed, his reflection narrowing its eyes slightly as if scanning for any hidden tremors.
"Your chest doesn't feel tight or locked up like it did on the gravel yesterday?"
"No, my chest feels fine," I lied softly, ignoring the anxious flutter currently hammering against my ribs.
"I've been breathing normally all afternoon."
But as I talked, the heavy weight of my tote bag resting against my thighs felt entirely too loud. Inside the zipped pocket sat the dark blue envelope with the crescent moon wax seal. I really don't know if I should tell him about the Starry Nightsky Island. If I open my mouth and mention the two-week mandatory leave, his interrogation would shift into overdrive.
Leo stopped the car as the traffic light ahead turned red. He turned his head slightly, looking back at me from the driver's seat with a quiet, observant gaze. Above his dark hair, a heavy gray thought bubble appeared, the text solid and calm.
'Zach is surely a protective brother.'
A soft, silent warmth bloomed in Leo's thoughts, showing just how deeply he respected Zachy's fierce loyalty to me. I caught Leo's eyes and gave him a faint, reassuring nod, trying my best to look perfectly fine. But inside, my stomach was twisting into knots as I stared at the red light, my fingers tightening around the strap of my bag.
"He's right, Pollen," Leo added quietly, his low voice breaking into the conversation from the driver's seat as the traffic light finally cycled back to green. He accelerated smoothly, steering the sedan back into the flow of traffic.
"You were hyperventilating pretty badly yesterday. If you feel even a tiny bit of tightness in your chest on the way home, you need to tell us immediately."
"I will, Leo. I'm really okay now," I replied, leaning my head back against the headrest to show them I was trying to relax.
Zachy let out a heavy sigh from the front passenger seat, shifting his weight as he finally broke his gaze away from the mirror.
"I just don't want a repeat of yesterday, Pol. It scared the life out of me."
"I know," I murmured softly, my heart aching a little at the lingering stress in his voice.
"I'm sorry for making you guys worry so much."
Leo carefully chose his words, catching my eyes in the rearview mirror for a split second with a calm, reassuring expression.
"Don't apologize for having a rough time yesterday," he countered gently.
"Just focus on resting tonight. We'll handle everything else tomorrow at the clinic."
Xyrus's P.O.V.
Back in my private workspace, the soft blue glow of three panoramic monitors illuminated the room, displaying dense streams of encrypted network traffic. I sat back in my mesh chair, completely ignoring the data packages scrolling down the left terminal.
My mind was still stuck on the absolute insanity of the phone call I had just finished with Kyles.
"Two weeks on Starry Nightsky Island," I muttered to myself, spinning a gold-plated stylus between my fingers.
"Out of nowhere. For a mid-level coder."
The riddle of it was genuinely giving me a headache.
Yearly, Starry Nightsky Island gives out an exclusive experience for a one-day minimum and a one-week maximum for at least two to three people, just to get reviews from random people around the different towns. That was standard corporate practice. Kyles was fine with inviting multiple random people for short stays, but he never sent a single, specific person on an extended two-week vacation like the one he had just handed to Pollen.
A full, unrestricted two-week stay was a luxury pass that simply didn't exist for random selections.
I knew Kyles Morris better than anyone alive.
I had seen him handle corporate mergers, navigate assassination attempts, and tear apart security breaches without blinking an eye. He was cold, calculated, and deeply paranoid. He didn't just break his own selective parameters to hand a double-length luxury resort package to a random girl. It defied every single rule he had lived by for the last two years.
'Is he dating the girl?' I thought, my brows drawing together as I recalled the frantic, breathless edge in Kyles's voice during our four-in-the-morning call.
I immediately shook my head, dismissing the absurd idea before it could even take root. He would never do that with a girl he just met. Kyles wasn't the type to fall for cheap traps, and he definitely didn't believe in sudden fairy-tale attachments.
I leaned back against the headrest, staring up at the dark ceiling as another ridiculous thought popped into my head. I blurted out to the empty room, "Is this love at first mistake?"
I shook my head again, a wry chuckle escaping my lips. It was a stupid joke, but honestly, what else could explain a paranoid billionaire completely scrambling his own surveillance tracking rules just to send an elite hospitality pass to an innocent target he had accidentally terrorized?
"Honestly," I said aloud, a sudden grin breaking across my face.
"I actually think he might be gay."
The joke echoed quietly against the soundproof walls of my room. It was the only hilarious explanation left for a billionaire who was suddenly acting completely erratic and forcing an unprecedented luxury vacation onto a quiet programmer before sunrise. He hadn't told me a single thing about what he was doing yesterday afternoon, leaving me completely in the dark about why his attitude had flipped overnight.
I dropped the stylus onto my desk and leaned forward, clicking open the surveillance logs for the 22nd Street transit line shuttle terminal.
Whether Kyles was losing his mind or secretly harboring a massive, protective crush, the countdown had already started. On Monday morning, I was going to be watching that shuttle terminal very closely to see if Pollen Anderson actually showed up.
Pollen's P.O.V.
The car hummed smoothly as Leo navigated the heavy, slow-moving traffic of the evening rush. Outside the windows, the bright, residential neon signs of CherryBlossom Town were casting long, rhythmic strokes of twilight shadows across the interior of the cabin as we bypassed their neighborhood, heading further down the line toward my house in Cloudnine Town.
I looked down at the tote bag in my lap, my heart beating a frantic, uneven rhythm against my ribs. The crushing silence of the car, broken only by the low melody of the radio, suddenly felt entirely too small.
I couldn't keep this a secret anymore.
If I didn't tell them now, they would find out anyway when I didn't get ready for work on Monday morning
I swallowed hard, my throat dry as I forced myself to speak.
"Zachy... Leo," I began softly, my voice trembling slightly.
"There's something I need to tell you about my schedule next week."
Zachary's eyes instantly locked onto mine through the passenger side mirror, his brows drawing together.
"What about it, Pol? Did Henderson dump more database migrations on your desk?"
"No," I whispered, my fingers tightening around the strap of my tote bag until my knuckles turned white.
"Mr. Henderson... he gave me a mandatory two-week vacation leave today. Starting Monday."
Up front, Leo's foot remained perfectly steady on the accelerator. He didn't swerve or slam on the brakes; his expression remained calm, though his fingers tightened just a fraction against the leather of the steering wheel. He simply adjusted his gaze, casting a quiet, observant glance at me through the rearview mirror, waiting for me to finish.
But Zachary completely froze. He turned his entire body around in the passenger seat, his eyes wide with absolute disbelief as he stared directly at me.
"A vacation leave? For two whole weeks?"
Zachy blurted out, his voice laced with a mixture of total perplexity and immediate shock.
"Pol, that doesn't make any sense. Why would Henderson suddenly hand you an extended break out of nowhere when you're always working non-stop?"
"It's not just a standard leave," I said, my heart hammering as I slowly reached into the zipped pocket of my bag.
I pulled out the heavy, dark blue cardstock envelope, the broken crescent moon wax seal glinting under the passing streetlights.
I held it out between the front seats.
"I found this tucked into my house doorframe this morning. It's an exclusive, all-expenses-paid invitation to Starry Nightsky Island. From August 31st to September 12th. Mr. Henderson received a direct email from the CEO himself this morning instructing him to approve my leave."
"The CEO?" Zachy's voice cracked, a heavy wave of raw, protective worry instantly bleeding into his expression.
He snatched the envelope from my hand, his fingers trembling slightly as he pulled out the thick linen paper, his eyes frantically scanning the formal silver cursive text.
"Kyles Morris? The billionaire who owns Aurora Logistics? Pol, you don't even know this man. Why would a corporate tycoon suddenly slide a luxury hotel pass onto your doorframe?"
"Zach, breathe," Leo interrupted quietly, his low, grounding voice cutting through the rising panic in the cabin.
He stopped the car smoothly as another red light blocked our path, the crimson glow filling the dashboard. He didn't look worried, but his gray thought bubble materialized above his head, shifting into a deep, calculating shade of slate.
'A direct executive invitation from the Morris Group to their private island... What is this CEO actually planning?'
Despite his own internal calculations, Leo kept his face perfectly calm. He adjusted his rearview mirror, looking at me with an analytical but soothing expression.
"Wait," Leo said aloud, his voice cutting through our confusion.
"I remember reading something about their corporate marketing strategies. Yearly, Starry Nightsky Island gives out an exclusive experience for a one-day minimum and a one-week maximum to at least two or three people from different towns. They do it to gather public reviews from random citizens."
Zachy looked over at Leo, blinking in surprise.
"So... you think Pol was just randomly selected for their annual feedback pool?"
"It's possible," Leo nodded reasonably, though he kept his private suspicions to himself.
"If two other people from different towns got invited too, this might just be their standard lottery system. Though, a full two weeks is completely unheard of for a random pick."
Zachy looked back up at me, the initial shock in his eyes slowly softening into deep concern as he processed Leo's logical explanation. He took a slow breath, consciously calming his tone as he looked back at me, his voice gentle but firm.
"Pol, I'm just incredibly worried about you," Zachy said softly, holding the luxury invitation with care.
"You had a severe collapse yesterday afternoon. Your head is still heavy, and you're exhausted. I don't feel entirely safe letting you travel out to an isolated island alone right now."
I looked at Zachy's worried face, then at Leo's calm eyes in the mirror, feeling the sincerity of their protection.
"I know, Zachy. I'm nervous too," I confessed softly, reaching forward to lightly touch his shoulder.
"But Mr. Henderson already assigned my project tracks to Dahlia and the rest of the team. If I decline, I'll have to face executive fallout on Monday."
Zachy stared at the silver cursive ink for a long moment before letting out a soft, defeated sigh. He looked back up at me, his expression earnest.
"Alright. I will agree to let you go on one condition, Pol."
"What condition?" Iasked quietly.
"We are going to the Cosmic Medical Hospital tomorrow for your health check-up anyway," Zachy explained, his voice absolute.
"We will ask Doctor Valerie directly if this trip is safe for your current condition. If she evaluates you tomorrow and gives you the official medical clearance, then you can go. But if she says your head can't handle the travel stress, we are locking that invitation in a drawer. Deal?"
Relief washed over me, a tight knot unraveling in my chest. "Deal," I whispered softly.
Leo shifted the sedan back into gear as the light turned green, easing the car through the intersection as the distant, shadowed skyline of Cloudnine Town finally appeared on the horizon. The heavy tension in the car had dissolved into a clear, unified boundary, leaving the three of us driving through the dimming twilight toward my house in quiet agreement.